Types of Severe Weather

Types of Severe Weather

Grade 6 Science

Floods​

• ​CAUSES:

  • ​Heavy rain

  • Overflowing rivers and oceans

  • Hurricane storm surges

• ​EFFECTS:

  • ​They destroy houses and buildings

  • Carry soil away from valuable farming land

  • ​Contaminate drinking water and lead to diseases

Floods​

​Droughts

• ​CAUSES:

  • ​Little or no rainfall for a long period of time

  • ​Human impact (cutting down trees, construction, farming)

  • ​Unusually high temperatures

• ​EFFECTS:

  • Lakes, ponds, rivers dry out

  • Animals and plants unable to survive

  • ​People can't farm, grow crops, raise animals --> starvation, famine

​Droughts

​Thunderstorms

• ​CAUSES:

  • ​Warm, moist air in a cloud rises

  • ​Warm air meets cold air as it quickly rises up

  • ​Water droplets form (rain)

  • ​Force creates electrical activity (lightening)

• ​EFFECTS:

  • ​Heavy rain, thunder and lightening

  • ​Can cause tornadoes

  • ​Flooding

  • Damage to trees

​Thunderstorms

Hail

• ​CAUSES:

  • ​Hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze.

  • ​Get larger as they fall and collide with water droplets that freeze

• EFFECTS

  • Danger for planes

    ​Damage to vehicles/dangerous driving conditions

    ​Damage to property

    ​Possibly deadly for humans/animals

    ​Destroys crops/farmland

​HAIL

​Blizzards

• ​CAUSES:

  • ​Cold air that is below freezing

  • ​Wind at least 35 MPH

  • ​Low visibility (cannot see farther than 400 m)

• ​EFFECTS:

  • ​Powerful winds take out power lines (sometimes can be stronger than hurricane winds!)

  • Dangerous driving conditions

  • ​Danger of freezing/hypothermia

​Blizzards

​Windstorms

• ​CAUSES:

  • ​Pressure in the atmosphere

  • ​Can come before a thunderstorm

  • ​Wind speeds more than 55 km (34 miles) per hour

  • Different from hurricanes or tornadoes - wind movement is STRAIGHT not ROTATING

• ​EFFECTS:

  • ​Damage to trees, buildings, power lines

  • ​May lead to power outages, dangerous road conditions

​WINDSTORMS: Macroburst

​WINDSTORMS: Microburst

​WINDSTORMS: habūb or dust storm

​Windstorms

Multiple Choice

Which picture better relates to "Hurricane"?

Multiple Choice

What type of severe weather caused this?

• Flood

• Tornado

• Drought

Multiple Choice

What is this a picture of?

• Snow

• Cotton Balls

• Hail

Multiple Choice

A mudslide is a type of....

• Hurricane

• Tornado

• Flash Flood

Multiple Choice

Which is NOT a condition that must be present to create a thunderstorm?

• Warm air must rise quickly and continue to rise

• Lightning has to set something on fire

• The air in the cloud must stay warmer than the air around it

Multiple Choice

When lightening heats the air around it, and the air expands quickly, what does this cause?

(HINT: It always comes AFTER lightening!)

• Thunder

• Wind

• Precipitation

• Evaporation

Multiple Choice

What is a flood?

• A flood is a condition in which a is place without any water

• A condition in which a place has lots of diseases

• A flood is a condition in which vast areas of normally dry land are covered by water

• None of the above

Multiple Choice

What can cause a drought ?

• No rain

• Flood

• Fog

• tsunami

Multiple Choice

Every snow storm is a blizzard.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Which one of these things is part of a blizzard?

• strong winds

• rain

• thunder

• warm air

Multiple Choice

Windstorms are different from hurricanes because they do not have to have thunder or lightening.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

People who depend on farming would suffer if there was a drought.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Hail is formed when updraft winds carry water droplets high up until they freeze and fall to the ground.

• True

• False