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Hurricanes

Hurricanes
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 9 to 12
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.6

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    counterclockwise, warning, pounded, cyclone, meantime, surface, depression, greatly, alike, amount, especially, although, pressure, power, system, tropical
     content words:    Gulf Coasts, National Hurricane Center

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Hurricanes
By Patti Hutchison 		  
1     Katrina, Wilma, Ophelia, Rita. One hurricane after another pounded the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the US in 2005. It was a very active hurricane season. What is a hurricane, and what causes them? How can people protect themselves during a hurricane?
 
2     A hurricane is formed by a tropical cyclone. This is a large area of very low pressure over the surface of the ocean. The air rises and more warm wet air moves in to replace it. Soon the moving air begins to turn counterclockwise and a cyclone is born.
 
3     As air continues to turn toward the center, it keeps on rising, spinning faster and faster. In the meantime, the pressure at the center of the storm drops. The wind speed increases. The storm is now called a tropical depression. When the winds read 65 kilometers per hour (km/hr), the system becomes a tropical storm. It is given a name.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
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