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Nature is still the queen of our planet
And one of the greatest displays of her raw power
Can be found in the form of hurricanes
These huge and often disastrous storms
Are a well known fact of life
To sailors and coastal communities the world over
But these storms are called different ways depending on where you are
In the Atlantic and North-Eastern Pacific, they are hurricanes
In the North-Western Pacific, they are typhoons
While in the South-Pacific and Indian Oceans, they are known as Cyclones
Whatever name they go by
They are nothing to take lightly
But how large and how powerful can these storms actually get?
Let's start explaining the Saphir-Simpson scale
Which you've probably already seen used
It measures hurricanes on a scale between category 1 on the low end
And category 5 on the high end
To help you visualize what each level of the scale means
Let's begin with the smallest known cyclone ever on record:
Tropical Storm Marco
To be classified as a category 1 hurricane
A storm needs to have wind speeds of at least 74 miles per hour (119 kilometers per hour)
And so since Marco only had a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour (105 kilometers per hour)
It wouldn't even register on the scale
The storm was about the same size as Rhode Island
And the damage it caused when it impacted Mexico was minimal
But obviously, actual hurricanes can get much nastier than this
Even on the low end at a category 1 storm
Hurricane Nate in 2017 became the costliest natural disaster in the history of Costa Rica
Causing 787 million dollars in damage and claiming the lives of 48 people
A category 1 storm has wind speeds
Ranging between 74 and 95 miles per hour (120-153 kilometers per hour)
And Nate's max speed at 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour) easily made it make the mark
But the further up the scale we go
The more ferocious the wind speeds become
At category 2
A hurricane must have wind speeds of between 96 and 110 miles per hour (154-177 kilometers per hour)
This is fast enough to damage roofs and windows of homes, uproots of trees and destroy mobile homes
Hurricane Arthur is a recent example of this type
Which grew to about the size of Montenegro
Once we reach category 3
These and all further storms are considered to be major hurricanes
To be considered a category 3
A storm needs to have wind speeds between 111 and 129 miles per hour (178-208 kilometers per hour)
Even the most well-built homes
Or office buildings can suffer minor damage against this
While buildings without a solid foundation
Will probably be totally destroyed
Hurricane Otto in 2016 was a good example of this type
Which grew to have a max wind speed of 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour)
And became close in size to The Netherlands
Hurricanes start getting extremely terrifying when they reach category 4 though
The deadliest natural disaster in all of American history
Was because of a category 4 hurricane, that struck the city of Galveston in 1900
With wind speeds approaching a 145 miles per hour (233 Kilometers per hour)
The hurricane basically destroyed the entire city
And left somewhere between 6000 and 12000 people dead
But that's nowhere near the deadliest cyclone in world history
That unfortunate honor goes to the 1970 Bhola Cyclone
That smashed into a place that used to be called East Pakistan
And now it's called Bangladesh
The storm was about the size of Albania
And claimed the lives of over 500000 people!
More then all American fatalities during the Second World War combined!
Another horrible record set by a category 4 hurricane was by Harvey in 2017
Approaching the size of Hungary, it slammed into the coast of Texas in 2017
And became the costliest hurricane in history!
Causing about 125 billion dollars in damage
Which is also close to Hungary's total GDP
So you can maybe call Harvey a Hungary missile
But that missile's record is technically tied with an even more ferocious storm back from 2005, Katrina
Which became a monster close in size to Poland
With wind speeds of a 175 miles per hour (282 kilometers per hour
It also caused a 125 billion dollars in damage
And claimed the lives of over a 1000 people when it struck the southern US
This is our first category 5 hurricane
But there are many more that are significantly bigger
As it stands now as of the making of this video
Hurricane Florence as not yet made landfall in the Carolina's
But it's looking like a true monster approaching the size of France
Hurricane Patricia back in 1979 grew to about the size of the entire Iberian peninsula
Spain and Portugal combined...
And clocked in the highest wind speeds ever measured in a hurricane
At a demonically fast 215 miles per hour (346 kilometers per hour)
That's fast enough to probably destroy most buildings that would ever come across
But there's still a few who have grown even bigger...
Well not as ferociously fast
Hurricane John was considerably bigger in size nearly the same as Iran!
John holds the record for being the longest lasting hurricane at 31 days!
And the furthest distance traveled by one 11530 kilometers (7160 miles)
Or about 29% of the way around the entire planet!
Only a tiny handful of hurricanes have ever been bigger than this
But one of them was Sandy
Which became the biggest hurricane to ever strike the US
It was about half the size of Australia
Which looks horrific on a map by the east coast!
But with a wind speed of only a 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour)
It was actually classified as just a category 3 storm
So the damage it caused wasn't as bad as it could've been if it had upgraded
But by far the biggest and most terrifying storm on our planet is known to a have ever experienced was Typhoon Tip
Back in 1979
Growing in the North-Western Pacific
Tip reached a size comparable to the entire county of India!
And maintained windspeeds of a 190 miles per hour! (305 kilometers per hour!)
Thankfully Tip weakened before it eventually hit Japan
But imagine the damage it could've caused if it had hit somewhere at its peak strength...
If the Hungary missile caused a 125 billion dollars of damage in Texas
Imagine what an INDIA missile could've done in Japan...
But worst of all
Hurricanes are probably going to get bigger later during the century
Because of Global Warming
The warmer the ocean water gets...
The stronger the hurricane's winds can become
Noah estimates that because of Climate Change
Hurricanes intensity will increase by 2 to 11% by 2100
Which doesn't sound like a lot
Until you remember that 2-11% of wind speeds close to 200 miles per hour
Is close to 4-22 additional miles per hour (6-35 kilometers per hour)
Which is fast enough over a speed limit to get you a ticket pretty much anywhere
Speed is important or at least the illusion of it is
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