Even with the fact that Ancient Greeks obviously had a limited understanding of winds, it is nonetheless intriguing to look at how they perceived conditions in which winds are more likely to occur. Wind speed is faster above the ground because it encounters less friction and winds move very fast when there is nothing to slow them down. This is why wind turbines are mounted on top of towers. Anemometers

The Santa Ana and Brush Fire Texts Linda Thomas’s “Brush Fire” is like the micro-perspective and Joan Didion’s “The Santa Ana” is like that macro-perspective when it comes to describing the late-fall winds and the fires that consume the region. Thomas tells of the brush and the irony of building in the path of the fires. Didion tells of the wind and the fire and the irony of living in a

Tornadoes in the United States Every state in the union has experienced them, and the destruction caused by tornadoes each year can climb into the billions of dollars. Scientists have learned a great deal about tornadoes over the past several decades, though, and warning systems are now able to prevent many of the casualties that tornadoes used to cause. To determine what has been learned and what steps have been taken

hurricanes Floyd and Grace both brought devastating damage, Floyd's impact came largely from the Floyd itself, while Grace's impact came from the combination with two other weather systems. By itself, Floyd was a force to be reckoned with: a Category 3 hurricane that stretched from Canada to the U.S. that came on the heels of Hurricane Dennis. In contrast, Grace was a less powerful storm that would have dissipated

Brown did not contact Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary, to activate emergency response workers until five hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall (Mayer et al. 2008). Furthermore, Brown did not use any urgent language about how devastating Hurricane Katrina's effects might be along the Gulf Coast, a response which many have found to be sadly inadequate. Since the Katrina disaster, FEMA has been essentially stripped of its emergency powers, and

Figure 1. Golden Gate Bridge's Safety Net Source: http://www.zingarate.com/network/san-francisco/files/2012/11/safett_net.jpg The safety net was an essential risk management feature for the bridge project because the bridge needed to be 220 feet tall to accommodate commercial and naval vessels and falls from this height would certainly be fatal (Design and Construction 4). Unfortunately, this turned out to be the case during the final phases of construction. Despite this expensive security precaution, a catwalk collapsed