Environmental Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Environmental Science - Essay Example And even the general perception about them is that ‘they are less destructive than other storms’. For this very reason so little is known about nor’easters. Nor’easters are said to have caused heavy snow falls in New England and the Middle Atlantic states. In recent years, the US coastal areas have also been hit by a series of nor’easters. All this has led to more attention towards these storms. Researchers have found that apart from their origins in atmospheric disturbances and their cyclonic winds, hurricanes and nor’easters bear little resemblance to each other. Hurricanes are warm-core systems and thus limited in height by the colder upper air, while nor’easters are cold-core systems that do not lose intensity with height. Unlike hurricanes, nor’easters do not necessarily form over the open ocean. Nor’easters are supposed to require the support of the jet stream to form, so their prevalence is closely related to season al changes in the position and the strength of the jet. Correlation of data for the past 50 yrs suggest that the annual frequency of the strongest nor’easter is positively correlated with southerly jet-stream position over the eastern US. Wind’s speed, its duration and the distance are the three factors affecting the growth of waves. With an increase in any of these factors, the height of the storm surge increases. October to April is the primary nor’easter season with February being the most active month. Some of the features of nor’easters which can be summarized based on recent studies are; Because of their diffuse structure, they are difficult to characterize, categorize and predict. Having not able to establish a direct relationship between a nor’easter’s wind speed and its destructive power has made the task of classification and comparison of these storms more difficult. Researchers assert that one possible cause for the