Start learning anything for free for 2 months

At skl.sh/reallifelore16

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

Before I started this YouTube channel

I created a feature length movie over a summer

But I really had no idea what I was doing

If you're trying to do something similar, right now

Like filming you're own movie, video's for YouTube or any other cinematic project

Then there is no other better place to learn what you're doing then over at Skillshare

While learning from their classes on aerial videography or, filming scene transitions is incredibly useful

Skillshare, of course, has many other interesting classes

As well on topics like: Data science programming and animation

In fact, Skillshare has over 20000 classes

So if there is something you want to learn

Then Skillshare has probably a class on it

Best of all you can start leaning with Skillshare for free for 2 entire months

And support RealLifeLore by signing up today

By clicking the link in the description at skl.sh/reallifelore16

*Music*