explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2188: E Scooters

2019-08-12T20:51:12Z

4jonah: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2188
| date = August 12, 2019
| title = E Scooters
| image = e_scooters.png
| titletext = Obviously battery technology and prices have driven a lot of the scooter explosion, but I feel like Dean Kamen must be at least a little grumpy about how much people laughed at the idea of the Segway.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT on two wheels (Vroooooom). Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

At the time of publishing, {{w|motorized scooter}}s or e-scooters were very popular, especially with the rise of ride-share companies such as {{w|Lime (transportation company)|Lime}} and {{w|Bird (company)|Bird}} that use apps allowing users to rent the scooters by the minute. ([[Randall]] uses "e Scooter" or "E Scooter" for the comics title. But in the comic [[White Hat]] does say e-scooter, which is also the way the Wikipedia article on {{w|e-scooters}} mentions them).

[[Cueball]] drives up to White Hat on his e-scooter. White Hat asks him for his thoughts on the scooter; he is interested as he has heard so much about them. However, instead of just waiting to hear Cueball's response, White Hat then goes on to list four things he has heard other people say about e-scooters. When he finally stops talking, Cueball tells him that he has given this a lot of thoughts, and tells him that he will give him his opinion on e-scooters. But instead of choosing an opinion from White Hat's list (or any opinion for that matter), Cueball starts making engine/vehicle sounds and in the last panel also "pew pew pew" sounds. This may indicate he doesn't care about any of White Hat's complicated opinions and is just excited about the science-fiction-esque opportunities associated with it.

White Hat makes the following list of opinions on e-scooters:
#Are they impractical and unsafe toys?
#Or a last-mile transit revolution?
#A low-carbon car replacement?
#Or Silicon Valley sidewalk clutter?

Some people consider e-scooters as a "low-carbon car replacement", as they are better for the environment than polluting gas cars. Additionally, e-scooters have been touted as a form of "last-mile transit" - used to cover the "last mile" to your destination after taking other forms of public transportation.

However, others consider e-scooters as a public nuisance, as users often leave them on the sidewalk haphazardly. They have also been seen as dangerous, as many users do not wear helmets when riding e-scooters (though Cueball is seen with a helmet in the comic, although not wearing it) or ride them at high speed on sidewalks in the middle of pedestrians. Some cities have gone so far as to [https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article224573320.html ban e-scooters] [https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18701299/nashville-electric-scooter-ban-man-killed from their communities].

Cueball's response of making onomatopoeic sounds which mimic the e-scooter is humorous for two reasons. First, e-scooters are fun and may seem futuristic, like something from his childhood. This would bring out a youthful and childish joy children have when making engine noises when playing with toy cars. He is acting like a kid because he feels like one. The second reason this is funny is that the scooters, being battery-powered, are nearly silent. He is making the sounds a traditional motorized scooter makes to fill in the audible gap.

The title text refers to Dean Kamen, an American inventor best known for founding the {{w|Segway}} company. At the time of the invention of the Segway, it was billed as a revolution in personal transit, with articles (and Kamen himself) speculating that future cities might be entirely rebuilt around it and similar personal transporters. That buzz quickly died down, and Segways quickly became the subject of a great deal of mockery. The text implies that Kamen might resent the fact that a similar vision has re-emerged, and is once again being taken seriously, but without his invention. However, [https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/01/lime-partners-with-segway-to-build-electric-scooters/ Segway actually manufactures scooters for e-scooter rental agency Lime].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is getting off his e-scooter, with his bicycle helmet hanging on the handlebars. He has stopped right in front of White Hat who addresses him.]
:White Hat: Hey, you got one of those e-scooters!
:Cueball: Yeah!

:[Cueball is now standing next to the e-scooter holding on to the handlebars with one hand. Both he and White Hat look down at the scooter.]
:White Hat: So what do you think? I hear so much about these things.

:[A large panel with just White Hat who is spreading his arms out.]
:White Hat: Are they impractical and unsafe toys? Or a last-mile transit revolution?

:[Closeup on White Hat holding both arms out and up with palms held up.]
:White Hat: A low-carbon car replacement? Or Silicon Valley sidewalk clutter?

:[In a frame-less panel only Cueball and his e-scooter is shown.]
:Cueball: Well, having given it lots of thought, here is my opinion on scooters:

:[Cueball is bending at the knees and holding on to the handlebars with both hands as White Hat is looking at him. Cueball starts making machine noises.]
:Cueball: Zooooooom!
:Cueball: Neeeeeoooormmm
:Cueball: Vrrrm Vrrmvrmm
:Cueball: Wheeee!

:[Cueball continues making sounds as in the previous panel. White Hat seems to have taken a step back.]
:Cueball: Pew pew pew!
:Cueball: Bzzzzt Kaboom!
:White Hat: Wait, why are there lasers?
:Cueball: Pew!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]

Talk:2188: E Scooters

2019-08-12T20:49:36Z

4jonah:

This comic came out early. They don't usually go live till around noon my time. It's 1:20 AM. [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 05:21, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
:Yes, quite early, but about once a month or something it happens. Randall never has fixed upload times. So it is not really uncommon. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:46, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
::It used to be that the comics would come online in the early US hours (morning for Europe), but about 1 year ago this shifted to morning US / mid-afternoon Europe, with some exceptions.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.203|141.101.99.203]] 10:26, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thought Cueballs first "sound" in panel 6 was 20000000M and was wondering what that number meant? :D [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:29, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
:You [where] were the only one I think :-p --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:55, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
he wasn't

I have noticed that in several comics Randall doesn't draw a frame around every panel, like panel 5 in this case. Is there any meaning behind this or is it just a random artistic choice? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:32, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
:I think it is a choice, but not random. It gives a certain flow to the comic. He does this a lot. I have begun writing it in the transcript, as I did here (someone else did it partially but I corrected it to "frame-less panel". A quick search [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=500&offset=0&profile=default&search=%22frame-less+panel%22 showed 79 pages] using this sentence. So it is quite common, as I have certainly not been around all of the comics doing this. However, I'm probably the one that have edited most transcripts (as the one with the most edits on this wiki, who on top of that has specialized in making the transcripts complete. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:55, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

I didn't really get this explanation. It doesn't really _explain_ why the response is made of whizzing sounds, no? Wouldn't the point of the explanation be to explain the comic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.52|162.158.114.52]] 16:10, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

: Why seemed obvious to me. It could be that there is no *serious* reason for it, that he did it for fun.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.184|108.162.245.184]] 17:24, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

:I added an explanation for his sounds.

2188: E Scooters

2019-08-12T20:48:47Z

4jonah: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2188
| date = August 12, 2019
| title = E Scooters
| image = e_scooters.png
| titletext = Obviously battery technology and prices have driven a lot of the scooter explosion, but I feel like Dean Kamen must be at least a little grumpy about how much people laughed at the idea of the Segway.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT on two wheels (Vroooooom). Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

At the time of publishing, {{w|motorized scooter}}s or e-scooters were very popular, especially with the rise of ride-share companies such as {{w|Lime (transportation company)|Lime}} and {{w|Bird (company)|Bird}} that use apps allowing users to rent the scooters by the minute. ([[Randall]] uses "e Scooter" or "E Scooter" for the comics title. But in the comic [[White Hat]] does say e-scooter, which is also the way the Wikipedia article on {{w|e-scooters}} mentions them).

[[Cueball]] drives up to White Hat on his e-scooter. White Hat asks him for his thoughts on the scooter; he is interested as he has heard so much about them. However, instead of just waiting to hear Cueball's response, White Hat then goes on to list four things he has heard other people say about e-scooters. When he finally stops talking, Cueball tells him that he has given this a lot of thoughts, and tells him that he will give him his opinion on e-scooters. But instead of choosing an opinion from White Hat's list (or any opinion for that matter), Cueball starts making engine/vehicle sounds and in the last panel also "pew pew pew" sounds. This may indicate he doesn't care about any of White Hat's complicated opinions and is just excited about the science-fiction-esque opportunities associated with it.

White Hat makes the following list of opinions on e-scooters:
#Are they impractical and unsafe toys?
#Or a last-mile transit revolution?
#A low-carbon car replacement?
#Or Silicon Valley sidewalk clutter?

Some people consider e-scooters as a "low-carbon car replacement", as they are better for the environment than polluting gas cars. Additionally, e-scooters have been touted as a form of "last-mile transit" - used to cover the "last mile" to your destination after taking other forms of public transportation.

However, others consider e-scooters as a public nuisance, as users often leave them on the sidewalk haphazardly. They have also been seen as dangerous, as many users do not wear helmets when riding e-scooters (though Cueball is seen with a helmet in the comic, although not wearing it) or ride them at high speed on sidewalks in the middle of pedestrians. Some cities have gone so far as to [https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article224573320.html ban e-scooters] [https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18701299/nashville-electric-scooter-ban-man-killed from their communities].

Cueball's response of making onomatopoeic sounds which mimic the e-scooter is humorous for two reasons. First, e-scooters are fun and may seem futuristic, like something from his childhood. This would bring out a youthful and childish joy where he makes the same sounds that children make when making engine noises when playing with toy cars. He is acting like a kid because he feels like one. The second reason this is funny is that the scooters, being battery-powered, are nearly silent. He is making the sounds a traditional motorized scooter makes to fill in the audible gap.

