Latitude and Longitude - Hurricane Plotting Information

1. Our Mission:
Track hurricanes using exact latitude and longitude
coordinates.

2. Finding Locations on Earth
How could you describe the exact location of a dot on a
basketball?
Latitude and Longitude make an
imaginary grid system on Earth to
help find exact locations.

3. Find as many differences as you
can between these two diagrams?

4. Latitude Lines…
• Drawn East to West, but are used
to measure North and South of
the Equator.
• The Equator is a line of Latitude.
• Separates Earth into Northern and
Southern hemispheres.
• Also called Parallels because they
never intersect and run parallel to
the equator.
• Labeled using N or S
• (N) Positive numbers if located in
the northern hemisphere.
• (S) Negative numbers if located in
the southern hemisphere.
• RANGE: 0-90 degrees

5. Latitude Lines
0° Equator
90°N North Pole
90°S South Pole
23.5° S Tropic of Capricorn
23.5°N Tropic of Cancer

6. Latitude Lines
For example: The tropic of cancer is 23.5°N.
What is the range of
possible latitude?
0° to 90° N
and
0° to - 90° S
Label north if in
northern hemisphere
and south if in
southern hemisphere.

7. Longitude Lines…
• Drawn North and South, but are
used to measure East and West of
the Prime Meridian.
• The Prime Meridian is a line of
Longitude.
• Separates Earth into Eastern and
Western hemispheres.
• Also called Meridians because
they are curved and intersect at
the poles.
• Labeled using E or W
• (E) Positive if located in the
Eastern hemisphere.
• (W) Negative if located in the
Western hemisphere.
• RANGE: 0-180 degrees

8. Longitude Lines
0° Prime Meridian
Longitude lines are
curved and meet at
the poles.

9. Latitude and Longitude Lines
We can put latitude and longitude together to find exact locations
on earth’s surface.
Example: Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
 Use latitude to find
how far north or
south.
 Use longitude to
find how far west or
east.
Latitude is always first in
your coordinates.
44°N, -89°W

11. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
Category Wind speed
mph
5 ≥156
4 131–155
3 111–130
2 96–110
1 74–95
Additional classifications
Tropical
storm
39–73
Tropical
depression
0–38
L

13. L

14. Latitude, Longitude, and Google Earth
Track the latest hurricanes using exact latitude and
longitude coordinates on Google Earth

15. Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds
 Each degree of latitude and longitude
can be divided into minutes (‘) and
seconds (“).
 Every degree has 60’ minutes of separation
 Every minute has 60” seconds of separation.
 Arc seconds can be further divided into
tenths, hundreds, and even thousandths.

16. Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds
 Each degree of latitude and longitude
can be divided into minutes (‘) and
seconds (“).
 Every degree has 60’ minutes of separation
 Every minute has 60” seconds of separation.
 Arc seconds can be further divided into
tenths, hundreds, and even thousandths.