Geography of weather records. The strongest hurricane in the world The strongest wind near the surface of the earth

There are several places that are desperately vying for the title of the windiest area on planet Earth. However, it turns out that nature is trying to keep some of its secrets, and the wind is not so easy to measure, and the title of the most windy place depends on the definition of "windy".

Barrow Island

Located northwest of the coast of Australia, this small island has experienced strong wind gusts. In 1996, on April 10, the meteorological station recorded the strongest gust of wind in history, the speed of which reached 408 km per hour. This gust of wind came on the wings of Tropical Cyclone Olivia.

Tropical cyclones form when warm, moist air rises from the surface of the seas and oceans. They are accompanied by heavy rainfall and storm-force winds. Tropical cyclones are able to maintain their strength for a long time only over large bodies of water, such as open seas and oceans. The islands are particularly affected by such weather phenomena. Such a cyclone in the northern hemisphere is called a typhoon, and over the waters atlantic ocean- Hurricane.

Despite the fact that Cyclone Olivia brought the strongest gust of wind, it is still not the strongest cyclone. Usually the power of a cyclone is determined by the continuous strength of the wind. According to meteorological data, the champion was Typhoon Nancy, whose continuous wind force in 1961 reached 146 km per hour. Nancy caused the deaths of 170 people in Japan.

Yet cyclones are not wind champions. Even more destructive gusts occur during tornadoes and tornadoes. Thus, one of the windiest places in the world is located in the very center of the United States.

Oklahoma

A tornado in Russian, often called a tornado, is an air column that connects a thundercloud to the ground. According to many meteorologists, tornadoes are the strongest and most destructive of all atmospheric vortices and storms.

Such weather phenomenon, like tornadoes, can happen anywhere, but most often they appear in the United States. The southeastern states have even been given the title of "tornado alley". In 2011, the "alley" served as an arena for the formation of 207 separate tornadoes in a 24-hour period.

In 1999, on May 3, the highest tornado speed was recorded in Oklahoma, reaching 486 km per hour.

Despite high wind speeds in tornadoes, this weather phenomenon is usually relatively short-lived, but there is a place where you can encounter strong winds at any time of the year.

South ocean

This is the conventional name for the waters of the three oceans - Indian, Pacific and Atlantic, which wash the shores of Antarctica. Increasingly, among specialists, there is a division of the world ocean not into the usual four water bodies, but into five, when they determine a separate role for the Southern Ocean.

Any traveler or explorer who has circumnavigated the globe will tell you that the waters of the Southern Ocean are the most turbulent. Starting from 40 ° latitude, the winds become especially cruel and strong. Gusts are further enhanced by the fact that air flows are not interrupted by continents and large islands. Thus, the continuous force of the wind in the Southern Ocean can reach 160 km per hour.

Though this strength is enough to recognize South ocean one of the windiest places, a little south of the restless waters lies the continent, whose air currents earned it the title of the windiest 100 years ago.

Antarctica

The wind in Antarctica is unusual - it is called katabatic, or falling. Due to the shape of the continent, dense air currents descend on the icy slopes, which makes the wind not only strong, but also unusually cold.

The shape of the continent is very similar to a dome, the wind blows from the top towards coastline tilted to the left due to the rotation of the Earth around its axis. The strength of the wind gusts on the southernmost continent has been regularly measured since December 1913. The windiest hour in the history of Antarctica was July 6, 1913, when the force of the air currents reached a speed of 153 km per hour.

However, it is very difficult to measure the strength of the katabatic wind, especially in Antarctica, where the temperature never rises above zero. Firstly, strong air currents, due to their density, easily break equipment, and secondly, even if some measuring stations and poles remain intact, they often freeze.

A hurricane is a tropical type of cyclone. It is distinguished by its relatively small size, but rather destructive power. The name "hurricane" itself comes from the English "hurricane", which is used to name strong cyclones.

As a rule, they originate near North or South America. His neighbors and close relatives come from the region of Asia, and the Far East, and are usually weaker. They are called "typhoons".

