The Hurricane Season Starts

The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and ends November 30.  NOAA's National Hurricane Center predicts and tracks these massive storm systems, which occur, on average, 12 times a year in the Atlantic basin.  One of the most destructive hurricanes was Katrina that made landfall in the Gulf States in 2005.  Picture by NASA

Tropical cyclones are called either Typhoons or Hurricanes and are rotating rotating low-pressure weather systems that form over tropical waters. “Cyclone" refers to their winds moving in a circle,whirling round their central clear eye with their winds blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.  Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 39 mph are called tropical depressions. Those with maximum sustained winds of 39 mph or higher are called tropical storms. When a storm's maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph, it is called a Hurricane or Typhoon or Medicanes based on its location. Picture by NASA on BBC

Tropical cyclones out at sea cause large waves and high winds, disrupting international shipping and, at times, causing shipwrecks.

On land, strong winds can damage vehicles, buildings, bridges, and other outside objects, turning loose debris into deadly projectiles. The storm surge,or the increase in sea level due to the cyclone, is typically the worst effect from its land fall and historically resulting in 90% of tropical cyclone deaths. Over the past two centuries, tropical cyclones have been responsible for the deaths of about 2 million people worldwide. 

The word typhoon, is likely derived from the Greek Typhon (Τυφών) a feared monster in Greek mythology that had the head of a man and a lower body of thousands serpents and was associated with storms. 

The word Hurricane, is likely derived from huracán, the Spanish word for storm god, Juracan. This god is likely the Mayan creator god Huracan  who the Mayans believed created dry land out of the turbulent waters. The god was also credited with later destroying the "wooden people", the precursors to the “maize people”, with an immense storm and flood. 

Tiresias and the Underworld

We decided against searching for Tiresias, the blind prophet, somewhere at Oceanus which was beyond the Pillars of Hercules, todays Gibraltar, as it required changing our southern course towards the Aeolian Islands.   

Odysseus though reached the Underworld, met Tiresias, and performed the rite Circe taught him, pouring fresh ram's blood on the ground. Tiresias the blind prophet was not the only shade Odysseus encountered in the Underworld, as he spoke to the ghosts of his fallen comrades, including Achilles and Agamemnon.  He also saw Minos, the great king, dispensing judgment; and Tantalus, forever hungering for food just out of reach; and Sisyphus, pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll down again.

Two sets of myths revolve around the cause of Tiresias blindness. The most prevalent one was that the goddess Athena blinded him when he saw her bathing naked.  The other myth states that Zeus called up Tiresias, to mediate on an argument he had with Hera about who was most pleasured during an erotic act - a man or a woman. Tiresias, a man who also lived as a woman for seven years, stated that women experience more pleasure agreeing with Zeus. This angered Hera, who in return blinded him.  Zeus felt badly and gave Tiresias the gifts to prophesize and that of a long life that lasted seven generations. 

While in the Underworld the ghost of Tiresias revealed to Ulysses that Poseidon was angry with him but gave him advice and directions on how to get home to Ithaca safely.  As we did not meet Tiresias we had to rely on ancient and modern navigation methods to find our way and reach our destinations, which I will describe in a future post.  But first we had to sail by the Sirens!