hurricanes can be a lot scarier than we often realize especially since they can actually trigger earthquakes this surprising and frightening phenomenon known as storm Quakes was discovered completely by accident not too long ago it started with scientists trying to find out more about lowf frequency earthquakes we're talking about those earthquakes that are so weak that we can't actually feel the Tremor see beneath her feet the Earth is constantly vibrating in subtle unceasing ways that we can't hear or see without the right equipment this geologic hum so to speak is driven by the movement of oceans
which covers about 70% of our planet surface scientists have found that this hum may actually provide useful records of environmental happenings to figure out where it's coming from experts use equipment known as seismometers you can think of these devices as little ears pressed to the ground they can pick up all sorts of vibrations like fans jumping up and down at their Idols concert airplanes flying by or even super distant earthquakes shaking the ground very low frequency earthquakes are hard to track over long distances because the signals they produce can look different on different measuring devices
to solve this problem experts came up with a way to track these signals by combining readings from smaller areas kind of like putting together a puzzle but while doing this they stumbled upon a strange set of events that looked a bit like the earthquake Quakes they were studying but were not exactly the same the first weird thing they noticed was that this specific phenomenon was seasonal it never happened between May and August for example that is completely different from earthquakes which can pretty much happen any time of the year the second strange thing is that
earthquakes usually occur more in the western part of the United States where the ground moves along cracks in the surface but these new strange vibration spread not just along the west coast of North America but also over to the east side so what could be triggering this new phenomenon what they surprisingly discovered is that many of these Tremors coincided with the same time that massive storms hit North America so we are essentially talking about a chain reaction what happens is that during a specific season hurricanes or heavy storms can transfer energy into the oceans creating
very strong waves these waves then interact with the solid earth producing intense seismic activity these bursts of energy that are born from massive storms can radiate thousands of miles across continents leading to what we now call Storm Quakes It is believed that this phenomenon can trigger earthquakes at a magnitude of up to 3.5 on the RoR scale this means it can be felt by many people but normally doesn't cause any damage but that doesn't mean we can all be relaxed now as ocean waters can indeed increase the intensity of hurricanes just like what happened with
the frightening hurricane melon which recently left a path of Destruction across Florida the blue purplish Zone you're looking at is Hurricane Melton seen from a satellite perspective on October 9th this hurricane sustained winds of 155 mph and lashed the region with heavy rainfall damaging winds and life-threatening Storm surges estimate show that the losses could be up to $34 billion which could make it one of the costliest storms in United States history what happened with hurricane Milton was pretty tricky it all started with some record hot water in the Gulf of Mexico that warm water acted
like a PowerUp giving this hurricane the energy it needed to grow and then there was also this process called eyewall replacement that helped it get bigger too we'll get to that in a moment so as hurricane Milton approach the coast something unusual happened a cross path with a fast-moving air current called the jet stream which flows high up in the atmosphere now normally the winds in the Northern and Northwest parts of a hurricane are not as strong as those in other areas but because of this interaction with the jet stream the winds in these parts
of the storm became much stronger than expected at nearly every turn hurricane Milton surprised everyone and intensified faster than we have seen seen in ages it threatened to slam both Florida's West and East coasts with a dangerous surge of water putting the bustling area of Tampa Bay which is home to over 3 million people at serious risk so how did Milton become such a major problem well the problem started in the Eastern Pacific Ocean usually hurricanes follow a fairly predictable path spinning off of Africa's Coast sailing across the Atlantic and gaining strength in the warm
Caribbean Waters but m had a Twist in its origin story it began as the remnants of a tropical depression that crossed over the Yucatan Peninsula and met a stalled front in the Gulf once Milton got going it didn't hold back but when it hit those record high ocean temperatures it was like giving it an energy drink the warm water and humid air were the perfect ingredients for a hurricane on the rise quickly Milton's wind speeds increased by 92 mph so it went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in less than 2 days
which is basically insane and off the charts and if that wasn't enough hurricane Milton also went through this thing called eyewall replacement now hurricanes spin around a mostly Clear Eye in the center but overnight Milton started forming new bands of rain on its outer edges creating a second ring around its on this process helped Milton grow even bigger spreading out the wind speeds and giving it a larger footprint it's kind of like shedding its skin and getting ready to become even more powerful hurricane Melton also had this little wobble in its bat which changed where
it was heading you can think of it like a spinning top that gets nudged and Wobbles a bit before finding its balance again that wobble meant some areas could get either hit hard or be spared from the worst of the storm thankfully hurricane Milton weakened a bit because of some tricky wind changes up in the atmosphere until it finally made landfall after that it moved across the peninsula and headed out to sea quickly losing strength as it pulled away from the warmer Waters now even though the damage was significant the good news if you can
call it that is that experts were honestly expecting things to be way way worse still it raises a question how close was Milton's wind speed to the maximum or in other words is there a limit to how strong a hurricane can get well the answer is yes there is a speed limit for Hurricane winds but it's not a set number right now the strongest the storm can get is around 200 mph but that maximum speed can change depending on many factors like the heat in the ocean think of the ocean as the fuel for hurricanes
the warmer the water the more fuel these storms have to work with experts believe that as the oceans continue to warm they can ramp up the wind speeds and the impacts of hurricanes making them a lot stronger but other things can also help figure out how intense a hurricane can get for example the heat in the air and the temperature at the top of the clouds matter as they also affect how fast heat moves from the ocean surface to the top of the storm some estimates suggest that maximum wind speeds could reach closer to 220
mph until the end of the century so it's definitely something that experts need to keep an eye on to help prevent future disasters as we move forward it's essential to keep researching and studying these storms the more we understand them the better we can protect ourselves and our communities that's it for today so hey if you pacified your curiosity then give the video a like and share it with your friends or if you want more just click on these videos and stay on the bright side
