How really powerful are typhoons, hurricanes?

Question

I don't live in areas prone to strong winds but am surprised to hear amazing things that can happen, like a full-grown cow that is lifted into the air and lands in somebody else's garden or vehicles that are rolled some distance away.

Can you share some survival tips on encountering one?

Answer 1

Spinning air: Tornadoes and hurricanes

Both tornadoes and hurricanes are spinning columns of air capable of causing great damage. There are important differences between these two powerful storms, however. Tornadoes are more localized and typically found on land, while hurricanes can cover vast areas and draw their power from the warm tropical oceans.

Tornadoes range from only a few feet to one mile in diameter and are short in duration (normally only a few minutes long). Though these storms are localized, they can be extremely violent. The wind speed inside a tornado's funnel can exceed 200 miles per hour, enough to turn everyday objects into deadly projectiles. Tornadoes occur all over the world, at every time of the year, but they are most common in the summertime in the midwestern United States. This region's propensity for tornadoes has earned it the name Tornado Alley.

Tornadoes form from thunderstorms, though not all thunderstorms generate tornadoes. An unstable column of warm air rising within cumulus clouds can start to rotate because of changing wind directions at or near the ground. These updrafts alter the air's rotation from horizontal to vertical, creating conditions in which a funnel can develop. If conditions are right and the funnel forms, it can extend to the ground, forming a tornado.

All thunderstorms are capable of producing tornadoes, but detection is still a difficult task. Weather forecasters can identify the cloud features and conditions that normally precede these storms, and they know where they are most likely to occur. However, predicting the exact time, location, and intensity of tornadoes is still very difficult.

Tornadoes threaten areas the size of towns or counties, but hurricanes play themselves out on a much larger stage. These large storms can last for days or weeks and cover thousands of miles of territory. Hurricanes draw their strength from the warm tropical waters of the ocean. Unlike tornadoes, they lose their power source when they leave the ocean. Once on land, they gradually dissipate.

This website link gives you details about survival tips.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/wntrstm.htm

Answer 2

I wrote a book on hurricane survival for sailors, so it would take more space than here for survival tips..........but here's how powerful they are.......

wind force goes up as the square of the speed........or twice as fast is FOUR TIMES as powerful......so drive down the road at 50; stick your arm out......100 is FOUR TIMES that; or better, drive at 40; 120 miles an hour is NINE times that force. I have a picture in my book of a sheet of plywood driven edge first 3 feet through a palm tree............at 120 you don't stand up and anything that hits is like a Curt Schilling fastball.........now imagine being hit by a cinder block thrown by Curt..

survival? Leave town! the maximum winds are within 30 or 40 miles of the eye; 50 miles out from a Katrina or Andrew isn't fun, but its survivable...

stay away from water! not only ocean waves but anywhere that will flood......like the city of N.O..........

stay inside a building with hurricane shutters over the widows

and "hurricane party"? People who get loaded before a major storm.............well, think of it as thinning the herd.........

Answer 3

Velly velly powerful.