Fun Facts Fridays – Hurricanes!

Another tradition I would like to start with this blog is on occasional Fridays listing 10 (and only 10) fun facts (fun as defined by me) about anything that pops into my head that seems interesting at the moment.  Since we just survived Hurricane Irene here in the northeast, it seemed apropos to start there.  So…hurricanes…

Hurricane Isabel

10 Fun Facts:

1. The cold water off the western coast prevents hurricanes from surviving there.  Hurricanes get their moisture by the evaporation of warm waters.
2. They are “hurricanes” in the Atlantic, “typhoons” in the western Pacific, and “cyclones” in the Indian Ocean.  They are all names for the exact same type of storm.
3. The Earth’s coriolis effect causes hurricane’s spin and movement towards the poles.
4. The deadliest hurricane ever was the 1970 Bhola Cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh and killed around 500,000 people!
5. The largest hurricane ever recorded was Hurricane Carla that struck Texas in 1961.
6. The general mechanics of a hurricane are as such:
• Warm water (at least 78°) evaporates off the ocean, creating a relative vacuum that draws in more air.  The warm moist air condenses to form clouds/rain which releases heat that warms the cool air above, which rises creating room for more air to get sucked in, etc.  It is a positive feedback cycle.
• Converging surface winds help push the warm air up even faster, and strong upper atmosphere winds blow the risen air out away from the center.  This further perpetuates the cycle to create a significant low pressure zone that begins to rotate (coriolis effect) around an “eye”.
• As air rushes in from the area of relatively higher pressure into this area of extreme low pressure, wind speed increases significantly…alas you have a hurricane.
7. The World Meteorological Organization keeps a 6 lists of storm names (each list has 21 names) that they cycle (no pun intended) through every 6 years.  Whopper storms have their names retired so they are not used again.
8. Florida wins the prize for the state where the most hurricanes have landed (110 total; 35 major ones of Cat. 3-5)
9. There is a long list of retired hurricane names (NOAA Retired Hurricane Names)
10. The word “hurricane” comes from the Carib tribes of the West Indies who called these storms “huracan” after one of their gods.  Spanish colonists changed the name to hurricane.

Here is a good explanation on how hurricanes work…