It is worth noting that not every cyclone can be called a hurricane. Some pass with atmospheric phenomena characteristic of the area and fade further. The cyclone itself is atmospheric vortex of impressive size, which twists clockwise in the southern hemisphere, and counterclockwise in the northern. They are especially clearly visible from space. And here atmospheric phenomenon, when viewed from above, has a spiral shape with a hole in the middle, this is the so-called "eye of the storm". There is a zone in the center of the cyclone reduced pressure. Cyclones owe their origin to the rotation of the planet, while simultaneously moving it in orbit, so this phenomenon is considered common.

The size of cyclones can be several thousand kilometers, while the eye varies from 2-3 kilometers to several tens. As a rule, the size of hurricanes is much smaller, but the speed of air movement in the spiral is much faster and reaches several hundred kilometers per hour. Maximum 300 kilometers per hour.

In the area that is called the "eye of the storm" (or eye of the typhoon), usually calm weather with more high temperature. Warm air descends and enters the first turns of the spiral, where the colder mass is. As a result, an area with high pressure differences is formed. It, in turn, contributes to the unwinding air masses hurricane as a whole. Therefore, the center of the spiral, near the "eye", has increased power, highest speed and, usually, thunderclouds that cause torrential downpours.

Tropical hurricanes originate over warm waters oceans around the equator. As a result of the rotation of the planet, they move west and shift north. This is what causes a large number of hurricanes off the eastern coast North America as well as Mexico. These areas are larger than others in Lately suffer from the effects of severe hurricanes.

Hurricane strength is measured on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which has five categories. Today, only a few hurricanes of the fifth, highest category, are known.

Now every year there are about a dozen cyclones and several dozen cyclones on the entire planet. And here are the most powerful of them.

The strongest hurricane in the world

The great hurricane of 1780, or another name - San Calixto. This is a tropical cyclone of great power that raged in the autumn of 1780 near the Caribbean archipelago. It became the deadliest of all known hurricanes. According to the documents of that time, at least 22,000 dead are known. And since in the eighteenth century the statistics were very conditional, compared to today, we can safely say that the number of victims was much higher.

Great hurricane hit the islands Caribbean, from Newfoundland to Barbados, passed through Haiti and destroyed up to 95 percent of all buildings. And that's not counting the thousands of lives lost. The tidal wave that the hurricane caused, like a powerful tsunami, passed through some of the islands, sometimes reaching 7-8 meters in height. She destroyed everything in her path. The hurricane was accompanied by strong unrest at sea, so many ships were sunk both in port bays and at some distance from the coast. Including part of the French and English fleets that took part in civil war USA. Approximately a hundred vessels in the water area ran aground.

Eyewitnesses said that the rain, under the influence of a strong wind, tore the bark from the trunks of trees, and this was before knocking them down. According to scientists, the wind speed then was at least 350 kilometers per hour.

Mitch

The hurricane, which was named Mitch, passed through the Atlantic basin with incredible power and strength. It originated in October 1998 in the south caribbean. Meteorologists assigned him the fifth category, the highest. This is because of the wind speed, the gusts of which reached 320 kilometers per hour. The hurricane affected the territories of Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador.

Hurricane Mitch. Consequences

He completely devastated them and claimed the lives of 20 thousand people. Most of the people died from mudflows, strong winds and tidal waves that towered up to 6 meters in height. More than a million people were left homeless, and hundreds needed drinking water and medical preparations. As a result, this led to an increase in infectious diseases.

Katrina

The name Katrina is known to absolutely every American. Because it is the strongest and most destructive hurricane ever to hit the coast of America. Hurricane Katrina originated in August 2005 in the area Bahamas. He quickly gained strength and began to develop in the direction east coast USA. As soon as the bad weather reached the American coast, the hurricane received the fifth category in terms of strength.

But for acceptance necessary measures it was already too late. The authorities could not cope with the consequences of the disaster. So President George W. Bush's approval rating dropped to 38 percent at the time. Only according to official data, more than one and a half thousand people became victims of the hurricane. About half a million more were left homeless. Moreover, approximately 80 percent of New Orleans is flooded.

