Name:_________________________Class:__________ Date:__________

PRINTOUT # D - 2

1. What is a storm surge?
2. What do storm surges have to do with hurricanes?
3. What is the chief determining factor that determines the category of a hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale?
4. In the last century, how many category 5 hurricanes have struck N.Y.?______

How many category 4?______ How many category 3?______

5. Based on records of past storms, what is the frequency with which a 'category 5' hurricane is likely to strike New York? Explain.
6. Why does global warming cause sea level to rise?
7. What is a 'five-hundred year flood'? Will a five-hundred year flood' necessarily occur every 500 years?

©2003
David J. Leveson & Wayne G. Powell