A new map derived from 150 years of storm data plots out the path of all known hurricanes and tropical storms formed across the globe since 1851.
This is not your typical map. Mapmaker John Nelson of IDV Solutions, a data visualization company, created the map from the vantage point of a bird’s-eye view with Antarctica is centered in the middle. North and South America are on the upper right, Asia is on the left, and Africa can be seen on the bottom.
“When I put it onto a rectangular map it was neat looking, but a little bit disappointing,” Nelson told OurAmazingPlanet. So instead he chose to center the map around the south pole. He used electric blue and green lines to show the hurricane paths, based on government data through 2010.
The data, collected from NOAA archives and NASA, clearly shows certain regions are more prone to intense hurricanes. The tiniest blue dots on the map signify tropical storms that were never upgraded to hurricane status. Hurricanes are recorded on the map with dots ranging from small blue category 1 storms to large green category 5 storms, almost all of which are found around the Americas.
The graphs on the lower right of the map also show more storms have occurred in the latter half of the 20th century than earlier years. However, that’s partially because technological advances have helped storm trackers detect storms that in earlier times would have been missed.
Click the below image to see the map in full detail.
Featured photo credit: IDV Solutions/Flickr