ABSTRACT
As the atmospheric system provides the components of the terrestrial phase of the hydrological cycle, it is hardly surprising that there are strong linkages between the various natural hazards caused by extremes of cold, heat, wind, precipitation and dryness. This chapter devotes to the hazards of both atmospheric and hydrological extremes. The atmospheric turbulence that it generates, and the moisture brought by the winds, is sufficient to generate short but intense rainstorms. The hurricane consists of a rotating atmospheric disturbance whose diameter may vary between less than 100 km and more than 1,500 km. The hurricane itself will tend to be more restricted in size than the general disturbance that surrounds it. The eye forms during the cold-core tropical storm stage, as anvil-shaped towers of cumulo-nimbus clouds associated with local atmospheric convection redistribute the outward-flowing air and allow strong centripetal forces to develop in a sustained way around the central calm.