The title text refers to Dean Kamen, an American inventor best known for founding the {{w|Segway}} company. At the time of the invention of the Segway, it was billed as a revolution in personal transit, with articles (and Kamen himself) speculating that future cities might be entirely rebuilt around it and similar personal transporters. That buzz quickly died down, and Segways quickly became the subject of a great deal of mockery. The text implies that Kamen might resent the fact that a similar vision has re-emerged, and is once again being taken seriously, but without his invention. However, [https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/01/lime-partners-with-segway-to-build-electric-scooters/ Segway actually manufactures scooters for e-scooter rental agency Lime].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is getting off his e-scooter, with his bicycle helmet hanging on the handlebars. He has stopped right in front of White Hat who addresses him.]
:White Hat: Hey, you got one of those e-scooters!
:Cueball: Yeah!

:[Cueball is now standing next to the e-scooter holding on to the handlebars with one hand. Both he and White Hat look down at the scooter.]
:White Hat: So what do you think? I hear so much about these things.

:[A large panel with just White Hat who is spreading his arms out.]
:White Hat: Are they impractical and unsafe toys? Or a last-mile transit revolution?

:[Closeup on White Hat holding both arms out and up with palms held up.]
:White Hat: A low-carbon car replacement? Or Silicon Valley sidewalk clutter?

:[In a frame-less panel only Cueball and his e-scooter is shown.]
:Cueball: Well, having given it lots of thought, here is my opinion on scooters:

:[Cueball is bending at the knees and holding on to the handlebars with both hands as White Hat is looking at him. Cueball starts making machine noises.]
:Cueball: Zooooooom!
:Cueball: Neeeeeoooormmm
:Cueball: Vrrrm Vrrmvrmm
:Cueball: Wheeee!

:[Cueball continues making sounds as in the previous panel. White Hat seems to have taken a step back.]
:Cueball: Pew pew pew!
:Cueball: Bzzzzt Kaboom!
:White Hat: Wait, why are there lasers?
:Cueball: Pew!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]

Talk:1707: xkcd Phone 4

2016-07-15T18:21:45Z

4jonah:

The current explanation seems to assume a constant current draw of 1A without explicitly stating it.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.117|141.101.95.117]] 14:04, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

The 12 headphone jacks is probably referring to the rumor that the iPhone 7 may not have a headphone jack. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.90|141.101.104.90]] 14:58, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

Fun fact: the Walkman II (the most popular variant) had 2 headphone jacks, so that two people could listen to music at the same time, but the second jack was removed from later designs. This has a few more than that, perhaps there is one for each voice assistant to make it "usable". {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.119}}

An alternative explanation of "onboard cloud" could be a file server that serves over WIFI, Bluetooth, and NFC, turning the phone into an effective NAS sneakernet [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 15:30, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

The "certified" feature probably refers to various certifications being used as marketing features. [[User:Joedetode|Joedetode]] ([[User talk:Joedetode|talk]]) 15:33, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

The Julian calendar is used by Orthodox Christians, but not astronomers. Astronomers use something called {{w|Julian day}}. --[[User:Mlv|Mlv]] ([[User talk:Mlv|talk]]) 16:27, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

"Did you know '4' is 'IV' in Roman numerals?" is probably a dig on "Mac OS X", which is supposed to be pronounced "Mac OS 10". Apparently it used to annoy Steve Jobs that it was pronounced "Mac OS EX" by many people. {{unsigned ip|108.162.210.214}}

"The nickel–iron battery does exist, but it's terrible for most applications. Worse, this battery is non-rechargeable, meaning that it would have to be replaced to use the phone again after it is exhausted." is not supported by the link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93iron_battery. The first line of which begins "The nickel–iron battery (NiFe battery) is a rechargeable battery ... ".--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.11|108.162.219.11]] 17:11, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

The comment about the Nickel-Iron battery being non-rechargable is referring not to the Wikipedia article, but the battery annotation on the picture, which states clearly that the included battery is non-rechargable. Perhaps the explanation should be amended to clear up this ambiguity. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.132|141.101.98.132]] 18:07, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

This explanation would be easier to read if put in a table, with the term on the left and description on the right

1707: xkcd Phone 4

2016-07-15T18:20:48Z

4jonah: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1707
| date = July 15, 2016
| title = xkcd Phone 4
| image = xkcd_phone_4.png
| titletext = The SpaceX system carefully guides falling phones down to the surface, a process which the phones increasingly often survive without exploding.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Not everything explained}}

This is another entry in the xkcd Phone series (see [[1363: xkcd Phone]], [[1465: xkcd Phone 2]] and [[1549: XKCD Phone 3]]), and once again, the comic plays with many standard tech buzzwords to create a phone that sounds impressive but would actually be very impractical.

From the top, going clockwise:
* '''18,000 μAh (micro-Ampere hours) nickel-lithium-iron battery (non-rechargeable)''' Phone battery capacity is measured in {{w|ampere-hour}}s (which thanks to the magic of {{w|dimensional analysis}}, is just an unusual way of denoting electric charge, which equals 3600 Coulombs). Usually, the capacity is quoted in milliampere-hours (one-thousandth, or 10^-3, of an ampere hour); however, this one is quoted in ''micro''ampere-hours (one-millionth, or 10^-6, of an ampere-hour), presumably as a marketing ploy to give a more impressive-looking number. Quoted in more standard terms, this phone's battery capacity is 18 mAh. In comparison, an iPhone 6+ has a battery capacity of 2,750 mAh. This phone's battery is dreadful (under a typical current draw of 0.1A, it would power the phone for about 11 minutes). There is no such thing as a nickel-lithium-iron battery - rather, it's a garbled version of the experimental {{w|nickel–lithium battery}} and the common {{w|lithium ion battery}} (which does not contain any iron) or the lithium-iron-phosphate battery, often called lithium-iron, but more often called the LiFePO battery. The {{w|nickel–iron battery}} does exist, but it's ''terrible'' for most applications. Worse, this battery is non-rechargeable, meaning that it would have to be replaced to use the phone again after it is exhausted.
* '''Subwoofer''' - A {{w|subwoofer}} is a large bass speaker, which this is not. Some phones do have high-quality speakers for playing music, but these are not placed right next to the earpiece - this would be a surefire way to deafen your users. When put next to Dog Whistle, this is probably a pun, since both relate to dogs; the sound a dog makes, at least in English is "Woof".
* '''"Dog whistle"''' - A {{w|dog whistle}} is a high-pitched whistle that humans cannot hear, but dogs can. In speaker terminology, a bass speaker is called a {{w|woofer}} because it could reproduce the low pitch of a dog bark. A treble speaker is a {{w|tweeter}}; if this "whistle" is actually a speaker, it might be termed a ''supertweeter''. This might also be a reference to the idea of making racily charged statements to appeal to racist voters while not being overtly racist. The scare quotes around the term add to the idea that whatever it is called is not what it really is.
* '''Non-porous, washable''' - On the one hand, it's rare for a phone to be made of porous materials. On the other, there are legitimately waterproof phones that seal the speakers and ports with rubber.
* '''''WebMD'' partnership: cough-activated feature reads aloud a random diagnosis for "coughing"''' - {{w|WebMD}} is a website to help people diagnose themselves. For the vast majority of people, a cough just means an irritated throat or maybe a cold, but selecting randomly from all WebMD diagnoses gives some much more ominous - if very unlikely - ones, including {{w|ricin}} poisoning, {{w|plague}}, {{w|lung cancer}} and {{w|radiation poisoning}}.
* '''Wings''' - These wings resemble the ones found on {{w|sanitary towel}}s (sometimes called "pads", making this a possible iPad pun) which attach the pad to the {{w|gusset}} and keep it in place between the woman's legs during her period.
* '''Beveled bezel''' - The ''bezel'' is the ring around the edge of watches and screens. This one's {{w|bevel}}ed, which means it's cut at an angle.
* '''Bezeled bevel''' - Punning on the above. Doesn't make much sense, but could mean that it features a beveled edge which is surrounded by a bezel.
* '''Seedless''' - Fruit such as grapes can be "seedless", which means that they're grown from a special {{w|cultivar}} that doesn't grow seeds in the normal way. Making a phone seedless probably won't do anything, but {{w|Random seed|it might hurt}} its {{w|random number generator}}.
* '''Water resistant down to 30 meters and below 50''' - {{w|Water resistance}} is often measured in terms of how deep an object can be submerged, since pressure increases with depth. In this case, the phone can be submerged to almost any depth, but there's an odd lacuna between 30 meters and 50 meters.
* '''Turing-complete''' - A computer is {{w|Turing completeness|Turing complete}} if it can perform all the operations needed to simulate a {{w|Turing machine}}. All modern computers are usually described as Turing complete, which would make this not very impressive, but no computer can ever be Turing complete in the truest sense (since they can only ever have a finite amount of memory) - if the xkcd Phone 4 is truly a universal computer, it's ''very'' impressive indeed.
* '''Gregorian/Julian calendar date switch''' - The {{w|Julian calendar}} is the predecessor to the modern {{w|Gregorian calendar}} - the difference is that the two calendars calculate leap years differently. The Julian calendar is still used occasionally - mainly by Eastern Orthodox Christians - but it's not something so vital that it needs a hardwired switch on the front of the phone.
* '''''SpaceX'' impact protection: when dropped, phone lands on barge''' - The rocket company {{w|SpaceX}} recently trialed a {{w|SpaceX reusable launch system development program|reusable rocket stage}} which after separating from the launch vehicle, lands on a {{w|Autonomous spaceport drone ship|drone barge}} to be reused. The alt-text pokes fun at the number of SpaceX rockets that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3wZRdg-Tmo crashed and exploded] before they got the landing gear right.
* '''Parallel port''' - A {{w|parallel port}} is a type of interface which transfers high-volume simultaneous data. It was often used to connect printers and other devices to computers, but was generally considered obsolete by the time smartphones began to appear on the market, and would be very bulky and slow compared to the USB ports generally used in phones. It was commonly found together with {{w|serial port}}s, which are used for low-volume sequential data such as [[485: Depth|mouse]] [[1110: Click and Drag|movements]]. Here it is paired with a serial interface for analog data with parallel outputs for several people.
* '''12 headphone jacks''' - Phones often include a single headphone jack to allow the user to privately listen to a call, play music, etc. Twelve of them would be pointless overkill, especially given the difficulty of getting twelve people close enough to all use their headphones. Presumably joking about the [http://www.businessinsider.com.au/apple-headphone-jack-iphone-side-effects-2016-7#/#smaller-headphone-makers-would-be-at-a-disadvantage-4 constant rumours] that Apple's next iPhone will not have any headphone jacks, and the weird vents on the bottom of the phone.
* '''Onboard cloud''' - The "cloud" is a catch-all term for the use of remote computers to store data, providing a backup if all local copies are lost and allowing the data to be accessed from a broad network. An "onboard cloud" would thus be a contradiction in terms, and appears to be a marketing ploy to use the "cloud" buzzword to describe the device's onboard storage capacity.
* '''New BrightGloTM display incorporates genetically spliced jellyfish protein (should have used the glowing genes, not the stinging ones)''' - {{w|Aequorea victoria}} jellyfish contain a protein called {{w|green fluorescent protein}}, the gene for which has been isolated and can be used in many ways. Unfortunately, they took the wrong gene, and ended up getting [http://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-015-1568-3 one of the hundreds of proteins from jellyfish venom], which will presumably mean that touching the screen becomes a painful experience.
* '''✓ Certified''' - Not certified for anything in particular.
* '''Software-defined''' {{w|Software-defined radio}}s are quite popular in some areas, meaning the radio hardware is quite universal and can be adapted to different radio protocols just by changing software. SDR would actually be quite a nice feature for a cellphone. Of course it doesn't specify if it's the radio that is software defined.
* '''Exposed ductwork''' - A phone shouldn't even have ductwork, unless it has a very sophisticated cooling system, but this could supply air to the dog whistle. Exposed ductwork is a trademark of {{w|Bowellism|Bowellist}} architecture such as the {{w|Lloyd's Building}} in London and the {{w|Pompidou Centre}} in Paris. Exposed ductwork is also considered a crucial flaw in a death star. May also refer to a transparent window in the side of the phone allowing the user to see the circuitry inside, similar to computer cases with transparent side panels popular among DIY computing enthusiasts.
* '''Voice interaction: {{w|Siri (software)|Siri}}, {{w|Cortana (software)|Cortana}}, {{w|Google Now}} and {{w|Amazon Echo|Alexa}} respond simultaneously''' - These are all {{w|intelligent personal assistant software}} (from Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon respectively) and all do the same thing: control your phone and answer questions using speech recognition. Having all four talk at once would mean you'd have a total cacophony while gaining nothing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Smartphones]]

