“I’ll take ‘Typhoons’ for $500 Alex.”

          By now I’m sure that you guys have come to be able to identify “Sea Days” because I bombard you with anything but “Ports Of Call” posts!

                                      Today will be no different 😊

                             We are in the middle of the Tasman Sea, halfway between New Zealand and Australia, on the lam from Cyclone Gabrielle churning northeast of us. By now you know my feelings on this subject, so I will not belabor this issue. Suffice it to say, “Unfortunately” it looks like the Captain’s wise re-positioning of our ship has been wildly successful.

                             We are sailing on the proverbial “Mill Pond”.

                             “So Don, What do you have for us today?”

                             I’m glad you asked that question! Today will be a very tiny meteorological lesson on Cyclones, Hurricanes, Typhoons, Nor’easter’s, Bathtub Drains, and the Coriolis Effect.

I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but a few days ago when I posted some satellite images of Gabrielle and our relative position within her sphere of influence, did something strike you as ‘odd’?

Did something look not quite right?

Out of place?

You couldn’t quite put your finger on it?

                   Up in the Northern Hemisphere we are used to seeing our hurricanes and nor’easters spiraling in a counter-clockwise direction. You may not even have noticed it because that’s the way it’s always been. And, we never see satellite views of a system in the Southern Hemisphere because, well, we just don’t. It doesn’t affect us, so no one bothers about it. We have nothing to compare to.

                                       Until now!

                             First let’s discuss the Coriolis Effect, something that we have all learned about a thousand years ago in Physical Science Class. We are going to dispel the myth of the bathtub drain rotation and put that behind us. While it is true that in the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis Effect causes things to rotate in a counterclockwise direction (and the opposite is true for the Southern Hemisphere) a drain is infinitesimally too small for this effect to affect which way the drain water rotates. In both hemispheres, a drain can, and does, rotate in either direction and this depends far more on the slightly-not-quite level aspect of your sink, or what is clogging or slowing the water down in the pipes causing a resistance on one side or another.

                             Ok, if a small drain way too tiny, then a hurricane, cyclone, typhoon, or large low-pressure system (like a Nor’easter), is way too big not to be affected by this effect!

                             Got it?

                             That’s why up in New Jersey we get the bad winds from the northeast, both in a hurricane, and those monsters that are quite often worse for us, a Nor’easter.

                             All of these tropical systems (except a Nor’ easter, that is not considered a ’tropical’ system) start close to the equator in the warmer waters of the oceans. We all watch the Weather Channel when they talk about a small tropical depression coming off of the west coast of Africa. This depression (called an Inspect) starts to make its way across the Atlantic, north of the Equator. They all move to the left and drift in a northerly direction towards the US mainland, Caribbean, or just peel off and head up the middle of the Atlantic, usually with little effect, except maybe Bermuda.

                             In the Southern Hemisphere, they also start in the warm waters near the Equator. But in this case, they travel to the south and then turn to the left.

This illustrates the beginnings of how the Coriolis Effect starts its influence.

Lastly, (I’m sure you’re all thinking “It’s about time”)

What the in the name of all that is wet and windy is the difference between a Hurricane, Typhoon, and a Cyclone?

          Answer:  Nothing!

          Well, that’s not entirely true. They are exactly the same meteorological events. The only difference is where they are spawned.

          Hurricanes are in the Atlantic above the Equator and in the eastern Pacific above the same.

          Typhoons are in the northern hemisphere also, but they start in the northern Pacific and primarily affect Asia.

          Cyclones are their relatives that live ‘down under.’ These guys start in the Southern Hemisphere (down here by us!)

Now, to throw this all into disarray….. when, and if, a Hurricane or Typhoon happens to cross our old friend the International Date Line, it morphs its name from one to the other! West to East it changes from a Typhoon to a Hurricane and vice versa.

          Confused?

“No worries mate! ” It’s only two more days ‘til Melbourne!