Typhoon.
Cyclone.
Hurricane.
Whatever you call it, these are the most violent storms on earth.
With high speed winds, tremendous amounts of rainfall, and consequential storm surges,
hurricanes can devastate communities and even reshape the land we live on.
Luckily, these storms don't form year round near Georgia.
Hurricane season peaks in the summer and early fall months.
That's because heat is one of the key ingredients needed for a hurricane to form.
During these warm months, as the sun beats down on the tropical oceans below, the huge
inflow of heat energy leads to the build up of large cloud formations.
When an ocean's water hits 80 degrees or higher, it evaporates quickly.
This evaporation produces an invisible gas known as water vapor.
Because water vapor is much lighter, or less dense, than air, it rises into our atmosphere.
And it carries that critical element with it: energy from the sun in the form of heat.
As the warm water vapor rises, the air in the atmosphere cools the vapor molecules,
causing them to condense back into a liquid form.
This creates clouds.
The heat carried by the water vapor is then released and warms the atmosphere.
The rising heat can push clouds up to 10 miles high.
When a large cluster of thunderstorms develops, it can create an area of low pressure due
to the rising motion.
Winds around this area of low pressure start to spin because of the earth's rotation.
As more thunderstorms develop and the pressure of the center drops further, air rushes in
and winds become stronger.
While this process continues, the low pressure center turns into a serious storm.
The first stage of this kind of storm is called a tropical depression.
As the storm strengthens, it then becomes a tropical storm.
And eventually, a hurricane is born, with an eye in the center.
You might have noticed that the path of a hurricane often travels up the east coast
of the United States.
Why is that?
Well, most hurricanes form in the central Atlantic Ocean, just north of the equator.
Between the equator and about 30 degrees latitude, trade winds moving from east to west in the
mid Atlantic push hurricanes in the same direction.
By the time a hurricane reaches the United States, it generally begins to curve north.
This is because trade winds at 30 degrees latitude, the top of Florida for comparison,
now begin to move from west to east.
The winds along the east coast of the United States tend to blow north, pushing the hurricane
in the same direction.
So how do hurricanes impact Georgia?
Historically speaking, it's uncommon for a hurricane to strike Georgia.
Let's take a look at the numbers.
Every year from June 1st to November 30th, the official Atlantic hurricane season, an
average of six hurricanes develop over the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, or the
Gulf of Mexico.
Many of these storms remain over the ocean.
But about one to two hurricanes make landfall on the U.S. east coast every year.
Of those, only 7% hit Georgia.
In comparison, 40% of landfalling hurricanes hit Florida, and 16% strike North Carolina.
Since 1851, only 21 hurricanes have made direct hits on Georgia.
Only two of those 21 storms have been categorized as a major hurricane, or those reaching a
category three or higher.
So if hurricanes often travel up the east coast, why don't they hit Georgia more often?
That answer lies in the geography of the Peach State.
Georgia's 100-mile coastline is tucked in between Florida and South Carolina.
Because hurricanes typically don't travel due west at this latitude, a hurricane would
first have to travel over the Florida peninsula.
And when a hurricane travels over land, it is cut off from its supply of warm water.
This causes the storm to weaken.
But even a weakened storm can cause damage to Georgia's coast.
One of the most dangerous elements of a hurricane or tropical storm is storm surge.
Storm surge is produced by water being pushed towards the shore by the force of the winds
spinning around the storm.
And this tremendous rush of water often results in flooding.
Luckily, Mother Nature has equipped Georgia with a natural defense system made up of 15
barrier islands and hundreds of thousands of acres of marshes.
Here's how these defenses work.
The islands off the coast are called barrier islands because they form--you guessed it--a
barrier, or wall.
These islands are essential when it comes to blocking ocean waves and wind from directly
hitting the mainland.
They are often a shore's first line of defense against huge storms.
The sand on these islands acts as a break, or drag, on the waves, diminishing the storm's
surge.
The second line of defense is Georgia's marshes.
When the sea level rises, marshes act like sponges by absorbing the excess water and
incoming wave energy.
While these two defenders may not be able to entirely block a storm from reaching the
mainland, they are essential in helping to reduce its impact.
Unfortunately, these natural protectors are disappearing.
The United States loses 80,000 acres of coastal wetlands like marshes every year, largely
to development, drainage, erosion, and pollution.
That's about seven football fields every hour.
And barrier islands continue to see more and more development, restricting an island's
natural ability to move and shift.
With a reduction in defense systems, many coastal areas have turned to installing seawalls.
These costly constructions are designed to prevent uphill erosion and storm surge flooding.
But there's a problem.
They don't stand up well against severe storms.
When waves break on seawalls, their force digs away at the sand at the base.
Over time, as a hollow grows under the wall, the cracks and tips over.
This makes seawalls more vulnerable to erosion than natural defenses.
You can see the difference with this simple experiment.
Let's say that this bottle of water represents the ocean.
And this plate represents a seawall.
When the ocean's waves break against the wall, the water and its energy are pushed back into
the ocean, rather than absorbed like this sponge.
Which would you rather have?
So here's the big question: How can we better protect Georgia's coast from hurricanes?
Well, the reality is, humans often have little control over Mother Nature and her forces.
But there are some efforts we can make.
One of them is protecting barrier islands and wetlands from development.
We can also discourage building in low lying coastal areas that are prone to flooding.
And lastly, we can use alternative methods to building seawalls, like installing living
shorelines, such as native vegetation or other natural elements that can provide cheaper,
longer-lasting natural protection.
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