Talk:what if?

2015-05-01T19:29:51Z

4jonah: /* Discussion area */

[[Special:Contributions/108.233.66.118|108.233.66.118]] 21:11, 16 April 2013 (UTC)so is anybody weirded out by last week's post on the worst thing pressure cookers can do, followed by yesterday's terror attacks using pressure cookers?[[Special:Contributions/108.233.66.118|108.233.66.118]] 21:11, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

Do we want to add some references to the different What-If articles? Obviously putting up an explanation would be a bit of a waste since Randall goes into a lot of detail himself on any given subject. Some good things to mention might be the title-text on each image, mentions of recurring themes, and maybe some thought about the original subject mentioned (such as the "Space Oddity" music video that was the subject of a recent article). [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 17:11, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

:"What if" is not {{w|Creative Commons}} related, so respect Randall's copyright. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:05, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
::Sorry. Didn't realize that reviewing a creative work fell into copyright issues. No disrespect intended, only ignorance. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 19:16, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

:I agree that "what if?" is not ''clearly'' under CC-BY-NC-2.5, but the link next to the Copyright goes to xkcd itself, which clearly does say it is. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 13:40, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

::Agreed. What-if appears to fall under the general xkcd copyright- it says "Copyright ©2012-13 xkcd." with the link pointing to general xkcd copyright info. "http://xkcd.com/license.html" also says that "you are free to copy and reuse any of my drawings (noncommercially) as long as you tell people where they're from." which includes what-if drawings, and I'm not sure if just part of a work could be copyrighted without Randall explicitly saying so. I also think it would be a good idea to have articles on the what-ifs for more information not stated in the what-if itself. {{unsigned ip|109.144.146.171}}

:IANAL, so I will leave the copyright issues unaddressed as I respond to the original question in the affirmative: yes, we should have a page for each What-if article. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.63|173.245.55.63]] 15:54, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

== Logo/Header ==

I'm convinced there is some sort of specific joke in the "What If" logo, but I'm failing to grasp it.
Knowing Randall, there has to be something funny about using a crane to lower a T-rex into the Sarlacc. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.90|173.245.49.90]] 11:53, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

[http://www.nerdist.com/2014/08/exclusive-heres-your-first-look-at-xkcds-what-if/ Nerdist Review] says "Remove the jacket, and you can see how that particular experiment worked out in Munroe’s mind" {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.118}}

== Discussion regarding [http://what-if.xkcd.com/91/ What-if 91] ==

I believe that Randall missed an opportunity to discuss means of harnessing thermal energy. See, original question specified HOT water!
:He has to pay the electric bill. He couldn't make back the energy spent to heat the water due to entropy. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 05:51, 31 July 2014 (UTC)
Shall we forgive him this oversight and carry out some analysis to determine the harness-able energy content of hot water from the bathtub faucet in an average American apartment building?

:TODO: discuss Sterling engines or other strategies here. (That means you! :) )

:I believe that even when you "run out of hot water", the incoming water will still have energy added since the gas or electric water heater will be running non-stop, turning cold water into slightly-less-cold water. Since slightly-less-cold water is still colder than the ambient temperature in the apartment, I'm not sure how to harness the energy added by the water heater... But neither am I sure that "you can't". TODO: Can someone confirm that you can't?

Shall we then turn the dial up a notch, [http://what-if.xkcd.com/35/ What-if 35 style], and imagine how the scenario changes if the apartment building has a water heater that is perfectly capable of keeping the hot faucet piping hot, even if you run it 24/7?

: Suppose the super water heater turns 15C input water (cold) into 50C output water (hot). I think that means that the water heater adds 35 calories (not kilocalories) of energy per milliliter. I played with this expression in Google Calculator "(35/1000) calories per ml * 1 liter / 1 second" and determined that 1. Google uses kilocalories for "calories", thus the /1000 part... and 2. it takes ~150 watts to turn a liter of cold water into a liter of hot water in *one second*.

: Let's stop this for now and see if anyone is interested in participating. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.63|173.245.55.63]] 16:28, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

::Go here: [http://fora.xkcd.com/viewforum.php?f=60 What If? discussion]. That's a BIG forum to discuss your items. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

== Discussion area ==

Is there a discussion area for each of the "what-if?" pages? - Eg I'd like to point out that in #111 "All the money", the mouse-over text in the tombstone graphic says "Cash Ruled Everything Around Me" - or C.R.E.A.M. - coincidence? ;) Also, there have been past pages in which there have been items which I would contest some facts/statements, or seek further explanation. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:06, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

I would love to see an analysis of the most recent "what-if" - [http://what-if.xkcd.com/120/ What-if #120] as I'm sure each excerpt from an alternate-universe "What-if" column has an interesting background. Surely even if the article isn't Creative Commons some discussion of it is legal. Yes, I see that there is a thread on the forum for discussing this what-if but it is not succinct. [[User:Momerath|Momerath]] ([[User talk:Momerath|talk]]) 05:56, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Is there a way this could auto-update like the regular part of the Wiki does? (I assume it auto-updates). This entry will never close if we don't do that and other than listing them and linking to them, there is nothing to say. [[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 19:29, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-09T02:39:07Z

4jonah: /* Map */

{{comic
| number = 1509
| date = April 8, 2015
| title = Scenery Cheat Sheet
| image = scenery cheat sheet.png
| titletext = At the boundary between each zone, stories blend together. Somewhere in the New Mexico desert, the Roadrunner is pursued by a tireless Anton Chigurh.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Only just started page.}}

{{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View|StreetView}} images that drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. It is also referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]].

The [[title text]] references ''{{w|Anton Chigurh}}'' (portrayed by Javier Bardem), who is the main antagonist of the film ''{{w|No Country For Old Men}}''.

Note that this is a map of where the stories are set, not where they were filmed.

