hurricanes
- A single hurricane stirs up millions of miles of air and can dump more than 2.4 trillion gallons (9 trillion liters) of rain a day.f
- Hurricane-generated waves frequently toss tons of fish onto beaches. The eyes of many of the fish have popped out because of sudden changes in pressure.a
- Hurricanes produce enough energy in one day to run the lights of Las Vegas for many years.a
- Christopher Columbus wrote the first known report of a hurricane in 1495.d
- Hurricanes spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere
- Hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere spin in a clockwise direction. Hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere turn counterclockwise.i
- The word “hurricane” comes from Hurican, a name for the god of evil on some islands in the Caribbean.g
- Ninety percent of all hurricane deaths result from storm surges, which can reach over 20 feet high and extend nearly 100 miles.a
- In 1900, a hurricane in Galveston, Texas, killed more than 8,000 people, making it the deadliest weather emergency in U.S. history.a
- Hurricanes kill more people than any other type of storm.i
- A hurricane on Jupiter has been raging for over 300 years and is bigger than the Earth.d