Extreme Weather Solutions

Before Video

• Any weather that is outside the realm of normal patterns.

• Yes. Extreme weather is something caused by natural processes that has the potential to harm humans and cause a lot of damage so it can be called a natural hazard.

• No. Humans cannot eliminate natural hazards, but they can work to reduce the impact of natural hazards.

After Video

• Sometimes. By looking at patterns of where and when different types of extreme weather occurred in the past, we can predict the most likely times and places it will occur again. For example, we know that hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean occurs each year between June and September because that’s when hurricanes have hit that area in the past. However, predicting exactly when a tornado will touch down is very difficult.

• By knowing when, where and what kind of extreme weather might occur, people can be prepared and hopefully reduce the impact when an event does happen.

• Dr. Jeff, Izzy and Zoe tested out a high sea wall to block more water from coming over, rocks to slow the speed of the water by spreading out the energy of the waves and a recurved wall which redirected the energy of the wave back out to sea.

• Dr. Jeff, Izzy and Zoe tested three possible solutions to reduce flooding using the water wave machine. The evidence that helped them determine which worked best was the amount of water that flooded the area representing land. Without any barrier, they collected over 1000 mL of water. The high sea wall was better, but 300 mL was collected. With the rocks, only 100 mL flooded and even less water flooded with the recurved wall.

• Dr. Jeff, Izzy and Zoe built models of two types of roofs and tested them using a powerful air blower to represent strong winds. They observed what happened when testing their models. They saw that hip roofs, which have angled ends, stand up better to strong winds than gable roofs, which have flat ends.

• The team built models of two homes with lights on inside. One house had a lightning rod and the other did not. They then simulated a lightning strike on both houses. The evidence they found to support that lightning rods reduce the impact of lighting is that the lights stayed on in the home with the lightning rod. In the house without the lightning rod, the lights were blown out.

• Tornado Alley is a name for a region in the middle of the US from Texas to North Dakota where large tornados are likely to occur. Because of past patterns of extreme weather, people who live in Tornado Alley know to be prepared for tornadoes to occur and can take precautions to reduce their impact such as building safe rooms from specially engineered materials.

• Heat waves are extended periods of extremely hot weather. The heat is especially dangerous to humans when humidity is high. If humidity is low, heat waves can lead to wildfires. Heat waves actually cause more loss of life per year than tornadoes, floods and hurricanes combined.