Blog Entry #3~!

September 11 is a day that will forever be a painful memory for the citizens of the United States. It is also a day that is remembered globally.

Most people only see the significance in this day when it occurred in 2001, however, in Hawaii, this day has held significance since 1992 when Hurricane Iniki struck the islands. Iniki developed on September 5 as a result of El Niño and left significant damage to the islands of Kaua'i and Oahu, but mostly Kaua'i. 

(http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/dailypix/2006/Jul/02/sesq5iniki_b.jpg)

The conditions that are required to develop a hurricane include a strong coriolis effect, high sea surface temperature, changes in wind speed and direction, water vapors at low levels, and convergence. The island chain of Hawaii is an ideal spot for these conditions to come together and create a hurricane that would leave destruction that Hawaii had not seen in decades.

In the case of Iniki, it originally had developed in the Southwest Baja California region. Hurricanes develop by extracting heat from the water or latent heat release. This step in development is very important. As heat is released and returns back to the surface water, the low level warm water is drawn back to the center and repeated in the cycle. The life cycle of a hurricane is as such: depression -> tropical storm -> hurricane

(http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Climate/Cyclones/FrontsCyclones.html)

Iniki began to develop on September 5th with the name Iniki and continued to move westward towards the island chain. It took a turn and headed almost directly at the island of Kaua'i, where the most damage was witnessed to be at. In other severe hurricanes, there have been a significant amount of civilian deaths, in the case of Iniki, there were only a handful. However, the aftermath of hurricanes usually leave the location with significant amounts of damage and for the island of Kaua'i, it was extremely costly.

References:
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/summaries/1992.php
Lecture notes!