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A Furious Sky by
Hurricanes menace North America from June through November every year, each as powerful as 10,000 nuclear bombs. These megastorms will likely become more intense as the planet continues to warm, yet we too often treat them as local disasters and TV spectacles, unaware of how far-ranging their impact can be. As best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin contends, we must look to our nation's past if we hope to comprehend the consequences of the hurricanes of the future.With A Furious Sky, Dolin has created a vivid, sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes, such as Benito Vines, a nineteenth-century Jesuit priest whose innovative methods for predicting hurricanes saved countless lives, and puts us in the middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000 people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American history.Dolin draws on a vast array of sources as he melds American history, as it is usually told, with the history of hurricanes, showing how these tempests frequently helped determine the nation's course. Hurricanes, it turns out, prevented Spain from expanding its holdings in North America beyond Florida in the late 1500s, and they also played a key role in shifting the tide of the American Revolution against the British in the final stages of the conflict. As he moves through the centuries, following the rise of the United States despite the chaos caused by hurricanes, Dolin traces the corresponding development of hurricane science, from important discoveries made by Benjamin Franklin to the breakthroughs spurred by the necessities of the World War II and the Cold War.Yet after centuries of study and despite remarkable leaps in scientific knowledge and technological prowess, there are still limits on our ability to predict exactly when and where hurricanes will strike, and we remain terribly vulnerable to the greatest storms on earth. A Furious Sky is, ultimately, a story of a changing climate, and it forces us to reckon with the reality that as bad as the past has been, the future will probably be worse, unless we drastically reimagine our relationship with the planet.
Call Number: QC945 .D65 2020ISBN: 1631495275Publication Date: 2020-08-04
Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones by
The science, history, and culture of tropical cyclones around the globe have evolved considerably since the award-winning first edition of ""Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones"" was published nearly 10 years ago. Improved forecasting techniques, altered naming systems, and new intensity and duration records are only a few of the changes that have taken the meteorological world by storm in recent years. As a result of improvements in forecasting and warning systems, landfall and intensity predictions are much more accurate and timely, thereby reducing economic costs and enhancing life safety.""Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones, New Edition"" features significant updates and information on recent weather phenomena and the devastation and loss that often resulted. Hurricanes Andrew, Gilbert, and Wilma are covered in detail in this comprehensive reference, as well as the most destructive and deadly tropical cyclone witnessed in the United States in the last 50 years - Hurricane Katrina. As the historic and vibrant city of New Orleans continues to rebuild and reconstruct in the aftermath of this hurricane, national meteorological agencies and research institutions suffer from the deadly effects of under-funding and political neglect. Between 2005 and 2006, hurricane-related damage in the United States totaled $168 billion, and nearly 1,500 lives were lost - grim tallies that lend credence and urgency to the call for a centrally organized, multi-agency response to tropical cyclone activity in this country, and indeed, around the globe.Focusing on these issues and more, this completely revised edition features more than 85 all-new, black-and-white photographs and line illustrations, a revised introduction, historical and cultural entries, extensively revised front and back matter, a bibliography of print and Web resources, a chronology, and an index.
Call Number: QC944 .L66 2008
Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States by Call Number: QC944 .S39 2007
Online Articles
- What's the connection between climate change and hurricanes?
NPR, August 30, 2023
Streaming Videos
- Why Are Hurricanes Getting Stronger?It's impossible to say that climate change is responsible for any individual storm or hurricane, but climate change is making these storms stronger. How much stronger? It turns out, Hurricane Harvey is the ideal test case to measure how a warming planet and warming oceans, amplify our worst storms.
- Killer HurricanesKiller Hurricanes examines an 18th-century, Caribbean superstorm that killed 22,000, the highest known death toll of any single weather event. To reconstruct its epic scale and investigate what made it so devastating, NOVA joins historians and storm sleuths as they reconstruct the event using eyewitness accounts, old ruins, and computer simulations.
Distributed by PBS Distribution.
Websites
- How Does a Hurricane Form?
from SciJinks, NOAA
Online From CCBC Libraries
Dangerous Earth by
The Earth is a beautiful and wondrous planet, but also frustratingly complex and, at times, violent: much of what has made it livable can also cause catastrophe. Volcanic eruptions create land and produce fertile, nutrient-rich soil, but they can also bury forests, fields, and entire towns under ash, mud, lava, and debris. The very forces that create and recycle Earth's crust also spawn destructive earthquakes and tsunamis. Water and wind bring and spread life, but in hurricanes they can leave devastation in their wake. And while it is the planet's warmth that enables life to thrive, rapidly increasing temperatures are causing sea levels to rise and weather events to become more extreme. Today, we know more than ever before about the powerful forces that can cause catastrophe, but significant questions remain. Why can't we better predict some natural disasters? What do scientists know about them already? What do they wish they knew? In Dangerous Earth, marine scientist and science communicator Ellen Prager explores the science of investigating volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, rip currents, and--maybe the most perilous hazard of all--climate change. Each chapter considers a specific hazard, begins with a game-changing historical event (like the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens or the landfall and impacts of Hurricane Harvey), and highlights what remains unknown about these dynamic phenomena. Along the way, we hear from scientists trying to read Earth's warning signs, pass its messages along to the rest of us, and prevent catastrophic loss. A sweeping tour of some of the most awesome forces on our planet--many tragic, yet nonetheless awe-inspiring--Dangerous Earth is an illuminating journey through the undiscovered, unresolved, and in some cases unimagined mysteries that continue to frustrate and fascinate the world's leading scientists: the "wish-we-knews" that ignite both our curiosity and global change.
Publication Date: 2020
Florida Weather and Climate by
This book explores the conditions, forces, and processes behind Florida's surprisingly varied and dynamic weather. Florida is home to two of the world's major types of climate - tropical wet-dry and humid subtropical. It experiences more tornadoes per square mile and is more frequently affected by lightning and thunderstorms than any other state. Florida is vulnerable to fog, drought, and wildfires. And it is notorious for its most prominent natural event - the hurricane. Discussing Florida's latitude, longitude, area, landscape, and population, as well as the position of the sun and the importance of evaporation and condensation, the authors break down the features that shape Florida's remarkable weather. They explain the influence of atmospheric circulation patterns such as the Hadley cell, the Coriolis force, and the Bermuda-Azores high. They describe the impacts of cold, warm, stationary, and occluded fronts. The book also covers major weather incidents from Florida's history and looks ahead to what climate change will mean for the state's future. With many maps, helpful diagrams, and clear explanations, this book is an illuminating and accessible guide to Florida's dramatic weather and climate.
Publication Date: 2017
Organizations
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