People all over the world are affected by a variety of weather conditions, and here in this region is no exception. We in This region have our share of droughts, frontal systems, floods and hurricanes that affect our lives on a daily basis. People depend on the weather in many different ways. Farmers depend on the rains to water their crops, sailors count on the strong winds to fill their sails, and tourists take the sunshine for granted for a great vacation. Yet the weather at times is anything but dependable or predictable. The earth’s atmosphere is always in constant turmoil, a chaotic brew of gases and water kept in constant motion by the sun’s energy. Sometimes this energy is unleashed with sudden and unexpected savagery especially with hurricanes, which can turn our islands into a wasteland of rubble. However, thanks to meteorologists, our ability to predict where chaos might strike next is now better than ever, yet weather remains the most deadly natural forces at work on our planet.
The history of hurricanes and the naming process...
Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are all the same kind of violent storms originating over warm ocean waters and are called by different names all over the world. A Hurricane (derived from a Carib Indian word) is typically used to describe these storms when they originate in the tropical Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea. A Hurricane is the name given to these intense storms of tropical origin, with sustained winds exceeding 64 knots (74 miles per hour), which forms over the warm Northern Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific oceans. This same type of storm is given different names in different regions of the world. In Australia they are called Cyclones or by the much more colourful words of ‘Willy-Willies’ (The name Willy-Willy began as “whirlwind” which describes the spiraling winds inside of a cyclone and eventually evolved into the term “whirly-whirly” which eventually evolved into “Willy-Willy”) and in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, they are simply called Cyclones (an English name based on a Greek word meaning “coil” as in “coil of a snake” because of the winds that spiral within them) and are not named even to this day. They are called Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, Central America, The Caribbean and Eastern North Pacific Oceans (east of the International Dateline). While they are called Typhoons (originating from the Chinese word ‘Ty-Fung’ translated to mean ‘Big Wind’…) in the Western North Pacific, in the Philippines and the South China Sea (west of the International Dateline) they are known as Baguios (or simply a Typhoon), but whatever name they are known by in different regions of the world, they refer to the same weather phenomena a Tropical Cyclone. However, by World Meteorological Organization International Agreement, the term Tropical Cyclone is the general term given to all hurricane-type storms that originate over tropical waters. The term Cyclone, used by meteorologists, refers to an area of low pressure in which winds move counterclockwise around the low pressure center and are usually attended by bad weather and strong wind speeds. A tropical cyclone is a large-scale, warm-core low-pressure storm that develops not along a front or subtropical waters and that has a definite organized circulation. There are several theories about the origin of the word Hurricane; some people believe it originated from the Caribbean Indians who named their storm god ‘Huracan’ and over time it eventually evolved into the word ‘HURRICANE’. A next popular theory is that it came from the Mayan Indians of Mexico who had an ancient word for these storms, called ‘HURRIKAN’. Actually, the first human record of hurricanes can be found in the ancient Mayan hieroglyphics. According to legend, the Mayan rain god, Chac, sent rain for the crops. But he also sent hurricanes, which destroyed crops and flooded villages. The Mayans hoped that if they made offerings to Chac, the rains would continue to fall, but the storms would cease…… Finally, the Native American Indians had a word for these powerful storms, which they called ‘HURUCANE’ meaning ‘evil spirit of the wind.’
While writing my previous book “The Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1929” I was impacted so much by a particular lady's recollection that it stayed with me to this day...well major hurricanes are like that...most of us who sadly experience them will have their experiences with these deadly storms etched in the memory banks of their brain for the rest of their
