Interesting facts about hurricane season including how hurricane hunting started in a bar
Hurricane season officially kicked off on Thursday, June 1st, but before we start storm tracking and hurricane naming, let’s talk about a few fun facts you may find interesting.
For instance, did you know that the word hurricane comes from the Taino Native American word "hurucane" meaning "evil spirit of the wind?"
And although hurricanes have names now, that wasn’t always the case.
For instance, there was the “Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900” and the “1935 Labor Day Hurricane” just to name a couple. In fact, names were not officially introduced until 1950.
Soon after that, only female names were used. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that male names were added to the list and in 1979, Hurricane “Bob” became the first official hurricane named after a male.
The average size of a hurricane is about 300 miles wide and can survive in open waters for weeks or even up to a month!
Hurricanes are the only weather disasters that have been given their own names, and although the National Hurricane Center deploys hurricane hunters throughout the tropical season, the only reason we have hurricane hunters today is that two pilots in a bar made a bet that the other one couldn’t fly through a hurricane.
(Watch the full story on that in the video player above)
They both ended up giving it a try and the following year, brought along a meteorologist.
Three years later, in 1946, hurricane hunters became official and the rest as they say, is history!
For a complete outlook on this year's hurricane season, click here or watch our 2023 Hurricane Special below.