Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

Hurricanes and tropical storms

Source: CNN, August 29, 2009

The first rainy weekend had a reason: the tropical storm Danny which passed. Predicting the path of hurricanes and tropical storms has a lot to do with multivariable calculus. We learn how to describe paths with parametrized curves, wind velocities by vector fields, the rotation will be called curl. Many other terms from meteology involve terms which we will study in this course: Pressure gradients etc.

Source: NASA, 2005.

This animation from 2005 is famous. It animates the paths of hurricanes in 2005. One of them was the infamous hurricane Kathrina.

Source: NOAA movie, in AP news.

Before you arrived on Campus, there was hurricane Bill, which had arrived near the New England coast. It passed pretty far.

Computer models for Hurricane Bill.

Surfers are especially interested in forcasts. The movie is from the west oast however.

Hurricane bill forcast for surfers: Swell periods, wave heights, energy depths. What does it mean in the case of Bill for the east coast.