Origin of the term Hurricane
The origin of the term hurricane comes to the English language from the Spanish
vocabulary. When Christopher Columbus arrived at the New World, otherwise known
now as America, in the winter of 1492 he came across a successful civilization of Taino
Indians. He discovered that the Taino Indians thought that a hurricane was a fierce and
violent Mayan god, angry and jealous at the people. The people called this god Jurakan.
The name Jurakan is spelled many ways; it is listed as Huracán, Hunraken, Hurakan,
Hurrican, Hurukan, and Hurkan.
Jurakan was an extremely ancient Mayan God who ruled over whirlwinds,
hurricanes, and thunder. He is considered to be the god of great storms of summer and
the god of terror. It is believed that Huracan destroyed the cities during the Mayan
collapse and even earlier Mesoamerican cultures. According to Taino myths, the
goddess Atabei created the earth, the sky and the universe. Her two sons, Guacar and
Yucaju were born to help her continue her duties. Her son Yucaju did marvelous things
for the Taino Indians. He created the sun and moon to provide a source of light for the
Indians. He then made plants grow and bore animals to populate the Earth for the
Indians. Guacar, the second son of Atabei was very bothered by his brothers’ success
and became extremely jealous. Guacar began to ruin the new beauty of the Earth with
great wind and renamed himself Jurakan, the god of destruction. The Taino Indians
believed that whenever the Mayan gods were angry with the people they would unleash
Jurakan upon the world and he would create strong, destructive, rotating winds, floods,
and thunderstorms.
A hurricane is usually around 10 miles high and ranges from 300-600 miles.
Hurricanes are much larger than tornadoes. Tornadoes typically range from a few feet to
just under a mile. An area of low pressure is located in the center of the hurricane, and
this is known as the eye. The eye tends to have clear skies, no rainfall and calm to
moderate winds, whereas the outside of the eye has thick clouds, heavy rainfall and
extremely strong winds.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary the term Hurricane is a severe
tropical cyclone with winds exceeding approximately 119 kilometers per hour, or 74
miles per hour, originating in the tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea,
traveling north, northwest, or northeast from its point of origin, and usually involving
heavy rains. Hurricane, typhoon and cyclone are the various names given to enormous
tropical storms. The word hurricane is a term used only in regions of the North Atlantic
Ocean, Northeast Pacific Ocean, and the South Pacific Ocean. In other areas of the world
it is known as a Typhoon, Severe Tropical Cyclone, or Severe Cyclonic Storm.
The term Typhoon comes from many different cultures. The Chinese used the
term jufeng to describe a tropical cyclone. Ju means “A wind coming from four
directions” and feng is the common word for wind. In Arabic, the word tufan is used to
describe a violent wind. In a reading by Kerry Emanuel “the word cyclone itself was
coined in 1848 by the Englishman Henry Piddington. Piddington, who was keenly
interested in storms affecting India, derived the term from a Greek word meaning “coil of
a snake.” However, before one can classify a tropical cyclone as a hurricane, typhoon,
severe tropical cyclone or severe cyclonic storm, one must categorize the beginning
stages of a hurricane.
According to the reading by Kerry Emanuel a Tropical Cyclone is a “Nonfrontal
synoptic-scale (200 – 2,000 km in diameter) low-pressure system originating over
tropical or subtropical waters with organized convection (i.e., rain shower or
thunderstorm activity) and definite cyclonic surface wind circulation.” This definition is
the beginning formations of a hurricane. If the tropical cyclones average wind over tenminutes at an elevation of ten meters is less than 39 mph than it is classified as a tropical
depression. If the tropical cyclones wind is between 39 mph and 74 mph then it is
classified as a tropical storm. And finally, to become a hurricane the average wind speed
must be at least 74 mph.
Hurricanes have had impacts on many lives, civilizations and cultures throughout
history. The origin of the term may come from different stories or definitions, but the
actions and results of the tropical storms remain similar. And, whether you call a tropical
storm a hurricane, a typhoon or a severe cyclonic storm the overall outcome results in
lives lost and economic hardship.