What makes hurricanes so powerful and destructive?

The word hurricane comes from the Caribbean devil hurrican, and some people say that Hurakan, the god of thunderstorms and cyclones, is one of the creation gods in Mayan mythology. The word typhoon comes from Tifeng, the son of Gaia, the mother of the earth in Greek mythology. It is a monster with a hundred faucets. It is said that its children are terrible winds. As for the Chinese word "typhoon", some people say that it originated from Japanese, while others say that the pronunciation of "gale" in Cantonese from China was translated into typhoon after it spread abroad. In the past, there were frequent storms along the southeast coast of China, which were called "gale" by local fishermen and later turned into typhoons.

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Satellite images of hurricanes

Typhoon hurricane

Both hurricanes and typhoons refer to tropical cyclones with wind speeds exceeding 33 m/s, but they have different names because of different regions. Strong tropical cyclones generated in the northwest Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea are called "typhoons"; It is generated in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the eastern part of the North Pacific Ocean and is called a "hurricane"; What is produced in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal is called a whirlwind. Hurricanes can release amazing energy in one day. Hurricanes and tornadoes cannot be confused. The latter time is very short, and it is instantaneous, and the longest is no more than a few hours. The former is at sea. In addition, tornadoes are usually accompanied by hurricanes. The biggest feature of tornado is that when it appears, it often has one or several funnel-shaped cloud columns similar to "trunk", accompanied by storm, lightning or hail. When a tornado passes through the water, it can absorb water and rise to form a water column, and then connect with clouds, commonly known as "dragon with water" or "dragon with water". When passing through land, houses are often rolled down, and even people are sucked into the air.

grade separation

Note: The following "maximum sustained wind speed" refers to the one-minute sustained wind speed (kts) adopted by JTWC, and other unit values are converted from this standard.

Grade I: the maximum sustained wind speed is 33–42m/s 74–95mph 64–82nm/h119–153km/h.

Storm surge: 4–5ft1.2–1.5m.

Minimum central pressure: 28.94 inches Hg 980 mbar.

Potential damage: there is no actual damage to the building, but it will cause damage to the unfixed RV, shrubs and trees. Some coasts will be flooded and small docks will be damaged.

Typical hurricanes: Agnes-Danny-gaston-O 'filia.

Class II: Maximum sustained wind speed: 43–49 m/s 96–110 mph 83–95 knots154–177 km/h.

Storm surge: 6-8 feet1.8-2.4m.

Minimum central air pressure: 28.50–28.91inch Hg 965–979 mbar.

Potential damage: some roof materials, doors and windows are damaged, and vegetation may be damaged. Floods may break through unprotected berths and threaten docks and ships.