We thoroughly check each answer to a question to provide you with the most correct answers. Found a mistake? Tell us about it through the REPORT button at the bottom of the page. Ctrl+F (Cmd+F) will help you a lot when searching through such a large set of questions.
The Community Hurricane Preparedness course, available on the non-federal government website operated by COMET, aims to provide basic information to those involved in decision-making for hurricanes.
The course covers topics such as how hurricanes form, the hazards they pose, how the National Weather Service forecasts future hurricane behavior, and what tools and guiding principles can help emergency managers prepare their communities.
The course objectives include identifying the characteristic features of a hurricane, discussing the basic hurricane forecasting process and its limitations, and formulating a plan for dealing with the potential disaster. The primary audience for the course is emergency managers in communities threatened by tropical cyclones, and there are no prerequisites.
The course offers 1 CEU and takes 10 hours to complete.
FEMA IS-324.A: Community Hurricane Preparedness Answers
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| A typical hurricane can bring: | More than 6 inches of rain |
| Which quadrant of a hurricane typically has the strongest winds? | Right-front |
| Hurricane watch and warning areas usually are larger than the expected damage swath to account for possible changes in track and intensity and possible forecast errors. | True |
| The eye of a Category 2 hurricane is 450 nautical miles away and forecast to come ashore at your coastal location. The tropical-storm-force winds extend 150 nautical miles. The hurricane is moving at 15 knots. If it maintains forward speed, how long before tropical-storm-force winds begin to affect your community? | 24 hours |
| To get more detailed information about the current and predicted effects of the hurricane on your local area, you should? | Talk with the Hurricane Liaison Team at the National Hurricane Center |
| If a hurricane is on course for your community, and it suddenly intensifies and gains forward speed, what are the results? | Decision arc shrinks |
| Which is NOT a source of forecast error in NWP? | Observation inaccuracies |
| What is significant about the right-front quadrant of a hurricane? | Storm surge is enhanced in that quadrant |
| If HURREVAC indicates that your community has a 15% probability of having hurricane winds when landfall is expected 72 hours from now, you can be reasonably confident that you will probably only have tropical-storm-force winds. | False, because the probabilities may increase as the storm comes closer |
| In order to assure there is enough time to evacuate a community, the evacuation should start when: | The tropical storm-force winds intersect the HURREVAC decision arc |
| Which statement about the official NHC track and intensity forecasts is correct? | Errors in forecasting track and intensity are generally greater for forecast times farther in the future |
| What tool is used to assess how high a storm surge might be? | Saffir-Simpson scale |
| A tropical storm watch means tropical-storm-force winds are: | Possible within 48 hours |
| Once a hurricane or tropical cyclone moves over land, the threat from flooding and tornadoes can continue for days. | True |
| What is the main instrument for taking measurements of a tropical cyclone far out at sea? | Satellite |
| What hazard associated with a hurricane generally causes the most deaths in inland areas? | Storm surge |
| What does the track forecast cone signify? | The tropical cyclone’s eye will broaden to the size of the cone within 48 hours |
| When should you be most alert for hurricanes? | June 1 – November 30 |
| Hurricane evacuation zones are primarily designed to move people out of areas vulnerable to: | Storm surge |
| The eye of a Category 2 hurricane is 450 nautical miles away and forecast to come ashore at your coastal location. The tropical storm-force winds extend 150 nautical miles. If the hurricane’s forward speed is 20 knots, how long before tropical storm-force winds begin to affect your community? | 30 hours |
| Who coordinates information requests between emergency managers and the National Hurricane Center? | Hurricane Liaison Team |
| A Hurricane Evacuation Study collects data on community characteristics, vulnerabilities, transportation, and hazards | True |
| What is storm tide? | The storm surge + astronomical tide |
| The expected inundation from storm surge is the main consideration in determining what coastal areas should be evacuated. | True |
| You explain to an official that a hurricane’s forward speed and path can change considerably. She asks why and you respond: | Hurricanes are steered by other changing weather features around the storm |
| Within a few hours of making landfall, high winds from a hurricane or tropical storm are no longer dangerous. | True |
| The bigger the hurricane, the more intense it is. | False |
| Why is the United States becoming more vulnerable to hurricanes? | Hurricanes are becoming larger and more frequent. |
| If you wanted to get a sense of the forecaster’s confidence in the models, which product would you read? | Tropical cyclone forecast discussions |
| At 0900Z on the 24th, a tropical cyclone forecast/advisory contains the following information: FORECAST VALID 24/1800Z 21.9N 78.1W MAX WIND 90 KT…GUSTS 110 KT. 64 KT… 30NE 0SE 0SW 0NW 50 KT…100NE 100SE 30SW 30NW 34 KT…135NE 125SE 75SW 125NW What does this information tell you? | The maximum radial extent of the wind fields at 18Z |
| A hurricane warning means hurricane-force winds are generally: | Expected within 36 hours |
| The storm surge atlas provides information on: | The maximum storm surge flooding expected from any category hurricane |
| Errors in forecasting the forward speed of the hurricane can affect: | The expected category of hurricane intensity |
| Which product tells when tropical-storm-force winds (greater than 39 mph) can be expected to subside? | Wind speed probability forecasts |
| The tropical-storm-force winds of a Category 3 hurricane are forecast to intersect the decision arc for your community in 36 hours. For a hurricane of Category 4 intensity, it is estimated that your community will need 20 hours to evacuate to safety. How much time is there before the evacuation should be started? | 16 hours |
| If you wanted to determine where you were in relation to the current wind fields, which product would you look at? | Surface wind field |
| Of the following, which is the advantage of geostationary satellite imagery? | It can be used to monitor the hurricane almost continuously |
| What does the Saffir-Simpson scale describe? | Potential damage expected with different wind speed ranges |
| HURREVAC is used to | Help make decisions about who should evacuate and when |
| As long as your community is outside the track forecast cone, it is safe from hazards associated with a hurricane or tropical storm. | False |
| What is a critical source of information about community resources, behavior, and hazards that go into the hurricane sections of a community’s Emergency Operations Plan? | HURREVAC |
| The area of the track forecast cone is drawn so that the actual position of the storm will be within the cone approximately? | 60-70% of the time |
| As a hurricane or tropical storm approaches your location, its forward speed decreases from 20 kt to 10 kt. How might that affect rainfall? | More total rainfall from a slower-moving storm |
| When should you aim to have an evacuation be completed? | When the tropical storm-force winds intersect the HURREVAC decision arc. |
| The eye of a Category 2 hurricane is 450 nautical miles away and forecast to come ashore at your coastal location. The tropical storm-force winds extend 150 nautical miles. The hurricane is moving at 15 knots. Assuming it takes 18 hours to evacuate your jurisdiction, when is the best time to call for an evacuation? | Now |
| How far out from a hurricane’s center would you generally expect to find tropical storm-force winds? | 50 miles |
| Which agency disseminates warnings for an inland tropical storm or hurricane-force winds? | Local NWS Weather Forecast Offices |
| A steep continental shelf offshore of a coastal community will likely result in worse storm surge impacts than if the shelf were shallow. | False |
| Which agency disseminates coastal watches and warnings for tropical storms and hurricanes? | Local NWS Weather Forecast Offices |
| Winds circulate around a tropical storm or hurricane in which direction in the Northern Hemisphere? | Counter-clockwise |
Sources
Was this helpful?
Let us know if this was helpful. That’s the only way we can improve.