==Transcript==
===Title===
:A '''cheat sheet''' for
:figuring out where in the US you are
:by recognizing the background from movies
:(for use by GeoGuessr players and crash-landed astronauts)

===Map===
[From top left, left to right, top to bottom]
{| class="wikitable"
! Movie Title
! Setting for Movie
! Actual Filming Location(s)
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Twilight (film)| Twilight}}
| Forks, WA
| Portland, OR
|
|-
| {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|50 Shades of Grey}}
| Seattle, WA
| Vancouver, BC
|
|-
| {{w|Dances with Wolves}}
| Fort Sedgwick, CO
| South Dakota and Wyoming
|
|-
| {{w|Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers}}
| Planet Klendathu
| Hell's Half Acre, WY
|
|-
| {{w|Fargo (film)|Fargo}}
| Fargo ND, Brainerd MN, Minneapolis MN
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, Hallock MN, Bathgate, ND
|
|-
| {{w|Wild Wild West|Wild Wild West}}
| The southwest area
| Tuscon, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pierce, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|The Sandlot|The Sandlot}}
| Suburban Los Angeles
| Salt Lake City, Utah
|
|-
| {{w|Napoleon Dynamite|Napoleon Dynamite}}
| Preston, Idaho
| Preston, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|Brokeback Mountain|Brokeback Mountain}}
| Wyoming
| Southern Alberta
|
|-
| {{w|Oregon Trail (video_game)|Oregon Trail}}
|
|Video Game, not a film
| Could also refer to the film "{{w|The Oregon Trail (1936 film)}}".
|-
| {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}} (Earth parts)
| {{w|Northeast_megalopolis|BosWash}} (converted to farmland), probably near former NYC
| Miller's and Mann's planet were filmed in Iceland. Edmunds, not sure ATM
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek (2009)}} (Earth parts)
| Iowa
| Iowa
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Field of Dreams|Field of Dreams}}
|
| Dyersville, IA
|
|-
| {{w|The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man}}
| River City, IA
| Warner Bros Studio, Burbank, CA
|
|-
| {{w|The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers}}
| Chicago
| Chicago and Milwaukee
|
|-
| {{w|A Christmas Story|A Christmas Story}}
| Indiana
|
|
|-
| {{w|Jack & Diane|That song about Jack and Diane}}
|
| Lake Monroe, IN
| "In the Heartland"
|-
| {{w|8 Mile (film)|8 Mile}}
| Wayne County, Michigan
|
|
|-
| {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
| {{w|Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania|Punxsutawney, PA}}, {{w|Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh}}
| Woodstock, IL
|
|-
| {{w|My Side of the Mountain|My Side of the Mountain (book)}}
| Adirondack Mountains, NY
| Catskill mountains, near Delhi, NY
| The area shown on the map includes the Adirondacks, as well as the Tug Hill Plateau and the Finger Lakes. The Catskills appear to be excluded.
|-
| {{w|Super Troopers|Super Troopers}}
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
|
|
|-
| {{w|Pet Semetary|Pet Semetary}}
| Ludlow, Maine
|Hancock, Maine
|
|-
| {{w|What About Bob?|What about Bob}}
|Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
|Smith Mountain Lake, VA
|
|-
| {{w|The Departed|The Departed}}
| Boston, MA
| Boston & New York
|
|-
| {{w|Signs (film)|Signs}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Village (2004 film)|The Village}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds (2005)}}
|
|
| Also referenced in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
| {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}
| Amity Island (stand-in for Martha's Vineyard)
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}
| {{w|Alcatraz Island}}
| {{W|Alcatraz Island}}
|
|-
| {{w|Zodiac (film)|Zodiac}}
| San Fransisco Bay Area
|
|
|-
| {{w|Sideways|That movie about wine & talking}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| He clearly means ''Sideways''. Mapped area does not include the Santa Ynez Valley wine country, but instead shows the {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}.
|-
| {{w|Top Gun|Top Gun}}
| NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| Nevada, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
|
|-
| {{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Part of Independence Day}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Roadrunner cartoons}}
|
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz}}
| Kansas, Oz
|
| The Judy Garland version, presumably. The earth parts.
|-
| {{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}
|
|
|
|-
| Anything by {{w|Mark Twain}}
| Hannibal, MO
|
| The mapped area doesn't quite include Twain's home town of Hannibal, MO.
|-
| {{w|Walk the Line|Walk the Line}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|October Sky|October Sky}}
| Coalwood, WV
| East Tennessee
|
|-
| {{w|Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing}}
| {{w|Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountains}}
|
|
|-
| [Generic City]
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
| N/A
|
|-
| {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October}}
| Atlantic Ocean
|
|
|-
| {{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Forrest Gump|Forrest Gump}}
| Alabama
|
|
|-
| {{w|List of most expensive films|Every movie with a big budget...}}
|
|Hollywood, CA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}} but with desert in the background
|
|
| If it were filmed in Las Vegas ...
|-
| {{w|Tombstone (film)|Tombstone}}
| {{w|Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone, AZ}}
| Arizona
|
|-
| {{w|The Mask of Zorro|The Mask of Zorro}}
| California
| Mexico
|
|-
| {{w|No Country for Old Men (film)|No Country for Old Men}}
| (West) Texas
|
|
|-
| {{w|True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit}}
| Arkansas
|New Mexico
| Or the {{w|True Grit (2010 film)|2010 version}}
|-
| {{w|Office Space|Office Space}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Kill Bill|Kill Bill}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Duck Dynasty|Duck Dynasty}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Princess and the Frog|Princess and the Frog}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|All Dogs Go to Heaven|All Dogs go to Heaven}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|Big Fish|Big Fish}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|O Brother, Where Art Thou?|O Brother Where Art Thou}}
| Parchman Farm, MS
| Canton, MS; Florence, SC
|
|-
| {{w|Beasts of the Southern Wild|Beasts of the Southern Wild}}
| Louisiana
| Montegut, LA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}
| Los Angeles area
| {{w|Seaside, Florida|Seaside, FL}}
|
|-
| {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}}
| Everglades, FL and surrounding areas
|
| Very loosely based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, which chronicles the lifestyle of orchid thief and dealer John Laroche. The movie is about a screenwriter who struggles to adapt the book into a movie, turning himself into a main character in his own story.
|-
| {{w|Miami Vice|Miami Vice}}
| Miami
|
| Or the {{w|Miami Vice (film)|film}}
|}

==See also==
*[https://geoguessr.com/ GeoGuessr's official website]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Maps]]

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-09T02:38:05Z

4jonah: /* Map */

{{comic
| number = 1509
| date = April 8, 2015
| title = Scenery Cheat Sheet
| image = scenery cheat sheet.png
| titletext = At the boundary between each zone, stories blend together. Somewhere in the New Mexico desert, the Roadrunner is pursued by a tireless Anton Chigurh.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Only just started page.}}

{{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View|StreetView}} images that drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. It is also referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]].

The [[title text]] references ''{{w|Anton Chigurh}}'' (portrayed by Javier Bardem), who is the main antagonist of the film ''{{w|No Country For Old Men}}''.

Note that this is a map of where the stories are set, not where they were filmed.

==Transcript==
===Title===
:A '''cheat sheet''' for
:figuring out where in the US you are
:by recognizing the background from movies
:(for use by GeoGuessr players and crash-landed astronauts)

