The 'perfect storm' that formed off New York and the hurricane-like storm during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1998 had many similarities and differences in the way that they formed and how the people involved with them reacted.

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Part B

The ‘perfect storm’ that formed off New York and the hurricane-like storm during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1998 had many similarities and differences in the way that they formed and how the people involved with them reacted.

The two extreme storms were similar in a couple of different ways. Firstly, both ‘the perfect storm’ and the Australian storm caused chaos, claiming the lives of six crew each. Due to freak events both storms were considered rare and they formed from many strong separate weather conditions. In the case of the ‘perfect storm’, hurricane Grace, a strong high pressure system with a leading cold front, another separate low pressure system to the north, the Gulf stream and an upper level disturbance all combined to form a storm that only occurs once every hundred years. The storm that formed in the Bass Strait formed due to a low pressure system moving into another small scale low pressure system and the East Australian current. Also the shallow water in the bass straight caused steep and savage waves.

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The intensity of both storms were similar also, in the case of the Australian storm reports from satellite images and competitors revealing average winds of 120 kph, with the strongest being 171 kph. The average wave height was recorded as 12 metres, but the biggest was 20m, however rogue waves were considerably bigger being recorded to be over 25 meters high. The ‘perfect storm’s’ intensity was only slightly different with rogue waves being more powerful, up to 30 meters high yet wind speeds less than the Bass Straits, around 141 kph. Both of the storms were considered by many ...

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