Posted
on October 21, 2013
A
tradition of celebrating the end of the hurricane season in the U.S.
Virgin Islands started even before there was a U.S.!
Back
in 1726, when Denmark ruled the island of St. Thomas (now part of the
U.S. Virgin Islands), a Christian pastor named Philip Dietrichs led a
special church service to give thanks that his community had not been
destroyed in a hurricane that year. The idea took hold and became a
tradition that is kept even now, on all three islands.
A
hurricane is a giant storm...
I
bet you already know that hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones are all
the same thing: a large tropical storm. The word cyclone is
perhaps most descriptive, because these tropical storms are rotating
like a bicycle's wheel rotates...
And
you probably also know that hurricanes/cyclones start over tropical
oceans and often gain strength as they travel across the ocean,
picking up more and more water from the evaporating sea, but lose
strength when they hit land and can no longer grow.
You
probably know that hurricanes are named men's and women's names
arranged alphabetically (so that Hurricane Charlie, say, would be the
next one after Hurricane Betty). Lists of names are arranged ahead of
time and are used as necessary—but when any hurricane is memorably
huge and destructive, such as Katrina or Sandy, that name is retired
and a new K or S (or whatever) name is put in its place.
Hurricanes
Hugo in 1989 and Marilyn in 1995 were direct hits on the U.S. Virgin
Islands and caused severe damage. Of course, other storms have passed
since then but have paled in comparison...
Learn
more about hurricanes from this earlier post.
Learn
more about the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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| This map shows St. Croix, one of the three U.S. Virgin Islands. The other two, St. Thomas and St. John, are nearby. |
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