Re: Austral hurricanes

[Margaret Mary Mazzolini <304130@bud.cc.swin.edu.au>]

I'm no expert on this one, but we certainly get cyclones, which my little
science encyclopedia infers are typhoons by another name. You may remember
the one that flattened the tropical city of Darwin on Christmas Eve once
(in the early `80s I think?) They occur in the tropical regions.
We also get the delightfully-named "willy-willies" which is I think a name
of Aboriginal origin for small 'twisters', usually not big enough to cause
much damage. I've twice seen little ones, less than a metre high, start
near me in dusty locations on hot days in the bush (country-side).
Margaret Mazzolini
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia

On Fri, 5 Jul 1996, Cooper, John N wrote:

>    Someone asked whether there are hurricanes/typhoons in the southern
> hemisphere.  I couldn't imagine why not but can't recall having heard of
> such.  A colleague from Sao Paulo, Brazil, said he'd not seen/heard of
> them .. so I wonder whether any Aussie/NZlanders are tuned in and have
> words of wisdom. 
>    If they exist I suppose it is our Boreal-chauvinism that prompts my
> ignorance; if not, what's special about the northern or southern
> hemisphere? 
>
>   John Cooper, Chemistry, Bucknell University, Lewisburg PA 17837-2005
> 	    jcooper@bucknell.edu		717-524-3673