· In 1967, a hurricane in Texas caused more than 140 twisters.
· The worst hurricane damage is often caused by a storm surge. A storm surge is like a giant wall of water pushed onshore by hurricane winds.
· In 1989, Hurricane Hugo completely destroyed several forests in South Carolina.
· In 1971, Hurricane Ginger lasted for over three weeks.
· In 1970, a hurricane in Pakistan killed more than 300,000 people.
· Hurricanes do not occur in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the waters are too cold for them to form.
· Taping your windows in preparation for a hurricane is a waste of time and money. Tape does not strengthening the glass. Flying debris will smash a taped window as if the tape wasn't there.
· Hurricanes didn't start having boys' names until 1979.
· Hurricanes are large storms with rotating winds. They form over the warm waters of the ocean when there are large pressure and temperature differences between the warm water and the clouds. The clouds pull the moisture and the air near the surface of the water up, toward the clouds, which creates a column of fast-moving air.
· In the beginning, the ocean storm is called a “tropical disturbance”, which is like a bunch of thunderstorms with very little wind circulation. When wind speeds up to 20 to 34 miles per hour, the ocean storm becomes a tropical depression. A tropical depression can quickly become a tropical storm if the wind speeds reach 35-64 miles per hour. Once the whirling mass of air grows and continues to spin around a centre of low pressure, wind speeds increase. When wind speeds reach 74 miles per hour or greater, the storm is considered a hurricane and given an official name.
· Hurricanes may have a diameter of 400 to 500 miles (640-800 kilometres).
· The “eye” (centre) of a hurricane can be up to 20 miles (32 km) across. The weather in the “eye” is surprisingly calm with low winds and clear skies.
· The most severe loss of American lives from a hurricane took place on September 8, 1900, in Galveston, Texas, when an unnamed category 4 storm came ashore, flooding the city. Eight thousand deaths were reported, but experts estimate as many as 12,000 people may have died because many bodies could not be recovered.
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