Hurricanes in the USA: What’s actually going on?
For those who read the news, this article may be redundant. For those who don’t read the news, you’ll hopefully have already been informed by social media or word of mouth that Eastern U.S.A and the Caribbean are currently being battered and devastated by the worst hurricanes they have encountered in decades. But amidst all the rush and hysteria, it is difficult to know what’s actually going on. Hint: it’s bad. The eye of a hurricane (Credit: NASA) The Atlantic Hurricane season In America and the Caribbean, they have what’s known as ‘ hurricane season’ . This doesn’t actually mean anything – hurricanes can form at any time of the year; it’s just the period of the year when hurricanes are most likely to form. It starts on June 1 and ends on November 30 , usually peaking late August-early September (i.e., now). Why all the different names? Across the world, a ‘storm’ is known by various different names. ‘Hurricane’, ‘cyclone’ and ‘typhoon’ all mean the same thing, ju...