Here I Am, Rock You Like a Science Blog

Some hurricane facts as we on the East Coast endure Irene:

• To be classified as a hurricane, a tropical cyclone must have maximum sustained winds of 74 mph, which is Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
• The eye is where the storm’s barometric pressure is the lowest.
• From Wikipedia: “Before the official practice of naming of tropical cyclones began, significant tropical cyclones were named after annoying politicians, mythological creatures, saints and place names.”
• If the year’s World Meteorological Organization list of 21 tropical cyclone names is exhausted, the Greek alphabet is used.
• The tropical cyclone list omits Q, U, X, Y, and Z names. (Sorry, Zarley Zalapski!)
• Storm surges (rise of ocean level caused by high winds pushing on the ocean surface) reached as high as 27.8 feet in Pass Christian, Miss. during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
• Hurricane season in the Atlantic starts June 1 and ends November 30. Eastern Pacific hurricane season starts May 15 and also ends on November 30.
• Each inch of rain that falls in the city limits of Washington, D.C. is equivalent to 1.18 billion gallons of water.
• Hurricanes (tropical cyclones) don’t exist in Germany, but scorpions are found in all continents except Antarctica.

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