===Map===
[From top left, left to right, top to bottom]
{| class="wikitable"
! Movie Title
! Setting for Movie
! Actual Filming Location(s)
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Twilight (film)| Twilight}}
| Forks, WA
| Portland, OR
|
|-
| {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|50 Shades of Grey}}
| Seattle, WA
| Vancouver, BC
|
|-
| {{w|Dances with Wolves}}
| Fort Sedgwick, CO
| South Dakota and Wyoming
|
|-
| {{w|Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers}}
| Planet Klendathu
| Hell's Half Acre, WY
|
|-
| {{w|Fargo (film)|Fargo}}
| Fargo ND, Brainerd MN, Minneapolis MN
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, Hallock MN, Bathgate, ND
|
|-
| {{w|Wild Wild West|Wild Wild West}}
| The southwest area
| Tuscon, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pierce, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|The Sandlot|The Sandlot}}
| Suburban Los Angeles
| Salt Lake City, Utah
|
|-
| {{w|Napoleon Dynamite|Napoleon Dynamite}}
| Preston, Idaho
| Preston, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|Brokeback Mountain|Brokeback Mountain}}
| Wyoming
| Southern Alberta
|
|-
| {{w|Oregon Trail (video_game)|Oregon Trail}}
|
|Video Game, not a film
| Could also refer to the film "{{w|The Oregon Trail (1936 film)}}".
|-
| {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}} (Earth parts)
| {{w|Northeast_megalopolis|BosWash}} (converted to farmland), probably near former NYC
| Miller's and Mann's planet were filmed in Iceland. Edmunds, not sure ATM
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek (2009)}} (Earth parts)
| Iowa
| Iowa
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Field of Dreams|Field of Dreams}}
|
| Dyersville, IA
|
|-
| {{w|The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man}}
| River City, IA
| Warner Bros Studio, Burbank, CA
|
|-
| {{w|The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers}}
| Chicago
| Chicago and Milwaukee
|
|-
| {{w|A Christmas Story|A Christmas Story}}
| Indiana
|
|
|-
| {{w|Jack & Diane|That song about Jack and Diane}}
|
| Lake Monroe, IN
| "In the Heartland"
|-
| {{w|8 Mile (film)|8 Mile}}
| Wayne County, Michigan
|
|
|-
| {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
| {{w|Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania|Punxsutawney, PA}}, {{w|Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh}}
| Woodstock, IL
|
|-
| {{w|My Side of the Mountain|My Side of the Mountain (book)}}
| Adirondack Mountains, NY
| Catskill mountains, near Delhi, NY
| The area shown on the map includes the Adirondacks, as well as the Tug Hill Plateau and the Finger Lakes. The Catskills appear to be excluded.
|-
| {{w|Super Troopers|Super Troopers}}
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
|
|
|-
| {{w|Pet Semetary|Pet Semetary}}
| Ludlow, Maine
|Hancock, Maine
|
|-
| {{w|What About Bob?|What about Bob}}
|Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
|Smith Mountain Lake, VA
|
|-
| {{w|The Departed|The Departed}}
| Boston, MA
| Boston & New York
|
|-
| {{w|Signs (film)|Signs}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Village (2004 film)|The Village}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds (2005)}}
|
|
| Also referenced in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
| {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}
| Amity Island (stand-in for Martha's Vineyard)
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}
| {{w|Alcatraz Island}}
| {{W|Alcatraz Island}}
|
|-
| {{w|Zodiac (film)|Zodiac}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Sideways|That movie about wine & talking}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| He clearly means ''Sideways''. Mapped area does not include the Santa Ynez Valley wine country, but instead shows the {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}.
|-
| {{w|Top Gun|Top Gun}}
| NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| Nevada, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
|
|-
| {{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Part of Independence Day}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Roadrunner cartoons}}
|
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz}}
| Kansas, Oz
|
| The Judy Garland version, presumably. The earth parts.
|-
| {{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}
|
|
|
|-
| Anything by {{w|Mark Twain}}
| Hannibal, MO
|
| The mapped area doesn't quite include Twain's home town of Hannibal, MO.
|-
| {{w|Walk the Line|Walk the Line}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|October Sky|October Sky}}
| Coalwood, WV
| East Tennessee
|
|-
| {{w|Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing}}
| {{w|Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountains}}
|
|
|-
| [Generic City]
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
| N/A
|
|-
| {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October}}
| Atlantic Ocean
|
|
|-
| {{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Forrest Gump|Forrest Gump}}
| Alabama
|
|
|-
| {{w|List of most expensive films|Every movie with a big budget...}}
|
|Hollywood, CA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}} but with desert in the background
|
|
| If it were filmed in Las Vegas ...
|-
| {{w|Tombstone (film)|Tombstone}}
| {{w|Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone, AZ}}
| Arizona
|
|-
| {{w|The Mask of Zorro|The Mask of Zorro}}
| California
| Mexico
|
|-
| {{w|No Country for Old Men (film)|No Country for Old Men}}
| (West) Texas
|
|
|-
| {{w|True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit}}
| Arkansas
|New Mexico
| Or the {{w|True Grit (2010 film)|2010 version}}
|-
| {{w|Office Space|Office Space}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Kill Bill|Kill Bill}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Duck Dynasty|Duck Dynasty}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Princess and the Frog|Princess and the Frog}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|All Dogs Go to Heaven|All Dogs go to Heaven}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|Big Fish|Big Fish}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|O Brother, Where Art Thou?|O Brother Where Art Thou}}
| Parchman Farm, MS
| Canton, MS; Florence, SC
|
|-
| {{w|Beasts of the Southern Wild|Beasts of the Southern Wild}}
| Louisiana
| Montegut, LA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}
| Los Angeles area
| {{w|Seaside, Florida|Seaside, FL}}
|
|-
| {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}}
| Everglades, FL and surrounding areas
|
| Very loosely based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, which chronicles the lifestyle of orchid thief and dealer John Laroche. The movie is about a screenwriter who struggles to adapt the book into a movie, turning himself into a main character in his own story.
|-
| {{w|Miami Vice|Miami Vice}}
| Miami
|
| Or the {{w|Miami Vice (film)|film}}
|}

==See also==
*[https://geoguessr.com/ GeoGuessr's official website]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Maps]]

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-08T22:27:46Z

4jonah: /* Map */

{{comic
| number = 1509
| date = April 8, 2015
| title = Scenery Cheat Sheet
| image = scenery cheat sheet.png
| titletext = At the boundary between each zone, stories blend together. Somewhere in the New Mexico desert, the Roadrunner is pursued by a tireless Anton Chigurh.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Only just started page.}}

{{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View|StreetView}} images that drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. It is also referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]].

The [[title text]] references ''{{w|Anton Chigurh}}'' (portrayed by Javier Bardem), who is the main antagonist of the film ''{{w|No Country For Old Men}}''.

Note that this is a map of where the stories are set, not where they were filmed.

==Transcript==
===Title===
:A '''cheat sheet''' for
:figuring out where in the US you are
:by recognizing the background from movies
:(for use by GeoGuessr players and crash-landed astronauts)

===Map===
[From top left, left to right, top to bottom]
{| class="wikitable"
! Movie Title
! Setting for Movie
! Actual Filming Location(s)
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Twilight (film)| Twilight}}
| Forks, WA
| Portland, OR
|
|-
| {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|50 Shades of Grey}}
| Seattle, WA
| Vancouver, BC
|
|-
| {{w|Dances with Wolves}}
| Fort Sedgwick, CO
| South Dakota and Wyoming
|
|-
| {{w|Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers}}
| Planet Klendathu
| Hell's Half Acre, WY
|
|-
| {{w|Fargo (film)|Fargo}}
| Fargo ND, Brainerd MN, Minneapolis MN
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, Hallock MN, Bathgate, ND
|
|-
| {{w|Wild Wild West|Wild Wild West}}
| The southwest area
| Tuscon, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pierce, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|The Sandlot|The Sandlot}}
| Suburban Los Angeles
| Salt Lake City, Utah
|
|-
| {{w|Napoleon Dynamite|Napoleon Dynamite}}
| Preston, Idaho
| Preston, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|Brokeback Mountain|Brokeback Mountain}}
| Wyoming
| Southern Alberta
|
|-
| {{w|Oregon Trail (video_game)|Oregon Trail}}
|
|Video Game, not a film
| Could also refer to the film "{{w|The Oregon Trail (1936 film)}}".
|-
| {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}} (Earth parts)
| {{w|Northeast_megalopolis|BosWash}} (converted to farmland), probably near former NYC
|
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek (2009)}} (Earth parts)
| Iowa
| Iowa
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Field of Dreams|Field of Dreams}}
|
| Dyersville, IA
|
|-
| {{w|The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man}}
| River City, IA
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers}}
| Chicago
| Chicago and Milwaukee
|
|-
| {{w|A Christmas Story|A Christmas Story}}
| Indiana
|
|
|-
| {{w|Jack & Diane|That song about Jack and Diane}}
|
| Lake Monroe, IN
| "In the Heartland"
|-
| {{w|8 Mile (film)|8 Mile}}
| Wayne County, Michigan
|
|
|-
| {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
| {{w|Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania|Punxsutawney, PA}}, {{w|Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh}}
| Woodstock, IL
|
|-
| {{w|My Side of the Mountain|My Side of the Mountain (book)}}
| Adriondack Mountains, NY
| Catskill mountains, near Delhi, NY
| The area shown on the map is actually the Adirondack mountains, not the Catskills. I suspect this is an error.
|-
| {{w|Super Troopers|Super Troopers}}
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
|
|
|-
| {{w|Pet Semetary|Pet Semetary}}
| Ludlow, Maine
|Hancock, Maine
|
|-
| {{w|What About Bob?|What about Bob}}
|Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
|Smith Mountain Lake, VA
|
|-
| {{w|The Departed|The Departed}}
| Boston, MA
| Boston & New York
|
|-
| {{w|Signs (film)|Signs}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Village (2004 film)|The Village}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds (2005)}}
|
|
| Also referenced in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
| {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}
| Amity Island (stand-in for Martha's Vineyard)
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}
| {{w|Alcatraz Island}}
| {{W|Alcatraz Island}}
|
|-
| {{w|Zodiac (film)|Zodiac}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Sideways|That movie about wine & talking}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| He clearly means ''Sideways''. Mapped area does not include the Santa Ynez Valley wine country, but instead shows the {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}.
|-
| {{w|Top Gun|Top Gun}}
| NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| Nevada, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
|
|-
| {{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Part of Independence Day}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Roadrunner cartoons}}
|
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz}}
| Kansas, Oz
|
| The Judy Garland version, presumably. The earth parts.
|-
| {{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}
|
|
|
|-
| Anything by {{w|Mark Twain}}
| Hannibal, MO
|
| The mapped area doesn't quite include Twain's home town of Hannibal, MO.
|-
| {{w|Walk the Line|Walk the Line}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|October Sky|October Sky}}
| Coalwood, WV
| East Tennessee
|
|-
| {{w|Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing}}
| {{w|Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountains}}
|
|
|-
| [Generic City]
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
| N/A
|
|-
| {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October}}
| Atlantic Ocean
|
|
|-
| {{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Forrest Gump|Forrest Gump}}
| Alabama
|
|
|-
| {{w|List of most expensive films|Every movie with a big budget...}}
|
|Hollywood, CA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}} but with desert in the background
|
|
| If it were filmed in Las Vegas ...
|-
| {{w|Tombstone (film)|Tombstone}}
| {{w|Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone, AZ}}
| Arizona
|
|-
| {{w|The Mask of Zorro|The Mask of Zorro}}
| California
| Mexico
|
|-
| {{w|No Country for Old Men (film)|No Country for Old Men}}
| (West) Texas
|
|
|-
| {{w|True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit}}
| Arkansas
|New Mexico
| Or the {{w|True Grit (2010 film)|2010 version}}
|-
| {{w|Office Space|Office Space}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Kill Bill|Kill Bill}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Duck Dynasty|Duck Dynasty}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Princess and the Frog|Princess and the Frog}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|All Dogs Go to Heaven|All Dogs go to Heaven}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|Big Fish|Big Fish}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|O Brother, Where Art Thou?|O Brother Where Art Thou}}
| Parchman Farm, MS
| Canton, MS; Florence, SC
|
|-
| {{w|Beasts of the Southern Wild|Beasts of the Southern Wild}}
| Louisiana
| Montegut, LA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}
| Los Angeles area
| {{w|Seaside, Florida|Seaside, FL}}
|
|-
| {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}}
| Everglades, FL and surrounding areas
|
| Very loosely based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, which chronicles the lifestyle of orchid thief and dealer John Laroche. The movie is about a screenwriter who struggles to adapt the book into a movie, turning himself into a main character in his own story.
|-
| {{w|Miami Vice|Miami Vice}}
| Miami
|
| Or the {{w|Miami Vice (film)|film}}
|}

