Construction and the Weather

By: Jacob H. Murdock

I am pursuing a degree in Construction Management. And although I plan to stay in Utah for
that career, I know that weather effects construction in a lot of ways from the background Ive had in it
so far. So, Id like to share what Ive learned from this semester in my Science Class that has helped me
prepare for this career! Theres a LOT!

First off, Ive learned a lot about the different types of severe weather that damage buildings
and what kind of damage they can cause based on severity. Along with this Ive learned where that type
of weather will most likely occur. So, there are Hurricanes, which can cause great damage due to winds
but even more because of flooding. I know that if I plan on constructing a building along the Gulf of
Mexico or the South-Eastern Sea-bordering U.S. that Id really like to make sure to build buildings that
can stand a category 5 hurricane and easily allow for transition of material from the first floor up to the
third or fourth floors to prepare for flooding. I even thought that it would be neat to make a way to
quickly protect any electric outlets and access so that it is water tight and not easily damaged by
flooding.

Second is Hurricanes. An EF2 Hurricane can cause moderate damage to a home, and EF3-EF5
can be severe to absolutely-devastating destruction of structures, even with reinforced steel structures.
That means that if Im going to prepare for buildings in those areas that they first off: all need shelters
big enough to fit the occupation-capacity of the building in for safety measures. And in places where
population calls for more building but theres a high risk of tornadoes I need to make sure that each
building is fully insured for tornado damage.

I think Id really like to stay in Utah for as much of my career as possible, though. So, what
devastating weather do we get here that I would need to be prepared for? Well, we dont get tornados
or hurricanes, but we DO get snow storms, hail storms, occasional freezing rain, high winds, and
lightning storms. And sometimes flooding as well! So how can I prepare for those things and what do I
need to know about them?

As for flooding, most building standards call for structures that can survive and be renovated
after a simple flooding. But the second thing that Id need to be concerned about with flooding is some
possible results including mudslides caused by liquefaction due to porous soil being over-stimulated by a
sudden increase in water. When looking at constructing buildings I need to be careful to analyze the soil
that I choose to build on to minimize the risk of liquefaction. I also need to be especially careful building
on or directly below sharp slopes (hills or mountainsides) that arent solid rock, any material with
enough water added in a short enough time with enough of a slope can slide.

Hail. What causes hail? Hail is caused by water molecules freezing and collecting and falling
down to the Earth as snow. Their fall is prolonged or even re-started to allow for more collection of
water molecules to freeze to it and add immense amounts of mass to a once small particle of frozen
water. These conditions are present almost exclusively in supercell thunderstorms. These storms have a
strong central updraft that will carry the snow falling down back up into the storm, collecting water
droplets and weight until its heavy enough to overcome the updraft and begin falling, depending on the
strength and development of the updraft this process can be repeated several times and cause very
large hail to form eventually falling out of reach of the circulation of the central updraft, or hook-echo,
and reach the ground. By this time, hail can grow as large as 7 inches (record in the United States) in
diameter! So theres certain conditions that have to be present for hail to cause damage. Among these is
most importantly a strong and sustained updraft as the result of a lift in an unstable atmospheric
environment. This means you have something that causes the air below to lift to a level in the
atmosphere which it reaches a level of free convection where it can rise on its own and freely continues
to do so. For this to cause severe thunderstorms there needs to be a cap on warm moist air below
then when it is lifted (by a cold front, or by a mountain or fast heating from the suns energy) it will
become buoyant and rise until it becomes saturated and forms clouds and storms and precipitation.

Right so to get a big hail storm you need warm moist air trapped in an unstable environment
and given a push to get it up into the atmospherethis is the lift, that lift needs to continue for enough
time for the storm to develop and grow and produce hail. Utah doesnt have the necessary ingredients
except for rare exceptions. The number one reason is that there is not very often warm moist air in Utah
except for the summer months when its too warm for hail to form. The second reason is that the North
Atlantic Jetstream travels over Utah and carries storms almost always West to East. In so doing they
meet the Mountains, this is not a SUSTAINED lift, its a wall that forces the storm to form quickly but
also dump all its water and dissipate quickly. So, to get to the point, there is only a few areas where hail
will form and fall in Utah. Tooele County, Utah is infamous for this. There is a break in the mountain
range which allows the storm to continue through but still receive lift from surrounding mountains and
warmer air near the Great Salt Lake. These are important things to know because I only really need to
worry about hail in or near Tooele. Or up IN the Mountains where, in the event of a passing mid-latitude
cyclone there can and is often supercell thunderstorms that cross all the way over the mountain ranges
causing severe lightning, snow, hail, and occasionally tornadoes.

Lightning, what do I need to know about Lightning for construction? Isnt a lightning rod
enough? Well, in most cases yes, but do you know the number one reason for forest fires in Utah? Its
Lightning. If Im going to be building near mountain forest areas in Utah I will want to create a fire
barrier between the property I build on and the forest. This (in most cases) means that I take 3 times
greater a distance than the height of the trees and clear that area in a complete circle around the
structure. I also want to use fire resistant building materials and ensure that there is a water source
close by that firefighters could pull from to put out the fire.

All in all, this class has been really helpful. Ive learned that weather is, for the most part,
unpredictable, and can be extremely severe. I want to be prepared for those severe cases with all of my
building structures. This means that I need to learn about the weather and what effects it can have on
the environment around me, and I need to plan for that. Being prepared is about all we CAN do when it
comes to weather.

-THE END-
 Bibliography

**All resources for information were attained from course-work and references in the Salt Lake
Community College course: Severe and Hazardous Weather (ATMOS 1010). The course reading is listed
below:

1. (Rauber, Robert; Walsh, John; and Charlevoix, Donna. Severe and Hazardous Weather; An
Introduction to High Impact Meteorology. Third Edition. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company,
2008.)