ENVIRONMENT & TECHNOLOGY Extreme Weather Phenomena WARM-UP SPEAKING Hai mai assistito a un evento climatico estremo? Oppure hai mai visto un film su questo argomento? Racconta alla classe. North America has many extreme weather phenomena, even if it’s a continent and not an island. Extreme weather events are not new, but global warming is making these events more frequent and dangerous. Meteorologists use important information coming from satellites to warn people if they are in danger. Hurricane A hurricane is a type of storm called “tropical cyclone” which forms over tropical waters. It causes a lot of rain and winds that blow at 120 km/h or more. Hurricane Wilma hit southern Florida in October 2005. It was the most intense Atlantic hurricane in history, with winds that reached 295 km/h and destroyed everything they found on their way. The “eye” of Wilma was only 37 km in diameter, quite small to be a hurricane (the average is between 35 and 60 km). When a hurricane’s eye is small, it means that the storm is very intense. Tornado A tornado is a tube of violently spinning air that touches the ground . Winds inside the tornado are incredibly fast, for this reason it is a really devastating event. On 31 May, 2013, a violent tornado hit El Reno, Oklahoma. It was the most violent tornado in history: its winds reached 480 km/h! Fourteen people died and a large part of the city was destroyed. st Blizzard A blizzard is a powerful snowstorm with very low temperatures, strong winds, and a lot of snow. In March 1993, the East Coast of the US had the most violent blizzard in American history. The snow and ice caused so much damage that this phenomenon was called the “Storm of the Century”. In some areas such as downtown Syracuse, New York, snow reached more than 1.2 metres. Snow and ice covered more than 550,000 square miles and impacted nearly 120 million people in the three states of New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. GLOSSARY : : : : : : : : : : to blow soffiare chaser cacciatore fund fondo ground terra powerful potente to reach raggiungere snowstorm tempesta di neve to spin roteare to switch off spegnere to warn avvertire