...WRITTEN BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI...

...CONTINUING HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS WEEK IN TEXAS...

...HURRICANE HAZARDS - HIGH WINDS AND TORNADOES...

HURRICANES PRODUCE A NUMBER OF WEATHER HAZARDS. ARGUABLY THE 
MOST AWESOME AND DANGEROUS FORCE AT WORK DURING A HURRICANE 
IS THE WIND. WINDS IN A HURRICANE CIRCULATE COUNTER CLOCKWISE 
AND BECOME INCREASINGLY STRONGER AS YOU APPROACH THE CENTER OF 
THE STORM IN A REGION CALLED THE EYE WALL. THE DESTRUCTIVE 
WINDS IN THIS EYE WALL REGION REACH SUSTAINED SPEEDS OF 74 
MILES PER HOUR OR GREATER AND WIND GUSTS CAN BE CONSIDERABLY 
HIGHER. WIND SPEED USUALLY DECREASES SIGNIFICANTLY WITHIN 12 
HOURS AFTER LANDFALL. NONETHELESS, WINDS CAN STAY ABOVE 
HURRICANE STRENGTH WELL INLAND AS HURRICANE  CLAUDETTE 
DEMONSTRATED LAST YEAR.  

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS CAN EASILY DESTROY POORLY CONSTRUCTED 
BUILDINGS AND MOBILE HOMES. DEBRIS SUCH AS SIGNS...ROOFING 
MATERIAL...AND SMALL ITEMS LEFT OUTSIDE BECOME FLYING MISSILES 
IN HURRICANES.  EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO TREES...TOWERS...WATER 
AND UNDERGROUND UTILITY LINES (FROM UPROOTED TREES)...AND 
FALLEN POLES CAUSE CONSIDERABLE DISRUPTION.  HIGH RISE 
BUILDINGS ARE ALSO VULNERABLE TO HURRICANE FORCE WINDS...
PARTICULARLY AT THE HIGHER LEVELS SINCE WIND SPEED TENDS 
TO INCREASE WITH HEIGHT. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS YOU SHOULD 
STAY BELOW THE TENTH FLOOR... BUT STILL ABOVE ANY FLOORS AT 
RISK FOR FLOODING. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR HIGH RISE BUILDINGS 
TO SUFFER A GREAT DEAL OF DAMAGE DUE TO WINDOWS BEING BLOWN 
OUT.   

HURRICANE INTENSITY IS DETERMINED BY THE SPEED OF THE WIND 
AND POTENTIAL DAMAGE. A CATEGORY 1 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-
SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE...HAS LIGHTER WINDS COMPARED TO 
STORMS OF HIGHER CATEGORIES. A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE WOULD 
HAVE WINDS BETWEEN 131 AND 155 MPH AND...ON THE AVERAGE...
WOULD USUALLY BE EXPECTED TO CAUSE 100 TIMES THE DAMAGE OF 
THE CATEGORY 1 STORM. DEPENDING ON CIRCUMSTANCES...LESS 
INTENSE STORMS MAY STILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO PRODUCE 
DAMAGE...PARTICULARLY IN AREAS THAT HAVE NOT PREPARED IN 
ADVANCE.

ALTHOUGH HURRICANE TRACK FORECASTING HAS IMPROVED 
SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE PAST FEW DECADES...FORECASTING 
THE INTENSITY OF THE WIND  HAS SHOWN LITTLE IMPROVEMENT 
AND IS THE MOST DIFFICULT TO PREDICT. AS COASTAL RESIDENTS 
ALONG THE MID TEXAS COAST EXPERIENCED WITH HURRICANE 
CLAUDETTE LAST YEAR...A HURRICANE CAN STRENGTHEN RAPIDLY. 
WHEN PREPARING FOR A HURRICANE LANDFALL...YOU SHOULD 
CONSIDER PLANNING FOR A STORM AT LEAST 1 CATEGORY HIGHER 
THAN FORECAST. 

HURRICANES CAN ALSO PRODUCE TORNADOES THAT ADD TO THE 
STORMS DESTRUCTIVE POWER.  TORNADOES ARE MOST LIKELY TO 
OCCUR IN THE RIGHT FRONT QUADRANT OF THE HURRICANE. 
HOWEVER THEY ARE ALSO OFTEN FOUND ELSEWHERE EMBEDDED IN 
THE RAINBANDS...WELL AWAY FROM THE CENTER OF THE HURRICANE. 

SOME HURRICANES SEEM TO PRODUCE NO TORNADOES...WHILE OTHER 
DEVELOP MULTIPLE ONES. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT MORE THAN 
HALF OF THE LANDFALLING HURRICANES PRODUCE AT LEAST ONE 
TORNADO. HURRICANE BEULAH...WHICH STRUCK THE SOUTH TEXAS 
COAST IN 1967 SPAWNED 141 TORNADOES. IN GENERAL TORNADOES 
ASSOCIATED WITH HURRICANES ARE LESS INTENSE THAT THOSE 
THAT OCCUR IN THE GREAT PLAINS. NONETHELESS...THE EFFECTS 
OF TORNADOES ADDED TO THE LARGER AREA OF HURRICANE FORCE 
WINDS...CAN PRODUCE SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE.