weather patterns in the western hemisphere from an altitude of 22,236 miles 35,785 km On October 22 2012 one of the GOES saw a disturbance over the Caribbean Sea Swirls of clouds appeared south of Kingston Jamaica Meteorologists took notice They watched the swirls grow and strengthen The swirls became a storm The storm was soon named Tropical Storm Sandy Sandy moved northward It crossed Jamaica and Cuba and grew into a hurricane The meteorologists used computer programs to predict Hurricane Sandy’s 6 IN THE REAL WORLD GOES The GOES system monitors Earth’s weather Scientists engineers and technicians design and build the satellites Other teams use rockets to launch the satellites into space Technicians control the satellites and collect their pictures and data Meteorologists study the pictures and data to create weather forecasts The first of these satellites was launched in October 1975 As new ones are launched old ones are shut off
October 24 October 26 October 28 The Path of Hurricane Sandy Computers predicted many possible paths Hurricane Sandy could follow The predictions shifted as the storm moved and scientists collected more data It was hoped that the storm would remain over the Atlantic Ocean and then dissipate Instead Sandy crossed over land These maps show predictions of the storm’s path on October 24 26 and 28 How did the predictions change as time went on course They determined the storm would likely strike land near New Jersey around October 29 Sandy continued to strengthen as it moved across the 7
ocean It slammed into the New Jersey coast right on schedule Early forecasts of Sandy’s path gave people along the coastline time to prepare They protected their homes and stocked up on supplies Emergency responders got ready for the storm In many places local governments ordered citizens to evacuate They wanted people to wait out the storm in safer places In spite of the preparation Hurricane Sandy killed more than 200 people A total of 106 of them were Americans The other fatalities occurred in island countries including Haiti Cuba and Jamaica Sandy caused more than 50 billion in damage More than 650,000 homes were damaged or destroyed Millions of people lost electrical power Sandy was a terrible disaster It highlights the importance of studying hurricanes and other dangerous weather events Meteorology A Vital Service Meteorology is the scientific study of Earth’s atmosphere This is the layer of gas water and dust 8
surrounding the planet’s surface Meteorologists study the atmosphere for many reasons One of these reasons is weather forecasting People want to know what their day will be like They want to know whether it will be rainy sunny hot or cold They want to know if dangerous weather conditions such as lightning tornadoes or hurricanes are on the way Meteorologists study the atmosphere in many ways They conduct laboratory experiments to learn how gases behave and interact They go outside and use instruments to measure air conditions These 9 Weather and Climate Weather is what is happening in the atmosphere right now It may be hot or cold dry or rainy Climate is different In places where it rains often the climate is rainy In places where it is dry most of the time it may be a desert climate The difference between weather and climate is time Weather is what happens over a short period Climate is how the atmosphere behaves over a long period Understanding the climate helps forecasters make long-term weather predictions
