15. What Is the Deadliest Kind of Storm?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/10/what_is_the_deadliest_storm_hurricane_sandy_compared_to_typhoons_cyclones.html

On October 29th, Slate Magazine's staff writer Forrest Wickman wrote an article analyzing the different kinds of storms. He engaged the readers by starting the article with a short, but vivid image of Hurricane Sandy passing by the East Coast, causing a lot of damage and harm to the people. Then, he concluded the first paragraph by introducing the topic of the article through the question "What kind of storm tends to be the most dangerous?" In the next paragraph, Wickman provided an answer to the question above, and gave the differences between a typhoon, hurricane, cyclone. He later analyzed the super typhoons specifically, their intensity, and compared them to other similar storms recorded in history. The next paragraph in contrast, specified different kinds of cyclones (1970 Bhola Cyclone) and hurricanes (Hurricane Katrina), and their deaths and costs. Lastly, Wickman talked about the rare, but deadly kinds of storms - the tornado or firestorm. He explained how these were smaller, but could damage more and kill more people compared to other  storms.

Wickman's purpose in writing this article was to inform people about the differences in the kinds of storms. He used several examples of storms, and with statistics, compared each other regarding the damage costs, intensity, and deaths caused. Specific examples and statistics worked to give the article credibility and made it seem the author researched about and knew his topic well. It is possible to say the article was directed to the public in general because instead of using hard scientific vocabulary, he used simple language, and examples everyone knew to understand his point. The article was effectively organized in a way it was easy to follow and the reader did not get lost in the reading. However, the article did not conclude appropriately buy giving a brief summarization of the points. Instead, it ended abruptly after mentioning the firestorms and how it killed many people.