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September 05, 2005
Vishy's Useless Factoid of the Day #19: Hurricanes and other tropical storms
With all the recent coverage accorded to the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, I thought I'd put out a few useless factoids relating to hurricanes and other tropical storms around the world.
Low-pressure storms marked by high winds and circular cloud patterns that converge upon a central eye are called hurricanes in North America. They are named for Huracán, the Carib god of wind and storms. The Spanish conquistadors picked this word up from the original inhabitants of the Caribbean islands, who worshipped Huracán to escape his horrible temper. In East Asia, such a storm would be called a typhoon. This word is said to originate from tai fung (Cantonese, "big wind"). There is a similar sounding word in Hindi, toofAn, which is said to be unrelated. ToofAn came to Hindi through Arabic, which, in turn, got it from the Greek tuphon. In India, a storm resembling a hurricane would be called a cyclonic storm. 'Cyclonic' derives eventually from the Greek kuklos (circle), a versatile word that is linked to something as unrelated as a white supremacist group. Cyclonic storms frequently hit Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal from mid-April to mid-June. These storms are called kal baisakhi (lit. the dark face of Baishakh, the second month of the Indian calendar) and routinely claim far more people each time than Katrina ever could.
Hurricanes began to be named in the United States starting in 1950. Currently, there is a list of names that is repeated every six years. Names of particularly destructive storms are retired to avoid unpleasant associations in the future.
Posted by Vishy at September 5, 2005 11:15 PM