Meteorology

Swinging in a hammock in your backyard on a warm, humid Saturday afternoon in late spring, you observe a towering cumulonimbus cloud building in the sky not more than a couple of miles from your home. Fifteen minutes later, you hear thunder, and a minute after that, experience a strong gust of wind, the smell of dirt, and a significant temperature drop. After another minute, you are out of the hammock and running into your house as a heavy downpour of rain begins. Synthesize and apply related concepts from Module 8 regarding thunderstorm structure, characteristics, and stages of development, to explain the reasoning behind each aspect of the experience described in the scenario.
You are the pilot of a hurricane reconnaissance aircraft, on a mission to retrieve data from within a Saffir-Simpson category 3 hurricane located in the Gulf of Mexico. Part of the mission entails flying a straight-line path across the hurricane from one edge of the storm, through its center (passing directly through the eye), to the opposite edge, at 6,000 feet above the ocean surface. Synthesize and apply related concepts regarding hurricane structure and characteristics to qualitatively (i.e, with descriptive words, not numerical values) describe.
The changes in pressure and wind speed that the data will reflect along this entire path.
The changes in wind direction, turbulence, and visibility experienced by the crew along this entire path.

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