During a cyclone warning, Kush's family is sheltering indoors
During a cyclone warning, Kush's family is sheltering indoors. After hours of howling wind and rain, everything suddenly goes calm, and the sky even brightens a little. Kush's grandmother says everyone must stay inside until the authorities announce that it is safe. Kush says the cyclone is clearly over and wants to go out to look at the damage. Who should the family listen to?
Who do you think is right? Pick one.
The answer: Grandma is right, the calm may be the eye of the cyclone
Why
Kush is reading the weather the way it usually works: when the wind and rain stop, the storm is over. But a cyclone is a huge spinning system of winds around a central region called the eye. Inside the eye the air is calm, the rain stops and the sky can even clear. When the eye passes overhead it can feel like the end — and then, after a short while, the other side of the cyclone arrives, with violent winds blowing from the opposite direction. People have been hurt in cyclones because they stepped out during exactly this lull. That is why official cyclone safety advice, including the India Meteorological Department's, is to stay in a safe shelter until the authorities announce that the cyclone has passed. Test: on a cyclone's track map, the eye is a small ring in the middle of the storm — being under it means you are only halfway through. Grandma is right: a sudden calm may just be the eye of the cyclone, so the family should stay inside until it is officially declared safe.
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