Typhoon in Pakistan

On the night of November 13, 1970, a powerful typhoon hit the coastal regions of East Pakistan. Hurricane wind formed a huge wave up to 8 meters high. It swept through a number of islands and coastal areas. This typhoon has become perhaps the largest disaster in the history of mankind. According to various estimates, the death toll ranged from 500 thousand to a million people.

As a result of the pressure difference between two different air areas, wind is generated. The speed and direction of its movement can vary depending on the pressure indicators in time and space. In most areas of the planet, certain wind directions dominate. So, at the poles prevail east winds, V temperate latitudes ah - western. Along with such regions, there are also calm zones and anomalous regions where the wind blows constantly.

Strong winds can also occur due to local changes such as the opposition of a cyclone and an anticyclone. According to the effect of wind on land objects and waves at sea, the force of the wind is estimated in points on the Beaufort scale. Depending on how fast the wind blows, each wind force has its own verbal definition.

Wind speed: 1-5km/h

0 to 1 point

Calm is windless or almost windless weather in which maximum speed wind is no more than 0.5 m/s. When a gentle wind blows, light ripples appear on the sea. On land, with such a wind, the smoke deviates from the vertical direction.
Read on Don't Panic: http://dnpmag.com/2017/09/08/osnovnye-vetra-raznoj-sily/

Light, weak, moderate, fresh

Wind speed: 12-38km/h

2 to 5 points

Wind from 2 points is classified as light. It can sway the leaves of trees, its breath is felt on the skin. With 3 points, light wind, branches, flags begin to sway, short but pronounced waves appear on the sea. moderate wind, which is rated at 4 points, raises dust, blurs the outlines of smoke and creates white lambs on the water. A fresh wind of 5 points can shake thin trunks, cause whistling in the ears and form waves up to 2 meters high.

Strong, strong and very strong

Wind speed: 39 to 61 km/h

6 to 8 points

A strong wind of 6 points usually does not allow you to open an umbrella. It can easily bend thin trees and swing thick branches. The height of the waves reaches 3 meters. It is difficult to go against a strong wind, which is estimated at 7 points. It will be even more difficult to do this if the wind is very strong outside the window. It is also very difficult to speak in such a wind.

Storm

Wind speed: 75 to 88 km/h

9 to 11 points

The storm can be ordinary, strong and cruel. If the ordinary one just tears the tiles off the roofs and oppresses big trees, then his older "brothers" can destroy buildings, uproot trees and raise a wave 11 meters high.

Hurricane

Wind speed: over 117 km/h

A hurricane blows away literally everything in its path. Wind gusts can reach 50-60 m/sec. The wind can easily lift heavy objects into the air and carry them over considerable distances, sink ships and destroy monumental buildings.

Records

The strongest wind gust in history was recorded in 1934 on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA. For several minutes the wind was blowing at a speed of 123 m/s. The windiest place on the planet is Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica. There the wind blows constantly, and its speed reaches 240 km/h.

Where is the rainiest area on Earth located, who declared their territory the "lightning capital of the world" and what region in Russia is considered the most hail hazardous?

Wind

The most windy place in the world is the Antarctic coast of the Commonwealth Sea, where winds blow at a speed of 15 m/s or more almost daily.

Record gusts of wind near the surface of the Earth were recorded by an automatic weather station on the Australian island of Barrow on April 10, 1996 - they reached 113 m / s (408 km / h).

Tornado and tornado speeds have been higher, but their measurement is extremely life-threatening and there is no 100% data. However, according to the Guinness Book of Records, a tornado is considered the most powerful, which rushed through the Texas city of Wichita Falls on April 2, 1958 at a speed of 450 km / h. The speed estimate was made according to the colossal destruction produced. By the way, it is in the United States that a record number of tornadoes is observed - 65% of the global number. So, in April 2011, they counted 758, and in a day, April 27-28, 211 whirlwinds flew by. Almost all of them are formed in a kind of corridor that stretches through the valleys of the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers. locals call it "tornado alley". Tornadoes and tornadoes occur where it is warm and humid. sea ​​air comes into contact with dry and cold continental.

The record in Russia belongs to Kharlov Island in the Barents Sea. On February 8, 1986, wind gusts reached 52 m/s (187 km/h). Most often strong winds (starting from 15 m/s) are observed in the coastal zones of Kamchatka, Arkhangelsk, Magadan region, near Dikson and Novorossiysk.

