Typhoons (Or So Called Hurricanes in the North American Area)

So much talk of hurricanes these days over the news on CNN, but there isn't much coverage of the typhoons that have been coming this way, but that's not the real topic of this entry. The reason for this is to talk about my experiences with the typhoons.

To start off, the only difference between a hurricane and a typhoon is where it forms. If the storm forms over the Atlantic Ocean it's called a hurricane and if it forms over the Pacific Ocean it's called a typhoon. So, this year has not been so bad for Korea with typhoons, but poor China, Japan, and Taiwan have had their share of typhoons in the last month or so. Actually there was a big typhoon that was headed this way the end of last week and the start of this week. On Monday I woke up to crazy wind and a very cloudy sky that looked like it would rain at any moment. Well the wind kept up all day and I found out there was a typhoon headed this way. That night it rained and was very windy, but not too bad. The next day was just windy and the storm went up north and missed Korea.

Anyways, that wasn't anything compared to the two that I experienced last year around this time. Those typhoons actually came to Korea. I remember the rain was so hard and the wind was so strong that I was soaked within 2 minutes of being outside with an umbrella. The thunder and lightening were crazy also. On days like those a lot fo students don't show up for class because it's too bad to go outside. On that day I ended up taking a taxi after beening outside for 10 minutes, but by that time I was soaked through my shoes. The typhoon lasted about 2 and a half days and then the sky was clear and the wind had stopped.

So these have been my experiences with typhoon, but they are nothing compared to what hit the USA with hurricane Katrina. I'm sure that the typhoons could get as bad as Katrina, but they never hit Korea with that force.