5 TOP FACTS HURRICANES
- The world’s most powerful generator – If you
calculate the total heat generated by condensation inside a hurricane,
it equals 200 times our daily worldwide energy-generating capacity.
- No-holds-barred Nancy – Typhoon Nancy, which tore across Japan in September 1961, clocked sustained winds of 185kph (213mph), the fastest on record.
- A four-ce to be reckoned with
– Only twice in modern history – 1893 and 1998 – did four hurricanes
power their way simultaneously through the Atlantic basin.
- Another myth down the drain
– It is untrue that the Coriolis force causes toilets to fl ush in
different directions in the northern and southern hemispheres.
- A name to be remembered
– Since the Fifties, all tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic
basin receive a name. If the storm’s particularly deadly, the name is
retired.