==See also==
*[https://geoguessr.com/ GeoGuessr's official website]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Maps]]

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-08T22:26:35Z

4jonah: /* Map */

{{comic
| number = 1509
| date = April 8, 2015
| title = Scenery Cheat Sheet
| image = scenery cheat sheet.png
| titletext = At the boundary between each zone, stories blend together. Somewhere in the New Mexico desert, the Roadrunner is pursued by a tireless Anton Chigurh.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Only just started page.}}

{{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View|StreetView}} images that drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. It is also referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]].

The [[title text]] references ''{{w|Anton Chigurh}}'' (portrayed by Javier Bardem), who is the main antagonist of the film ''{{w|No Country For Old Men}}''.

Note that this is a map of where the stories are set, not where they were filmed.

==Transcript==
===Title===
:A '''cheat sheet''' for
:figuring out where in the US you are
:by recognizing the background from movies
:(for use by GeoGuessr players and crash-landed astronauts)

===Map===
[From top left, left to right, top to bottom]
{| class="wikitable"
! Movie Title
! Setting for Movie
! Actual Filming Location(s)
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Twilight (film)| Twilight}}
| Forks, WA
| Portland, OR
|
|-
| {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|50 Shades of Grey}}
| Seattle, WA
| Vancouver, BC
|
|-
| {{w|Dances with Wolves}}
| Fort Sedgwick, CO
| South Dakota and Wyoming
|
|-
| {{w|Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers}}
| Planet Klendathu
| Hell's Half Acre, WY
|
|-
| {{w|Fargo (film)|Fargo}}
| Fargo ND, Brainerd MN, Minneapolis MN
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, Hallock MN, Bathgate, ND
|
|-
| {{w|Wild Wild West|Wild Wild West}}
| The southwest area
| Tuscon, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pierce, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|The Sandlot|The Sandlot}}
| Suburban Los Angeles
| Salt Lake City, Utah
|
|-
| {{w|Napoleon Dynamite|Napoleon Dynamite}}
| Preston, Idaho
| Preston, Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|Brokeback Mountain|Brokeback Mountain}}
| Wyoming
| Southern Alberta
|
|-
| {{w|Oregon Trail (video_game)|Oregon Trail}}
|
|Video Game, not a film
| Could also refer to the film "{{w|The Oregon Trail (1936 film)}}".
|-
| {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}} (Earth parts)
| {{w|Northeast_megalopolis|BosWash}} (converted to farmland), probably near former NYC
|
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek (2009)}} (Earth parts)
| Iowa
| Iowa
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Field of Dreams|Field of Dreams}}
|
| Dyersville, IA
|
|-
| {{w|The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man}}
| River City, IA
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers}}
| Chicago
| Chicago and Milwaukee
|
|-
| {{w|A Christmas Story|A Christmas Story}}
| Indiana
|
|
|-
| {{w|Jack & Diane|That song about Jack and Diane}}
|
| Lake Monroe, IN
| "In the Heartland"
|-
| {{w|8 Mile (film)|8 Mile}}
| Wayne County, Michigan
|
|
|-
| {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
| {{w|Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania|Punxsutawney, PA}}, {{w|Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh}}
| Woodstock, IL
|
|-
| {{w|My Side of the Mountain|My Side of the Mountain (book)}}
| Adriondack Mountains, NY
| Catskill mountains, near Delhi, NY
| The area shown on the map is actually the Adirondack mountains, not the Catskills. I suspect this is an error.
|-
| {{w|Super Troopers|Super Troopers}}
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
|
|
|-
| {{w|Pet Semetary|Pet Semetary}}
| Ludlow, Maine
|Hancock, Maine
|
|-
| {{w|What About Bob?|What about Bob}}
|Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
|Smith Mountain Lake, VA
|
|-
| {{w|The Departed|The Departed}}
| Boston, MA
| Boston & New York
|
|-
| {{w|Signs (film)|Signs}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Village (2004 film)|The Village}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds (2005)}}
|
|
| Also referenced in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
| {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}
| Amity Island (stand-in for Martha's Vineyard)
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}
| {{w|Alcatraz Island}}
| {{W|Alcatraz Island}}
|
|-
| {{w|Zodiac (film)|Zodiac}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Sideways|That movie about wine & talking}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| He clearly means ''Sideways''. Mapped area does not include the Santa Ynez Valley wine country, but instead shows the {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}.
|-
| {{w|Top Gun|Top Gun}}
| NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| Nevada, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
|
|-
| {{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Part of Independence Day}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Roadrunner cartoons}}
|
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz}}
| Kansas, Oz
|
| The Judy Garland version, presumably. The earth parts.
|-
| {{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}
|
|
|
|-
| Anything by {{w|Mark Twain}}
| Hannibal, MO
|
| The mapped area doesn't quite include Twain's home town of Hannibal, MO.
|-
| {{w|Walk the Line|Walk the Line}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|October Sky|October Sky}}
| Coalwood, WV
| East Tennessee
|
|-
| {{w|Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing}}
| {{w|Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountains}}
|
|
|-
| [Generic City]
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
| N/A
|
|-
| {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October}}
| Atlantic Ocean
|
|
|-
| {{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Forrest Gump|Forrest Gump}}
| Alabama
|
|
|-
| {{w|List of most expensive films|Every movie with a big budget...}}
|
|Hollywood, CA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}} but with desert in the background
|
|
| If it were filmed in Las Vegas ...
|-
| {{w|Tombstone (film)|Tombstone}}
| {{w|Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone, AZ}}
| Arizona
|
|-
| {{w|The Mask of Zorro|The Mask of Zorro}}
| California
| Mexico
|
|-
| {{w|No Country for Old Men (film)|No Country for Old Men}}
| (West) Texas
|
|
|-
| {{w|True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit}}
| Arkansas
|New Mexico
| Or the {{w|True Grit (2010 film)|2010 version}}
|-
| {{w|Office Space|Office Space}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Kill Bill|Kill Bill}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Duck Dynasty|Duck Dynasty}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Princess and the Frog|Princess and the Frog}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|All Dogs Go to Heaven|All Dogs go to Heaven}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|Big Fish|Big Fish}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|O Brother, Where Art Thou?|O Brother Where Art Thou}}
| Parchman Farm, MS
| Canton, MS; Florence, SC
|
|-
| {{w|Beasts of the Southern Wild|Beasts of the Southern Wild}}
| Louisiana
| Montegut, LA
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}
| Los Angeles area
| {{w|Seaside, Florida|Seaside, FL}}
|
|-
| {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}}
| Everglades, FL and surrounding areas
|
| Very loosely based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, which chronicles the lifestyle of orchid thief and dealer John Laroche. The movie is about a screenwriter who struggles to adapt the book into a movie, turning himself into a main character in his own story.
| {{w|Miami Vice|Miami Vice}}
| Miami
|
| Or the {{w|Miami Vice (film)|film}}
|}

==See also==
*[https://geoguessr.com/ GeoGuessr's official website]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Maps]]

1256: Questions

2015-03-23T21:01:58Z

4jonah: /* Section Spider Six */

{{comic
| number = 1256
| date = August 26, 2013
| title = Questions
| image = questions.png
| titletext = To whoever typed 'why is arwen dying': GOOD. FUCKING. QUESTION.
}}
A larger version of the picture can be found [http://xkcd.com/1256/large/ here]
.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many questions unanswered.}}
{{w|Google}}, a rather popular internet search engine, has a feature known as [https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230?hl=en autocomplete] that guesses at search queries before they are fully typed out. These guesses are generally made based on popular searches by other people. From time to time, a particularly strange or hilarious one may be found, as is evidenced in this comic.

The largest pictured questions are: "Why are there slaves in the bible" and "Why are there ants in my laptop".

All of the questions in the comic are "why" questions, so many of them are predicated on false assumptions, such as "Why are there pyramids on the moon".

Regarding the title text: in the Peter Jackson films of {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy}}, Arwen becomes sickly for unspecified reasons as the plot advances, apparently giving Aragorn a more personal reason to fight. The only explanation given is by Elrond, who says "As Sauron's power grows, her [Arwen's] strength wanes." This subplot is entirely absent from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings|original novels}}.

