extended response question!

The question due in for Friday is:
'With reference to a tropical storm that you have studied, describe & explain its short & long term impacts on people ' (9 marks)

.....and yes, the post on Hurricane Mitch DOES say how many people were killed & made homeless!

Make sure that all of your follow up work on Natural Hazards is complete. Make summary notes (you choose the format) & LEARN! I will set a review task (some might call it a test!) in a couple of weeks! You have been warned!

Ex Tropical Cyclone Favio

Tropical Cyclone Favio has been downgraded but is still a cause for concern in southern Africa.

The first thousand visits to Geographylost!!

Wow! Just noticed that the counter has crept past the 1000 mark.

Hurricane Mitch resources

The resources from the lesson can be downloaded if you need a copy. The tasks are included. They are to be completed by next lesson.

Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch was one of the deadliest and most powerful hurricanes observed on record, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 km/h). The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season. At the time, Mitch was the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever observed in the month of October, though it has since been surpassed by Hurricane Wilma of the 2005 season. The hurricane also tied for the fourth most intense Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, but it has since dropped to seventh.
Mitch formed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22, and after drifting through extremely favorable conditions, it rapidly strengthened to peak at Category 5 status, the highest possible rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. After drifting southwestward and weakening, the hurricane hit Honduras as a minimal hurricane. It drifted through Central America, reformed in the Bay of Campeche, and ultimately struck Florida as a strong tropical storm.
Due to its slow motion from October 29 to November 3, Hurricane Mitch dropped historic amounts of rainfall in Honduras and Nicaragua, with unofficial reports of up to 75 inches (1900 mm). Deaths due to catastrophic flooding made it the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history; nearly 11,000 people were killed with over 8,000 left missing by the end of 1998. The flooding caused extreme damage, estimated at over $5 billion (1998 USD, $6 billion 2006 USD). Hurricane Mitch was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since the Great Hurricane of 1780, displacing the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 as the second-deadliest on record. Nearly eleven thousand people were confirmed dead, and almost as many reported missing. Deaths were mostly from flooding and mudslides in Central America, where the slow-moving hurricane and then tropical storm dropped nearly 3 feet (900 mm) of rain. The flooding and mudslides damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes, with total damage amounting to over $5 billion (1998 USD, $6 billion 2006 USD), most of which was in Honduras and Nicaragua.

(from Wikepedia). The DVD clip shown in the lesson is from the 'Wild Weather' series.

Hurricanes & Cyclones

The PowerPoint used in Wednesday's lesson can be downloaded.

Tropical Cyclone Favio hits Mozambique

It arrived at about 2 hours after the time predicted on Wednesday!

Cyclone Favio made landfall in the central province of Inhambane near the town of Vilanculos and is heading inland towards the city of Beira.
Winds are reported to be in the range of 100mph-130mph (160km/h-200km/h).
The country is still struggling to cope with the effects of recent floods. An estimated 120,000 Mozambicans have already been driven from their homes.

Further details can be found in the report on the BBC news website.

Hurricane

In Wednesdays lesson we will review your notes and understanding on a) Formation of Tropical Storms b) The events & impact of Hurricane Katrina & c) The management of Hurricane Katrina. We will then contrast this with the events, impact and management of a tropical storm in an LEDC. Please make sure that your ILA is complete.

Thinking of A level Geography (I hope!)?

You might like to have a look at the A2 Geography blog. It is slightly different from this blog as the students post as well as me, using it to share their observations & research, as well as to ask questions. Its only as old as this site & spans two module exams (Managing Wilderness & the Synoptic paper). We are currently completing the Ecosystem section of the Global Challenge unit, looking at management issues. Resources used for the lesson, such as PowerPoints, are avaialable via 4 shared.com, in the same way as I have done on this blog. I intend to use the same format for an AS geography blog next year (I will probably still use the Geography Room name).

What causes a hurricane?

This website gives a neat summary of the causes of a hurricane & provides other potentially useful links. Don't forget to make good notes on the causes & development of a hurricane. If you find additional websites that you think will help other students in the group, then you could post them in the comments section of this post.

Hurricane Katrina

Wednesday's lesson will introduce storm hazards by examining the tragic events around Hurricane Katrina. The introductory PowerPoint can be downloaded from here and you can also find 'The New Battle of New Orleans' by clicking on the link. There are also a couple of good tribute films on U-Tube. Have a look. The main PowerPoint can also be downloaded from 4 shared.com. The music is a Hurricane Katrina remix called 'DHT Listen to your heart'. Its more poignant than 'the new battle of New Orleans'! It also covers many of the key facts about Hurricane Katrina. Ideal for the audio learners amongst you!

How weird is that? I have just looked up from my laptop & on TV is an item about when Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras! This was another category 5 hurricane. The programme is 'Wild Weather' which is (hopefully) recording. I suppose that as the title of the programme is 'Wild Weather' its not too surprising that hurricanes get a mention, but that it was just as I was typing this post..... It seems a good programme -should span the Natural Hazards module into the Natural World/ Weather section that we need to do inorder to complete the course!

I hope that you have all completed your 'expert' cards!

The results afternoon seemed to go really well. I hope you all enjoyed it & that it struck the right note. There is everything to play for but the next 3 1/2 months are crucial!

http://www.geogdocs.co.uk/

This new site will show you how to use 'movie maker' to make your own geogdocs that will no doubt be better than mine! Movie maker is packaged with Windows XP so you probably already have it. It is easy to use & produces some fantastic revision resources. Making movies is an excellent 'whole brain' learning activity & it pushes all of the VAK buttons. It even gives you a list of copyright free music sources to check out! Hopefully we will use this in class but don't wait for that, have a go!