Changing Weather

23. Words on the text.

claim v	—	требовать, претендовать, зд.: уносить (жизни)
damage n	—	повреждение, разрушение
get up v	—	создавать, устраивать
lightning n	—	молния
moisture n	—	влага
mph = miles per hour	—	миль в час
occur v	—	происходить, случаться
range from … to	—	колебаться, изменяться в пределах от … до
swirl n	—	вихрь, завихрение

24. Read and translate the text with a dictionary. Changing Weather

Mark Twain once said: “The weather is always doing something, … always getting up new designs and trying them on the people to see how they will go”.

Whirling winds. Tornadoes or twisters can occur in almost every part of the world. However the greatest number and some of the most severe tornadoes occur in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. This part of the United States in called: “Tornado Alley”. Winds from a tornado range from 40 to more than 261 mph.

Thunderstorms. Moisture and instability are the main ingredients needed: rain, strong winds, accompanied by bright flashes of lightning and the crack of thunder – a thunderstorm is born. There are more than 40,000 thunderstorms happening around the world every day. The most severe thunderstorm can produce tornadoes. Thunderstorms may last from 15 minutes to several hours.

Tropical Storms. Tropical storms, known as typhoons in the Pacific and hurricanes in the Atlantic, claim more lives each year than any other storm.

Hurricanes are formed from thunderstorms developing over the ocean or sea. Several thunderstorms come together to form a swirl of clouds. As the winds begin to grow, a distinct center will form in the cloud swirl and this becomes the “eye” of the storm. The storm continues to move, gaining energy from the warm air it sucks in. As the storm approaches land, winds are able to reach an excess of 150 mph and span a path of damage from 200 to 500 miles across.

25. Read the text and talk about the most interesting phenomena and places on the globe. Weather Extremes

The recording of extremes in weather is made from comparisons of weather observations kept by world wide weather stations for many years. The following are some established world records for extreme weather.

The greatest number of wet days: Mount Wai’ale’ale in Hawaii holds the record for rainfall, 350 days a year.

The driest place in the world: the Atacama Desert in Chile. It has less than 1/250 inches (0.1 mm) of annual rainfall.

The coldest place: on July 21, 1983, Vostok Base. Antarctica set the world’s record for the lowest temperature at minus 128,6ºF (-89.2ºC).

The highest temperature in the world: 136,4ºF (58ºC), was recorded at al Arizyah in Libya on September 13, 1992.

The world’s most extreme temperature range: Verkhoyansk, northeast Siberia. Temperatures there can fall to as low as - 90ºF (- 68ºC) in winter and rise to as high as 98ºF (37ºC) in Summer.