From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/faq#.2.1.21 IMDB]: <blockquote>
Arwen, like her father (and brothers) is considered to be a Half-Elf, the result of a union between an Elf and a mortal human. The Half-Elven of Middle-earth get a choice, to remain immortal and return to the West (Valinor) or to become mortal and to die as humans do. Elrond chose to remain an Elf. Arwen (like her uncle Elros) chooses to become mortal in order to wed and remain with Aragorn. Elrond senses this; this is what he means when he says that Arwen is dying. It is the same as in The Last Unicorn, when the unicorn is given the form of a human woman and can feel that she is no longer immortal ("I can feel this body dying all around me"). According to Tolkien, though, after Aragorn dies in the year 120 (Fourth Age), Arwen returns to Lórien, where she dies by choice the following winter. </blockquote>

==Selected answers==
The tables below have been created so as to split the comic into almost entirely arbitrary blocks, which have then been identified with similarly arbitrary numbers. As a general rule, section numbers work top to bottom, then right to left.
===Illustrated Panels===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why aren't my arms growing?||Arms stop growing because longer arms would not be a very useful way to spend resources. Human DNA has programmed the body to gradually ossify the growing arms and legs, closing the epiphyseal plate, at which point these extremities stop growing.
|-
|Why are there ghosts?||There is no hard evidence of ghosts.
|-
|Why are there squirrels?||Squirrels exist because they fit their biological niche better than any other species.
|-
|Why is sex so important?||Sex is important because it is the primary method of reproduction in many different species.
|-
| Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter? || In the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe, Muggle technology (human inventions) are often looked down on by wizards - the majority of half-blooded wizards like Harry won't touch one, let alone a wizard extremist like {{w|Voldemort}}. Not only does any Muggle device more complex than a wristwatch interfere with magical artifacts, but wands are usually more versatile than most guns; a revolver can't shoot lightning or summon items or teleport its user. Finally, while Harry himself may or may not consider using firearms due to his Muggle upbringing, ''Harry Potter'' is a series of children's books (which usually don't include guns) set in the United Kingdom (which has stricter gun laws than, say, the United States).
|-
|-
|}

===Section One===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do whales jump? || To the whale, it's like going into outer space!
|-
|Why are witches green? || See {{w|Wizard of Oz}}.
|-
|Why are there mirrors above beds?|| Often, these are used by couples to view themselves during coitus.
|-
|Why do I say Uh?||See ''[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/06/the_odd_body_language_fillers/ Why do we say 'um', 'er', or 'ah' when we hesitate in speaking?]''.
|-
| Why is sea salt better? || The question likely refers to the difference between common {{w|Fortified table salt}} and usually more expensive sea salt. While the major part of both of these is sodium chloride (NaCl) the idea behind the claim is the different composition mostly in regards to trace elements of sea salt compared to "normal" salt. Table salt's composition is often influenced by a country's health department and thus addition of trace elements is regulated. While these regulations are based on scientific studies there remain to be debates concerning the additions, such as iodine.
|-
| Why are there trees in the middle of fields? || Many images of fields contain singular trees in the middle of them. While there exist such trees it is likely an artistic choice to give a more pleasing or aesthetically satisfying image compared to just a field. In modern agriculture those would in fact be quite troublesome since they are a hindrance to large machines used and a new tree would be unlikely to grow in a constantly worked field.
|-
| Why is there not a Pokémon MMO? || {{w|Pokémon}} is a popular franchise, spanning game consoles, anime series, a trading card game, and many other things. Among fans, it is a frequent topic of discussion why a Pokémon {{w|massively multiplayer online game}} has not been officially announced by the series' developers {{w|Game Freak}}, as they often [http://www.dorkly.com/comic/52546/be-careful-what-you-wish-for predict] that such a game would be extremely popular, and bring in massive revenue for the company. However, if Game Freak were to develop a Pokémon MMO the MMOs would be strong competition against the console games and therefore reducing the Pokémon demographic significantly.
|-
|Why is there laughing in TV shows? || Sitcoms were once filmed with an audience, so the actors could respond to their reactions. That's the historical reason why there were laughs in TV shows. The tradition continues, with the difference that now the laughter mostly comes from recorded tapes. See {{w|Laugh track}}.
|-
|Why are there doors on the freeway?|| Highway/freeway {{w|noise barrier|noise barriers}} sometimes have doors in them to allow workers access to both sides of the barrier.
|-
|Why are there so many svchost.exe running?||See {{w|svchost.exe}}.
|-
| Why aren't there any countries in Antarctica? || {{w|Antarctica}} is the southern most continent and is by large covered in ice and in general pretty cold. While it is a regular target of tourists and researchers it also lacks native human inhabitants. At the moment, the territorial claims concerning Antarctica are mostly handled via the {{w|Antarctic Treaty System}}. In short there are a few countries who claim certain parts of the continent as their own in theory but so far it is considered neutral territory and most maps don't concern themselves with displaying the (in some regards disputed) territorial claims because they do not matter at this point in time. If there are ever any worthwhile resources discovered, this might change.
|-
|Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft?|| To add atmosphere and to give players hints when there is a dark cave nearby. See [http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Ambience Minecraft Wiki].
|-
|Why is there kicking in my stomach?||See ''[http://www.webmd.com/baby/fetal-movement-feeling-baby-kick Feeling Your Baby Kick]''. Here, ''stomach'' means ''abdomen''.
|-
|Why are there two slashes after http?||See ''[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220286/Sir-Tim-Berners-Lee-admits-forward-slashes-web-address-mistake.html Sir Tim Berners-Lee admits the forward slashes in every web address 'were a mistake']''.
|-
|Why are there celebrities?||There are certain people who are more respected and well-known than other people, whether it be because of their acting career, major advancements to science, or a sex tape.
|-
|Why do snakes exist?|| The question is rather general and likely based on a widespread dislike for the reptilians. Be it due to their appearance, their spread, or the danger a few snakes pose to humans (often due to being venomous) many people have a dislike for snakes and would prefer them to not exist (similar to spiders).
In regards to "why do snakes exist on earth?": Because evolution. Snakes fill a gap in the ecosystem as predators and hunt different species, including vermin. Snakes are in that regard similar to many other predatory animals. The question on why snakes developed with their distinct streamlined shape is still debated but {{w|snakes|likely it either provided an advantage when burrowing or swimming}}.
|-
|Why do oysters have pearls?||{{w|Creation of a pearl|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism against a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside the shell, or an attack from outside, injuring the mantle tissue. The mollusk creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritation. Pearls are commonly viewed by scientists as a by-product of an adaptive immune system-like function.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are ducks called ducks?||See {{w|Duck#Etymology}}. {{W|wikt:duck|According to Wiktionary}}, the noun ''duck'' can be traced back to the {{w|Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic}} word {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/dūkaną|''dūkaną''}} ("to dive, bend down"), and, in turn, the {{w|Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European}} {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/dʰewb-|''dʰewb-''}} ("deep, hollow"), which is the origin of the verb ''to duck''. The link between the noun and the verb comes from ducks' tendency to dive under water for short periods of time.
|-
|Why do they call it the clap?||An old folk remedy for {{w|gonorrhea}} was to clap on the sides of the penis.
|-
|Why are Kyle and Cartman friends?|| The question relates to the TV show {{w|South Park}}. Both are children living in the small titular town in Colorado. Cartman is widely accepted to a be very bad person, one of his many character flaws being his antisemitism. Kyle on the other hand is a Jew. However, both, along with two other kids, Stan and Kenny, are the core focus of the show (or used to be) and to some extent are considered to be friends. While there are episodes which show Cartman being not entirely a horrible person and him holding Kyle in a position of at least a worthy adversary, most of the time the question should be "Why is anyone friends with Cartman?" However, they most likely remain "friends" because they are in the same class at school and are therefore "forced" to be around one another.
|-
|Why is there an arrow on Aang's head?||{{w|Avatar: The Last Airbender#Characters|Aang}} is the main character of the TV series {{w|Avatar the last Airbender|Avatar - The last Airbender}} and features as part of a large body spanning tattoo an arrow on his head. These tattoos are made to replicate the markings of one of the shows fictional animals, the air bison which are regarded as the original air benders. They are given to human air benders once they attain the status of masters. Because Aang acquired this status very early in life he was already tattooed accordingly.
|-
|Why are text messages blue?||This likely refers to imessage chat being blue. These messages are blue when sending a message to another apple device.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on clothes?||Because some people buy them. Mustaches, especially handlebar-style mustaches, were a popular fad at the time of this comic.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on cars?||Fuzzy pink mustaches are used to designate cars in the {{w|Lyft}} service.
|-
|Why are there mustaches everywhere?||See {{w|Movember}}
|-
|Why are there so many birds in Ohio?||There are an estimated [http://oh.audubon.org/bsc/SOTB.html 400 bird species] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Ohio Ohio], but there are [http://www.jstor.org/discover/2419997sid=21104910103541&uid=4&uid=3739776&uid=2&uid=3739256 2.74 nesting pairs per acre].
|-
|Why is there so much rain in Ohio?|| {{w|lake_effect|Lake-effect}} rain develops in the same manner as lake-effect snow.
|-
|Why is Ohio weather so weird?||See {{w|Lake-effect snow}}.
|-
|}