The wind significantly "lowers" the air temperature felt by a person, worsens the comfort of the weather. We will feel the temperature of 0 °C with a wind of 10 m/s as -7 °C, with gusts of 20 m/s - already as -10 °C.

Reference

Wind speed at weather stations in most countries of the world is measured at a height of 10 m and averaged over 10 minutes. Instantaneous gusts of wind are investigated separately. Both observations are important: you need to know the wind regime of the region and extreme manifestations of the elements. Speed ​​is measured by a variety of instruments: anemometers, probes, radars.

Precipitation

Cherrapunji, a city in Indian state Meghalaya is considered one of the rainiest and most humid places on Earth. The average annual rainfall here is 11,777 mm.

As the longest, the rain is listed in the Guinness Book of Records, which was 247 days without a break on the island of Kauai in Hawaii from August 27, 1993 to April 30, 1994. The average rainfall on the island is up to 11,684 mm per year.

The driest place on Earth is located in Antarctica - this is the McMurdo Dry Valleys: there has been no snow and rain here for millions of years. There is also virtually no rainfall in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The only time an anomaly happened here: on May 19, 2010, short-term snow fell.

In Russia, the most precipitation is observed on the Achishkho mountain range near Sochi - about 3240 mm per year. The driest region is Caspian lowland- in some places less than 200 mm.

The comfortable norm for a person is humidity of 30-60%. Air, relative humidity which is below 20%, is rated as dry, more than 86% - as very wet. With dry air, a person is able to tolerate heat, but dehydration occurs.

Reference

The amount of precipitation is measured using a rain gauge bucket, which is mounted on a wooden pole inside a special cone-shaped protection. Precipitation falls from clouds in the form of rain, drizzle, snow, snow and ice pellets, freezing rain and hail.

hail

Hail is a short-term phenomenon and most often resembles small peas in size. But every year there are several cases of dangerous hail damage in the world. "Ice bombs" fall from the sky in India, in southern China, in Bangladesh, in western Kenya, in the USA ...

One of the hailstones that fell on July 23, 2010 in Vivian was kept in a refrigerator by American meteorologists and registered as a record: its diameter was 20 cm and its weight was 880 g. Hailstones of the same size, but weighing 1002 g, were the cause of the tragedy in Bangladesh 14 April 1986. According to eyewitnesses, in April 1981 in the province of Guangdong (China) hail weighing up to 7 kg was observed.

In Russia, it is most often observed in the southern regions.

Hail is considered dangerous if its diameter has reached 2 cm or more. In the village of Voznesenskaya on July 25, 1957, the largest hail in the history of observations in Krasnodar Territory. Individual hailstones weighed 1.5 kg.

Advice

If during the hailstorm you find yourself in a car, it is advisable to stop (but not get out) and turn around with your back to the windows, covering your head with your hands or clothes. If you are at home, you need to move away from the windows.

Storm

Worldwide centers of thunderstorms are located in certain areas of Central and South America, South-East Asia, Central and East Africa, that is, where high humidity and warm air lead to the rapid formation of rain clouds. For example, in Singapore, on average, there are 170 thunderstorms per year, in the Amazon basin - more than 200, on the island of Java - up to 220. The maximum thunderstorm activity occurs in Uganda - from 250 to 270 days a year. A thunderstorm in these regions can last from three to ten hours, while in Russia the average duration of one thunderstorm is no more than two hours. The maximum number of days with a thunderstorm - an average of 30-40 - falls on the Sochi region and the foothills of the Caucasus.

Thunderstorms are always accompanied by lightning and thunder.

Lightning

The highest concentration of lightning was recorded in the valley of the Catatumbo River, which flows into Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela), - 250 discharges over each square kilometer in year. The total number of lightnings during the year exceeds 1 million. Continuous discharges illuminate Catatumbo from 365 nights 140-160 times. Reflections of light are visible at a distance of up to 400 km. The Venezuelan municipality has declared the area the "lightning capital of the world."

