the.com/cyclone
a storm that organizes itself into a thousand-mile spiral just to fall apart over land
means A large-scale rotating storm system spinning around a low-pressure center, bringing violent winds and rain.
from Coined in the 19th century by Henry Piddington, a British shipping official studying storms in the Indian Ocean. He drew on the Greek 'kyklon,' meaning 'moving in a circle' — itself from 'kyklos,' a wheel or ring (the same root that turns up in 'cycle' and 'encyclopedia'). The popular tale that he had the coil of a snake in mind is doubtful; the wheel of wind was always the point.
- spins backwards
- Southern hemisphere cyclones rotate clockwise, opposite their northern cousins
- calm core
- the eye is eerily clear and windless
- name swap
- called hurricanes or typhoons depending on the ocean
- heat engine
- powered by warm ocean water evaporating upward
- deadliest ever
- 1970 Bhola cyclone killed hundreds of thousands
cyclone nargis — 2008 myanmar cyclone that killed approximately 138,000 people
cyclone tracy — 1974 cyclone that devastated darwin, australia on christmas day
cyclone winston — 2016 cyclone that struck fiji, causing 44 deaths and widespread destruction
cyclone mahina — 1899 cyclone that created a 13-meter storm surge in bathurst bay, australia