Hurricanes 



Scott Taylor 



spouts, or tornadoes over water. 



Waterspouts come in two types: those 

 associated with severe thunderstorms and 

 those that form in very instable atmo- 

 spheric conditions in the fall. 



Severe thunderstorm spouts often start 

 over land as true tornadoes and then move 

 over water. They come complete with sin- 

 ister, snake-like funnels, enormous over- 

 head clouds and a frenzied roar of rapidly 

 rotating winds. Sometimes they whirl 

 across the ocean's surface for more than 

 an hour. 



The cold-air spout forms only over 

 water, developing as spiraling funnels from 



low clouds near the sea surface or from 

 showers. They are usually small and last 

 from two to 20 minutes. 



Hinn says that waterspouts are most 

 prevalent along the Tar Heel coast in the 

 fall when very warm water temperatures 

 contrast 'with cool air temperatures. The 

 warm air rising off the water and the cool 

 air descending from above can be set into 

 a circular motion by the earth's rotation. 



Waterspouts can be dangerous. Hinn 

 says. Any boat caught in the twisting fun- 

 nel can be torn apart by strong and shift- 

 ing winds. If boaters spot a waterspout, 

 they should determine its direction, Hinn 

 says, and then move at right angles away 

 from the whirling funnel. 



Northeasters 



From late winter until early spring, 

 coastal residents anticipate the arrival of 

 northeasters with the same dread they feel 

 for the arrival of their least favorite relative. 



Like the unwanted guest, these win- 

 ter stomis come on strong, stay too long 

 and leave destruction in their wake. 



Northeasters are counterclockwise 

 rotating low-pressure systems that travel 

 northward along the Atlantic Seaboard. 

 They are frequently laden with battering 

 winds, driving rain or snow, and lashing 

 waves that can lick up vast quantities of 

 beach sand. 



Northeasters are notorious for hurling 

 their erosive forces at the North Carolina 

 coast. In fact, in recent years these stomis 

 have been more destructive and costly for 

 our coastline than hurricanes. 



Besides their winds and waves, north- 

 easters also possess an enduring quality. 

 These winter storms can park off the coast 

 for days, battering the shoreline on high 

 tide after high tide, says Spencer Rogers, 

 Sea Grant's coastal engineer. 



And where these storms do the most 

 damage depends on the orientation of the 

 shoreline and the position of the storm. 



The famous Ash Wednesday north- 

 easter of the 1960s terrorized communities 

 along the Outer Banks. But the New Year's 

 Eve northeaster of 1987 wreaked havoc 

 along the southeastern shore. 



Three types of northeasters travel 

 North Carolina's offshore waters. 



The first type moves from the Gulf of 

 Mexico to the South Atlantic, typically 

 close to Cape Hatteras. There, the storm 

 draws strength from the warm waters of 

 the Gulf Stream before hurling northward. 



These systems are called Hatteras 

 lows, and in the 1980s, a team of scientists 

 assembled in North Carolina to study the 

 formation of these famous storms. 



Researchers from North Carolina 

 State University's Department of Marine, 

 Earth and Atmospheric Science played a 

 major role in the study. And now their re- 

 search is paying off in the design of mod- 

 els that will help forecasters predict the 

 notorious winter troublemakers (see Field 

 Notes, page 17). 



Another type of northeaster forms 

 when a strong low pressure system in the 

 Great Lakes or the Ohio Valley transfers its 

 energy to a developing low-pressure sys- 

 tem along the Mid-Atlantic coast. 



The third variety of these winter 

 storms derives from a rare alignment of 

 weather systems. A strong high-pressure 

 system in the Northeast combines with low 

 pressure in the Southeast to make for 

 strong northeast winds, building waves, 

 rough seas and higher high tides. 



Northeaster activity along the Tar 

 Heel coast varies and depends on the 

 presence of an upper level trough of low 

 pressure over the Southeast and the posi- 

 tion of the polar and subtropical jet streams. 



Hurricanes 



From Currituck to Calabash, coastal 

 populations are burgeoning. Most of the 

 newcomers are taie-blue landlubbers who 

 never hung a gill net, cleaned a crab or 

 experienced a hurricane. 



Continued on the next page 



take on an ominous, more life-threatening significance... 



COASTXXATCH 3 