Advice

A thunderstorm accompanied by lightning is one of the most dangerous for human life. natural phenomena. It is important to know the basic safety rules.

You can not be near power lines, under trees, especially standing alone, on open area and elevations. If you were on open space, it is best to squat down. It is undesirable to go into a thunderstorm under an umbrella with metal spokes. Do not allow during a thunderstorm contact with metal appliances and mobile phones, including indoors. It is better to wait out the elements in a shelter.

Air temperature

The absolute minimum temperature on Earth (-89.2 ° C) was recorded in Antarctica at the Vostok station on July 21, 1983. But since the station is located at an altitude of 3488 m, its readings cannot be considered a record. To compare different observations, they must be reduced to sea level. In that case, the most low temperatures end up in Yakutia. Officially, Verkhoyansk (137 m above sea level) is recognized as the cold pole of the planet, where on February 5-8, 1892, a temperature of -67.8 ° C was observed. Unofficially - the village of Oymyakon (745 m), in which serial meteorological observations began to be carried out much later. A number of sources provide data that in January 1916 the temperature here dropped to -82 °C.

As for the heat, in the Libyan city of El Azizia on September 13, 1922, a planetary record was registered in the shade: +57.7 ° С. Death Valley in California is not far behind - +56.7 ° С. The absolute maximum in Russia (+45.4 °C) was recorded at the Utta weather station in Kalmykia on July 12, 2010. By the way, many districts set their own regional records during the abnormally hot summer. For example, in Moscow on July 29, 2010, the air warmed up to +38.2 °C. By the way, the record minimum for the capital (-42.2 °C) was set in 1940.

Advice

Acclimatization of a person to a hot climate or arctic cold is individual. But clearly the inhabitants of temperate latitudes in more are subject to various disorders: heat stroke, impaired water metabolism, sunburn- which are fraught with consequences for the body. For them, air temperatures from +38 ° C (it is close to blood temperature) are already dangerous. In addition, people with non-pigmented skin are more likely to get a serious illness, especially with prolonged exposure to the sun.

Reference

According to international meteorological rules, air temperature is measured with a special thermometer, which is located at a height of 2 m from the soil surface in a well-ventilated booth, protected from direct sunlight and located away from buildings.

Records in one line

• The sunniest place on the planet is the city of Yuma in the state of Arizona, in Russia - Borzya in the Trans-Baikal Territory.
• The most foggy city in Russia is Yuzhno-Kurilsk, where this phenomenon is observed on average 118 days a year (in Moscow - about ten days).
• The strongest black ice covered the southeast of Canada and the northeast of the United States from January 4 to 10, 1998. The diameter of the deposits in some places reached record values ​​of 10-12 cm.
• The city of Loma in the state of Montana in the USA is the record holder for temperature change: during the day on January 15, 1972, the temperature jumped from -48 to +9 ° С.
• A record snowflake was recorded in the town of Fort Keo, Montana in January 1887 - its diameter was 38 cm (usually about 5 mm).
• The snowiest place in Russia is the village of Pushchino in Kamchatka. The minimum number of days with snow is observed in Sochi, but only 10 km from Krasnaya Polyana - on the Achishkho ridge, the snow height can be 10 m.

Image copyright Robert Mora Alamy Stock Photo Image caption Trees bent by the constant winds on the Catlins coast of New Zealand's South Island

Among the contenders for the title of the windiest point on the planet are the state of Oklahoma in the USA, Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and a small island off the coast of Australia. But it all depends on the parameters by which this blowing is measured. The correspondent understood the problem of windiness.

Barrow Island, Australia

On this small island, located off the northwestern coast of Australia, at times it is fairly drafty.

On April 10, 1996, an automatic weather station located there registered wind gusts of up to 408 kilometers per hour. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), these are the strongest wind gusts on record.

Typhoon Olivia produced the most powerful single wind gust, but did not become the most powerful tropical cyclone in history

This serious record was set with the help of tropical cyclone Olivia.

Tropical cyclones are rotating areas of storm winds. They occur when warm and wet air rises from the surface of the ocean and forms a low-pressure weather system.

The typhoon accelerates the trade winds, blowing towards the equator. The column of rising air is swirling due to the so-called Coriolis effect, in which the rotation of the Earth deflects winds away from the equator.

