National Geographic: Cyclone! Page #3

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feeding on moisture and heat.

When winds reach 74 miles an hour,

a hurricane is born.

The storm's architecture is

highly organized.

Rain bands up to 300 miles long

converge in the most violent sector:

the "eye wall".

Here, winds of up to 200 miles

an hour spiral upward.

Within the "eye", down drafts of

dry air create an eerie calm.

Most severe tropical storms spin

out their lives,

uneventfully, in the open sea.

When one threatens to come ashore,

the world's eyes are trained upon it

- including those of Jim Leonard.

A professional storm chaser,

Jim checks forecasts religiously.

He prowls the globe for weather

that most people would simply flee.

Among chasers, Jim has few peers.

Some say he has videotaped more

severe storms than anyone on earth.

He has no formal training,

no college degree in meteorology.

Just a life-long passion.

When I was ten years old

I had my first real hurricane

experience with Hurricane Donna.

We got probably winds of 80,

It was quite an exhilarating

experience at that point.

People think I'm crazy but, that's,

you know, that's their own opinion.

It's not gonna change.

I've always been crazy about storms,

I always will be.

The best of them all, probably,

was Hurricane Hugo,

went down to Puerto Rico

and got a direct hit.

And as it got stronger and stronger,

debris was starting to be

lifted off the parking lot,

and it looked like it was gonna

get blown back toward us.

So we decided at that point to start

going down the stairway.

As we're going down the stairwell,

the rain is being driven into the

walls through the stairs,

coming down the stairway.

And the wind you see up here

squealing.

At this point it's probably

in excess of 150 miles an hour.

And that was quite an experience.

It was like, one of the chasers

called it the Hallway from Hell.

I have no reason to be in a storm

if it's gonna scare me.

I'll, y'know, get to the point,

y'know, y'know, play the safe route

as far as I can.

But if I want to get that

ultimate shot, y'know,

of course you're gonna take

some chances.

Now is this a piece of wind

or is it a piece of wind?

Really! I wouldn't miss a great

eye wall like this for anything.

Jim and a fellow tracker have

a close call

as Omar's eye wall comes ashore.

Now the storm's placid eye

engulfs them.

It seems over, it really does,

but it's not.

We're gonna get blitzed again.

It's so eerie. I know.

I can't believe that

we're going to get blitzed again.

It seems impossible.

That was flabbergasting.

The unsettling lull does not last.

Here, the trailing edge of the

eye wall rushes in,

with winds blowing in the

opposite direction.

God, I didn't... no way!

It looked like it was gonna wait

a few minutes!

It wasn't comin' on as fast.

Yeah! If I knew it was this,

I would've hurried more.

In 1991, Jim achieves a

personal best.

Typhoon Yuri, when it came,

approached

the southern part of Guam,

I did a little bit of

carelessness there

but I got the storm surge shots

that I always wanted to get.

The water came up a little faster

than I thought it would.

Winds and low pressure allow the

sea surface to rise

near the storm's eye.

When it hits land, this mound of

water rushes ashore.

That's what you call storm surge!

Great.

Oh, great!

When the surge is waist-deep,

Jim retreats.

He, more than most, knows that

a hurricane's most deadly weapon

is not wind, but water.

Nine out of ten hurricane victims

are drowned by storm surges.

They can raise tides more than

twenty feet above normal,

and flood a hundred miles of

coastline under ten feet of water.

Fifteen percent of the world's

population live at risk

from severe tropical storms.

Atlantic hurricanes assault

the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean.

Typhoons born over

the western Pacific Ocean

batter Japan, China,

and the Philippines.

Mostly deadly are the cyclones

that strike Bangladesh.

Here, millions farm a river delta in

places only inches above sea level.

Escape routes are few.

Loss of life has been appalling.

In a single 1970's storm,

over 300,000 dead.

Of all the atmosphere's threats,

these giants should hardly catch us

off guard.

Weather satellites track them

from birth.

But no technology can predict

exactly where one will go.

To penetrate

the hurricane's secrets,

researchers ride a flying laboratory

into the eye of the storm.

David?

Yes, sir.

We're gonna go in at 10,000 feet.

At ten, No?

Yeah. We're playin' it safe.

Looks impressive, anyway.

We have about 15 miles to the

beginning of the wall here.

External sensors

measure temperature,

air pressure, humidity,

and wind speed

as the plane braves the turbulence

of the eye wall.

We've got a hundred

knots of wind, now.

I thought it might drop off

but it hasn't.

Not yet.

If it hasn't by now

it probably won't.

We may see some 200 knot gusts here.

Okay, we're just coming into

the edge now.

An oasis of calm

over nine miles tall,

the eye is virtually clear

from sea to sky.

You guys see the center

down below there?

I think we're just about

directly over it.

Looks good, looks good.

I think we got the center.

OK, I'll mark it.

The eye's exact location

and vital statistics

are sent to forecasters on shore.

Data also flows to this

meteorological think- tank,

the Hurricane Research Division,

in Miami, Florida.

What global ingredients determine

how many hurricanes are born

each year,

and what paths they follow?

Stanley Goldenberg, research

meteorologist,

says clues range from the El Nino

phenomenon to rainfall in Africa.

He crafts computer models

based on the premise

that an organized piece of weather

like a hurricane

can be defined

in mathematical terms.

The atmosphere is an orderly

universe.

There's physical rules, physical

laws that govern these things.

It's just a matter of having

the right data,

looking at it with the right tools

and the right analyzes.

I mean, the real art is pulling

the information out of the data.

Goldenberg helped refine one of

the models

the National Hurricane Center

uses to issue forecasts.

But he had never experienced a

hurricane on the ground until 1992.

On August 17th, Tropical Storm

Andrew takes shape,

about halfway between Africa

and the Caribbean.

During the following days,

the storm slowly intensifies.

Then, high level winds begin to

tear Andrew apart,

slowing its momentum.

It's slower.

It's the slowest one.

Three days puts it here.

So by four days...

To Goldenberg, and most other

meteorologists,

Andrew has only the slimmest chance

of ever becoming a hurricane.

Friday, August 21st.

As high level winds die down,

Andrew begins to reorganize,

and quickly gathers strength.

Computer models show Andrew might

head toward southern Florida,

but Goldenberg and his colleagues

dismiss any immediate threat.

Stan leaves work early, to prepare

for an important weekend.

His wife Barbara is due to deliver

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