Hurricanes, they are massive weather systems that are spawned in the Caribbean sea and Atlantic Ocean every summer between the months of May and October. Interestingly enough, storms of this type in the Pacific Ocean are known as typhoons and in the Indian Ocean they are called Cyclones. Cyclones in North America are tornadoes and usually on land. I have found out from living in the Caribbean that there are numerous interesting facts about hurricanes.
One interesting fact is that if the are north of the Equator, they spin counterclockwise and south will spin clockwise. This is because of the rotation of the earth. It is the same reason for water spinning those directions when the plug is pulled in a tub. Just like with the sink, the pressure starts to fall in a small place and then moist air starts to rise and the Venturi Effect takes over. Once sustained wind speed hits 74 miles per hour, a hurricane is born! Hurricanes do not cross the equator as hurricanes.
What interesting is that those sustained winds can reach over 185, but mainly in the eye wall! The eye of the storm, generally in the center, is actually very calm, with slow to no breezes. This means one can go from 180+ mile winds out of the east to nothing then back to 180+ out of the west, in the period of 1 hour or less. You board your windows on all sides!
While a major hurricane releases more energy than the biggest nuclear bomb ever built and contains trillions of gallons of water, most of the damage is done by the sea. Thee is a pressure ridge that forces up the water and results in a tidal surge, which can be over 20 feet above normal. What is interesting is that the slower the hurricane move, the slower the tidal surge and it can be watched for hours! it is like a slow motion tidal wave that when it hits, it hits!
Other interesting facts about hurricanes include that they spin off tornadoes the entire time. A major hurricane will have numerous tornadoes all along the front, and over the sea they can form water spouts. Most hurricanes move from East to West and, in the northern hemisphere from North to South!
According to the NOAA Website, hurricanes cause and average of US$ 5.1 Billion per year and yet only kill 20 people.