Such weather systems are capable of generating hurricane-force winds. Particularly powerful cyclones are called on Far East and in Southeast Asia by typhoons, and in North and South America- hurricanes.

So, Typhoon Olivia produced the most powerful single gust of wind - which, however, does not make it the most powerful tropical cyclone in history. To do this, it is better to evaluate the storm by the parameter of sustainable wind speed.

Typhoon Nancy of 1961 appears to be the champion in this category, according to the WMO. It formed over Pacific Ocean and led to the death of 170 people when it hit the coast of Japan.

Sustained wind speeds of up to 346 kilometers per hour were reported during that typhoon - although meteorologists now suspect that this estimate may have been somewhat overestimated.

However, helical tornadoes can generate even stronger wind gusts.

This means that one of the most windy places on Earth is located exactly in the middle of the United States.

Oklahoma State, USA

A tornado is a rotating vertical vortex that forms between the lower edge of thunderclouds and the earth's surface.

If instead of earth there is water below, then such a whirlwind is called a waterspout.

Tornadoes are "the most violent of all atmospheric storms," ​​according to the National Storm Laboratory, located in the city of Norman in US state Oklahoma.

Tornadoes can drive the wind to incredible strength, but they don't last long.

They can occur anywhere in the world, but there are more of them in the US than anywhere else - especially in the southeastern states, nicknamed "Tornado Alley".

In Oklahoma, WMO celebrated the most high speed winds for this type of vortex: 486 kilometers per hour. It happened on May 3, 1999 in the Bridge Creek area.

Although tornadoes can drive the wind to incredible levels, they don't last long.

But there are also places in the world where a powerful wind blows all year round.

South ocean

As a result of uneven heating of the surface of our planet by the Sun, giant belts of prevailing winds are formed above it.

Trade winds blow steadily at 30 degrees north and south of the equator. At a latitude of 40°, westerly winds dominate, and in the region of 60°, polar easterlies dominate.

If you ask any sailor who has undertaken circumnavigation, he will answer without hesitation that the strongest winds - and the biggest waves - are found in the Southern Ocean.

These rugged southern latitudes have entered maritime folklore under the nicknames of the "Roaring Forties", "Furious Fifties" and "Shrill Sixties".

Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, in the Southern Hemisphere, on the path of the prevailing westerly winds there are almost no continents - so the wind can accelerate without interference to speeds of over 150 kilometers per hour.

Antarctica

In Antarctica, katabatic, or downward, winds blow. They arise due to a combination of a cold climate and the peculiar shape of the polar continent.

"The constant cooling of the surface, especially during the Antarctic winter when the sun barely or never rises above the horizon, results in a thin layer of cold, dense air just above the surface," explains John King of the British Antarctic Research Centre, located in Cambridge.

"Antarctica is domed, so cold air moves from its higher center towards the coasts," says the expert. "As a result of the Earth's rotation, this air does not move down in a straight line: it deviates to the left along the way."

From February 1912 to December 1913, scientists measured the wind speed at Cape Denison in the Commonwealth Sea in the east of Antarctica. And to this day it is believed that of all the weather stations located at sea level, this one is located in the most blown place.

On July 6, 1913, a record for the average wind force per hour was recorded at this station: it amounted to 153 km / h.

According to the Beaufort scale widely used to estimate wind speed, the weather at Cape Denison is, on average, regarded as stormy.

Sir Douglas Mawson, who led the expedition to Cape Denison, wrote: "The climate is essentially a year-round snowstorm and blizzard: gale-force winds roar for weeks, interrupted only occasionally for a couple of hours."

The combination of strong winds and sub-zero temperatures makes it difficult to measure the strength of katabatic winds.

Firstly, if the storm has broken out in earnest, it can demolish the measuring equipment and the masts on which it is attached.

But even when the storm subsides, common types of cup or vane anemometers (wind instruments) often freeze and become covered in ice.

"You can use ultrasonic anemometers that have no moving parts and can be heated to avoid icing," says King. "But they don't work very well in high winds with snow."

In general, measuring wind speed in Antarctica is not at all easy.