There has been a longer term decline in the number of major hurricanes that have struck the US, but it has picked up again in the last few years, so no, not ignorant, it really has increased. This *may* be due to the global climate change (man made and/or new ice age), or just random statistical fluctuations.
There have been terrible earthquakes, famines etc. for as long as I can remember ... however they haven't all made it on to Fox News.
There is a belief, among some scientists, that the amount of airplane emissions in the atmosphere has reduced the amount of sunlight hitting the surface ... and that photons hitting water molecules is one of the major ways of causing water evaporation. (The atmosphere is still heating up due to greenhouse gases etc.) This means that the patterns of rain fall around the equator (which used to drift north and south of the equator during the year) have much reduced drift, which may be why sub-Saharan Africa has had so much less rainfall and hence famines. Hurricanes are basically spun off the areas just north and south of the equator (which is why they mostly start by hitting Cuba, Jamaica, Mexicom, Florida etc. before heading north (or the equivalent heading south)) The change in climate and such *may* be causing more, and more powerful, hurricanes.
The Indian Ocean Tsunami last year is probably not related to any of this, but just a random event that could have happened any year (like the supervolcano (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml) under Yellowstone which could take out most of the west coast of the US, or the Canary Islands volcano (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/956280.stm) which could cause a tidal wave that will take out the US east coast. They could stay safe for hundreds or thousands of years, or either/both could go off at any time). The Yellowstone supervolcano (might be 10,000 times the force of Mt.St.Helens) has a 600,000 year cycle, but last went off 640,000 years ago ... (yike!) (the Canary Island tsunami is much less likely to happen according to some scientists, but if it did, then 150 ft waves would hit Manhattan and Washington DC and Miami and the wave could travel 12 miles inland)
Hurricane and Tropical Storm names: There is a six year list, each year has 21 names (Q, U, X, Y and Z are skipped), and after six years the first list is used again. However, if a storm is sufficiently big (e.g. Andrew, Katrina etc.) then the name is "retired" for at least 10 years (probably much longer) and a new name put in. If they run out of the year's letters, they go to the Greek alphabet for the rest (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta etc.)
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Disasters and hurricane names
Date: 2005-10-09 05:06 am (UTC)There have been terrible earthquakes, famines etc. for as long as I can remember ... however they haven't all made it on to Fox News.
There is a belief, among some scientists, that the amount of airplane emissions in the atmosphere has reduced the amount of sunlight hitting the surface ... and that photons hitting water molecules is one of the major ways of causing water evaporation. (The atmosphere is still heating up due to greenhouse gases etc.) This means that the patterns of rain fall around the equator (which used to drift north and south of the equator during the year) have much reduced drift, which may be why sub-Saharan Africa has had so much less rainfall and hence famines. Hurricanes are basically spun off the areas just north and south of the equator (which is why they mostly start by hitting Cuba, Jamaica, Mexicom, Florida etc. before heading north (or the equivalent heading south)) The change in climate and such *may* be causing more, and more powerful, hurricanes.
The Indian Ocean Tsunami last year is probably not related to any of this, but just a random event that could have happened any year (like the supervolcano (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml) under Yellowstone which could take out most of the west coast of the US, or the Canary Islands volcano (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/956280.stm) which could cause a tidal wave that will take out the US east coast. They could stay safe for hundreds or thousands of years, or either/both could go off at any time). The Yellowstone supervolcano (might be 10,000 times the force of Mt.St.Helens) has a 600,000 year cycle, but last went off 640,000 years ago ... (yike!) (the Canary Island tsunami is much less likely to happen according to some scientists, but if it did, then 150 ft waves would hit Manhattan and Washington DC and Miami and the wave could travel 12 miles inland)
Hurricane and Tropical Storm names:
There is a six year list, each year has 21 names (Q, U, X, Y and Z are skipped), and after six years the first list is used again. However, if a storm is sufficiently big (e.g. Andrew, Katrina etc.) then the name is "retired" for at least 10 years (probably much longer) and a new name put in. If they run out of the year's letters, they go to the Greek alphabet for the rest (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta etc.)