Storms, Scales and Alerts: teacher key

Natural Disasters, grade 6 edition, written for 6th grade. How do scientists rate storms, and how do alerts reach families? Follow hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods from a warning to a plan.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. When is a tropical cyclone called a hurricane?
   • When its winds reach 74 miles per hour (answer)
   • When it rains
   • When it has a name
2. What does storm surge mean?
   • A calm center
   • Sea water pushed onto land by storm winds (answer)
   • A kind of rain
3. Why is a hurricane not just a coastal problem?
   • It stops at the beach
   • Rain and wind can reach far inland (answer)
   • It only hits cities
4. What does the Enhanced Fujita Scale rate?
   • Hurricanes
   • Earthquakes
   • Tornadoes (answer)
5. What can start a tsunami?
   • A big wind
   • An earthquake under the ocean (answer)
   • Heavy snow
6. What does a flood warning mean?
   • A flood is possible
   • Flooding is happening or will happen soon (answer)
   • The flood is over

Words

• cyclone: spinning storm
• surge: pushed water
• inland: away from coast
• evacuate: leave for safety
• scale: rating system
• tsunami: big ocean wave