Asian Typhoon (Hurricane) Season Evacuates over 500,000

In Asia, hurricanes are called Typhoons. Right now two of them are racking China and Japan - destroying over 2,000 homes and causing the evacuation of over 1 million people.

When I was a kid and read book like "Taipan" about Asian places like Hong Kong, the word Typhoon sounded more terrifying than a hurricane. But the result is the same.

Did you know that hurricane/typhoon winds begin to circle counterclockwise north of the equator or clockwise south of the equator? So a Typhoon hitting China (which is north of the equator) is turning the same direction as one hitting the U.S.

And Hurricanes/Typhoons don't cross the equator.

Our hurricanes usually start off the coast of Africa (although some have started in the Gulf of Mexico and hit within 24 hours) and the ones hitting China and Japan today started in the middle of the Pacific instead of their usual birthplace off the coast of South America.

Hurricanes and Typhoons are called "Cyclones" south of the equator in the Pacific. They are all mother nature's engine to dissipate heat from the hot tropics towards the cooler poles. They are annual events. And global warming can only make them bigger. The Typhoons were big enough to send over a half million people fleeing their homes.

So if Asia is being pummeled now in the Pacific, sooner or later the Atlantic will release one of its own. Be prepared.

September is when all the big storms have hit us - IKE, RITA, KATRINA were all September storms.

We are not out of the woods yet for this season.