Write a two-page paper about the severe weather in a particular local region
of the world (see content below) with a bibliography. To be fair, everyone must use the following format: 12
point font, 1" margins, double-spaced text, place your name on a single
line in the upper right hand corner of the first page, write the course number
and instructor's name in the upper left hand corner, and the title of the paper
centered on the next double-spaced line, followed by the text of the
paper. Do not use a title page (a waste of paper). Aim for two
pages. You can go over slightly
over two pages, BUT NO MORE THAN 2.5 PAGES. The bibliography should be placed after the main text of the
paper. The bibliography does not count against the page limit. Failure
to observe these format guidelines may result in loss of points.
The largest part of this paper is to focus on the societal impacts on a
local community caused by a single severe weather event (part 2 below). Therefore, you may wish to select a
severe weather event first, then select a city or small region affected by the
severe weather event to write your paper around.
Alternatively, you can first select a city or a region of interest to you,
and then find a particular severe weather event that impacted the region to
write about. This can be a problem
if you choose a place like Yuma, AZ, where severe weather events are rare.
It is best to choose a small region like a city or county. Something the size of a state or a
country is too big. It can be anywhere in the world, but you must be able to
dig up the required information to write the paper. The paper must address the
following points:
1.
Introduce your selected region or city and provide a brief
overview of the types of severe weather
phenomena (e.g., severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, winter storms,
flooding, heat waves, etc.) that occur there. You may want to include information such as the time of year
each type of severe weather is most likely to occur and how often does each
type of severe weather occur (e.g., every summer, once every 10 years or so,
etc.).
2.
Find and describe a single extraordinary severe weather
event in your selected region.
Describe its impacts on the area or community (in terms of loss of life,
property damage, disruption of power and transportation, etc.). Newspaper type
articles can be good sources for this information.
You should be somewhat general in your discussion for point 1 above, and
specific in your discussion pertaining to point 2. As a guideline, point
1 can probably be addressed in a single paragraph, so most of the paper should
be devoted to point 2.
The information you gather should be incorporated into a single,
cohesive paper (composed of an introduction, body, and conclusion). The purpose of this paper is to
describe the impact of a severe weather event on society, NOT to explain in
detail the physics of how the severe weather event developed. This is not a technical paper.
Your paper will be graded according to content, organization, and proper use
of the English language. It will not be judged by the size and/or intensity of
the weather event. Your paper must contain a list of sources. Citations should
be explicit enough to allow us to check them, i.e., each should contain a date,
author, and complete web address (if from a web page). There are no strict formatting
guidelines on citations. Please
number the entries in your bibliography.
Then wherever citations are required in the text, use superscripted
numbers corresponding to the numbered entry in the bibliography.
Note of caution: In grading your assignments, we will specifically be
checking for cheating and copying -- this includes both word for word copying
without quotation marks and proper reference and copying among classmates.
There will be no tolerance for plagiarism (representing the words or ideas of
another as one's own).
Links to a few sources of information are posted below to help get you
started. You should find and utilize other reference sources as well.
·
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/severeweather/extremes.html
-- NCDC Extreme Weather and Climate Events.
·
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/reports/billionz.html
Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters, 1980-2006.
·
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/
-- Storm Prediction Center – Provides link to National Weather Service storm
damage reports.
·
http://www.dailyearth.com/
Newspaper Directory.
If the above topic does not interest you, you may select
another topic about severe weather. You must still follow the format guidelines
above. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): (a) a more
scientific paper describing the atmospheric conditions and the physical
processes that take place in the formation of a specific type of severe weather
(e.g., thunderstorms, lightning, hurricanes, blizzards, etc.); (b) a paper
about a single notable severe weather event (e.g., a hurricane, tornado
outbreak, etc.) describing the atmospheric conditions relevant to the
development of the storm(s), the areas affected, damages, and loss of life, and
whether or not local officials could have done anything to reduce the damage
done; (c) a paper discussing the possibility that the frequency and intensity
of severe weather events are now changing or may change due to global warming.
If you choose to select your own topic, you MUST get my approval either
by discussing it with me in person or by email. Failure to do so may result in
no credit given for your paper. In
addition, if you choose this option, I will expect your paper to be more
detailed and demonstrate that you have a good understanding of your topic.