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| Hurricane Sandy Satellite view on October 29th, 2012. |
This article
is comparing Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Irene, and Hurricane Sandy. It
compares: the category, the state where they made landfall, top wind speed,
diameter (extent of high winds), atmospheric pressure (the lower the better),
storm surge, maximum rainfall, maximum snowfall, deaths, and property damage.
Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane, while both Irene and Sandy were
cat 1 hurricanes. As you most likely know, Katrina made landfall in Louisiana,
while Irene made landfall in North Carolina. Sandy officially made landfall in
New Jersey, but has impacted land in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and
Pennsylvania. The top wind speeds vary, from 125 (Katrina) to 90 (Sandy) to 85
(Irene). That comparison shows that Katrina had the top wind speeds by 35 mph.
Sandy has the largest diameter, 940 miles, while Irene had a diameter 520
miles. Surprisingly enough, Katrina had the smallest diameter, an even 400
miles.
When you talk about the atmospheric pressure, you should realize that
the lower the pressure reading, the worse the storm. Katrina had the lowest
reading, at 920 millibars (mb). Irene was at 951 mb. Sandy was at 940 mb, the
lowest for a late-season storm. Sandy’s storm surge, 13 ft., was only 1 ft.
under Katrina’s though Katrina’s funneled from 14 ft. to the 28 ft. before
hitting New Orleans. Irene was just over half of Katrina’s original storm surge
at 8 ft. The maximum rainfall and the maximum snowfall vary exceedingly when
you compare both for each individual storm, and when you compare them to each
other. Katrina and Irene both had no snowfall, while Sandy has dumped 24+
inches on the northeast coast, most of that in West Virginia, Ohio, and even eastern
Indiana. Even though Sandy did have the smallest amount of rainfall, only 12
inches, Sandy had the most snow. Katrina and Irene both dumped 15 inches on the
US.
As most know, Katrina took many lives, officially 1,833 lives. Sandy and
Irene were close, with Irene taking 56 and Sandy taking 85. When you talk about
the property damage, you can tell how bad the storm was, even if it was a
category 1 or 2. Katrina caused $81 billion in damage, while Irene and Sandy
were both at roughly $20 billion. Sandy could still have higher property
damage, as Sandy is still a live storm.
I
was interested in this article as my sister used to live on the East Coast, and
we have friends who live on the East Coast.
I
can relate this article to something we are learning in school. In Mr. Mathias’
World History class, we are covering the upcoming presidential election, and
the article covers Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy could affect the upcoming
election with all of the rain, snow, and high winds.
Environments
would be the correct AOI for this article as it is talking about different
hurricanes, and how they impacted the US. Community and Service could also be
considered an appropriate AOI, as there has to be some service on many levels:
local, community, and national.