===Section Two===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there male and female bikes? || {{w|bicycle|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Historically, women's bicycle frames had a top tube that connected in the middle of the seat tube instead of the top, resulting in a lower {{w|Frame geometry|standover height}} at the expense of compromised structural integrity, since this places a strong bending load in the seat tube, and bicycle frame members are typically weak in bending. This design, referred to as a '''''{{w|step-through frame}}''''' or as an ''open frame'', allows the rider to mount and dismount in a dignified way while wearing a skirt or dress.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are there bridesmaids?||See {{w|Bridesmaid#Origin and history}}.
|-
|Why do dying people reach up?|| In many works of fiction dying people are regarded with an outstretched arm, grasping for unseen objects towards the sky. In all likelihood this originates in the idea of heaven as the place where (good) people go after death. People "reach for the light" which is seen when dying according to similar beliefs or possibly for already dead relatives or other associated people waiting for them. An alternative hypothesis is that they want to hug/touch their loved ones one last time.
|-
|Why aren't there varicose arteries?||Blood moves through veins due to irregular pressure from skeletal muscles combined with valves to control direction. In varicose veins these valves malfunction affecting blood flow. In arteries blood flow is produced directly from pressure caused by the heart.
|-
|Why are old Klingons different?|| {{w|Klingon Redesign|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>For {{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}} (1979), the Klingons were retconned and their appearance and behavior radically changed. To give the aliens a more sophisticated and threatening demeanor, the Klingons were depicted with ridged foreheads, snaggled and prominent teeth, and a defined language and alphabet. Lee Cole, a production designer, used red gels and primitive shapes in the design of Klingon consoles and ship interiors, which took on a dark and moody atmosphere. The alphabet was designed as angular, with sharp edges harkening to the Klingon's militaristic focus.[5] Costume designer Robert Fletcher created new uniforms for the Klingons, reminiscent of feudal Japanese armor.</blockquote>
|-
|Why is programming so hard?||Programming is the art of writing instructions for a computer to do. Since the computer has a limited set of instructions for you to use it involves a new way of thinking for many. It is also hard because the computer itself is not smart or adaptable to unexpected problems. For instance when a human is told to sort books in a shelf, he or she can do that despite there might be things in the way (he or she will just move it to the side). A computer will generally just crash if it doesn't have instructions on how to deal with the unexcepted problem.
|-
|Why is there a 0 Ohm resistor?|| A resistor is usually designed to create a certain resistance, measured in {{w|Ohm}} in an electronic device. A 0 Ohm resistor seems pointless as it would only provide the same resistance as a normal cable. However, Wikipedia's {{w|Zero-ohm link}} article gives sufficient explanation.
|-
|Why do Americans hate soccer? || Soccer, or football in British English, is rather unpopular in the USA compared to most other regions of the world. Finding a particular reason behind the (dis)like for certain sports, apart from cultural spread, is difficult. One possible explanation is soccer's tendency to have far fewer points scored in an average game and a higher likelihood of draws compared to such things as American Football, basketball or baseball, which are far more popular. In how far this is a legitimate argument for regarding soccer as "less interesting" is up to debate.
|-
|Why do rhymes sound good?||The brain enjoys repetition especially in music.
|-
|Why do trees die?||Some common reasons include lack of water, lack of nitrogen in the soil and being chopped down.
|-
|Why is there no sound on CNN?||Some stations broadcast a {{w|second audio program}}, an alternative sound track that your TV can be configured to use instead of the primary program. This is intended to be used for broadcasting in an alternate language, or for {{w|Descriptive Video Service}} to make a program accessible to the visually impaired. Many programs that don't actually use SAP will still broadcast an SAP that is identical to the primary program; however, this is not required. If your TV is configured to use SAP and a particular channel isn't broadcasting SAP at that time, there won't be any sound.
|-
|Why aren't Pokémon real?||Pokémon are fantasised creatures that were designed to produce an interesting battle mechanic in a game. Some of the pokémons abilities would be impossible on earth as we know it. For instance, Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the sun<ref name="Bulbapedia Magcargo"> [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magcargo#Trivia|Magcargo]]</ref>.
|-
|Why aren't bullets sharp?||See {{w|Terminal ballistics}}.
|-
|Why do dreams seem so real?|| Most dreams occur during a stage known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement). During REM, your brain is highly active and its wave pattern is the same as the wave patterns in a person who is awake. It should be noted that dreams can occur during other stages of sleep but most dreams that are vivid occur during the REM stage.
|-
|}

===Section Three===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do testicles move?|| The scrotum shrinks and expands to account for temperature changes.
|-
| Why are there psychics?|| Psychics are humans who supposedly have supernatural abilities to know things. A better question would be to ask why do people suppose there are psychics.
|-
| Why are hats so expensive?|| Hats can be expensive depending on the quality of material, size, location, and demand. A probable answer is that hats are simply difficult to make, causing high prices.
|-
| Why is there caffeine in my shampoo?|| Because the producers want you to believe that caffeine penetrates the hair roots and thereby somehow protects it from negative testosterone impacts and from premature hair loss.
|-
| Why do your boobs hurt?|| The most probable reason is that your bra doesn't fit correctly. It could also be a hormone imbalance or awkwardly shaped breasts.
|}

===Section Four===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why aren't economists rich? || Economists study how laws of self-interest bring about an efficient allocation of resources. In order to become rich, one has to enter a market seeking profit by trading or producing goods or services.
|-
| Why do Americans call it soccer? || {{w|Association Football}} is called Soccer in the USA because {{w|American Football}} is the more popular version there.
|-
| Why are my ears ringing? || {{w|Tinnitus}}, or ringing of the ears, can result from stress, foreign objects in the ear, hearing damage, wax build up, or any other number of causes.
|-
| Why are there so many Avengers? ||The number of Avengers has [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avengers_members varied greatly] over the years and decades, each time with it's own justification for why they need to work together, but the simplest answer is money. Cross-branding and cross-merchandising is successful to the brand and brings in new readers, plus creates a new franchise to profit from.
|-
|Why are the Avengers fighting the X Men || {{w|Avengers vs. X-Men}} was a 2012 Marvel crossover event that, like many other recent comic book events, had heroes fight other heroes. In this case, the {{w|Avengers (comics)|Avengers}} and the {{w|X-Men}} fought over the {{w|Phoenix Force (comics)|Phoenix Force}}, a godlike power that often possesses {{w|Jean Grey}} or her descendants (in this case, her alternate universe daughter Hope Summers). The Avengers believed the Phoenix Force is too powerful for humanity to control and wanted to contain it, while the X-Men believed the Phoenix was the messiah for mutants and could fix all of the Earth's problems.
|-
|Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers || Wolverine ''has'' been an Avenger, in some circumstances. e.g. in the {{w|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes}} cartoon series, the episode ''New Avengers'' had Wolverine (along with Spiderman, War Machine, The Thing and Luke Cage and Iron Fist) substitute while the 'original' Avengers were unavailable to deal with the current crisis (which of course included the fate of the 'proper' Avengers). However, in general his anti-authority personality makes him a difficult team-member to field, and he has frequently disassociated himself even from the X-Men. But, in Avengers vs. X-Men (see above) Wolverine ''sided'' with The Avengers, and more modern treatments have even included the character in about as much a permanent a membership of the group as Logan is ever likely to have.

But if the question is about why Wolverine didn't appear in {{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|''The Avengers''}}, the answer is that ''The Avengers'' is being produced by Marvel/Disney, while Fox still has the rights to the X-Men and all Marvel mutants in general. Unless there is studio agreement, the two properties cannot cross, except through complicated machinations. For example, there are plans to bring Avengers mainstays Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch to both the ''Avengers'' and ''X-Men'' franchises, but only the Fox films have the right to call them the children of Magneto, and Marvel/Disney cannot even identify them on-screen as "mutants".
|}

===Section Five===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why are there ants in my laptop? || Ants usually come in your laptop when there are little crumbs of food. It is advised to get screen protectors.
|-
| Why is Earth tilted? || The Earth is not tilted. Axial tilt is just a result of conservation of momentum when the Earth was formed, because not everything orbits in the same way. It is pure happenstance that Earth's axis is not normal to its plane of orbit.
|-
| Why is space black? || What we call black is the absence of light. Space is mostly empty. Whe we look at a part of space where there is nothing that can reflect the stars' light, it consequently appears black to us.
|-
| Why is outer space so cold? || Space is not cold. There is no matter in space. However, most of space has very little radiation hitting it, so a person won't recieve any energy, but will still radiate some away, resulting in a net loss of energy, colloquially "heat."
|-
| Why are there pyramids on the moon? || There are no pyramids on the moon.
|-
| Why is NASA shutting down? ||NASA isn't shutting down. This question might have something to do with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_2013 Government Shutdown of 2013] or perhaps due to the then-current shuttle program ending, but that is not the entirety of NASA.
|}

===Section <strike>Spider</strike> Six===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there tiny spiders in my house?
|rowspan="6"|During autumn in particular male spiders reaching maturing will set off to find a mate. By chance they may end up in your house. When encountering spiders in large numbers, it is more likely that they are young from the same female spider. Females lay {{w|Spider#Reproduction_and_life_cycle|up to 3,000}} eggs at a time. These questions also plays off of Munroe's longstanding fear of spiders, especialy the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/8:_Red_spiders red spiders] mentioned in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Red_Spiders several early comics].
|-
| Why do spiders come inside?
|-
| Why are there huge spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there lots of spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there spiders in my room?
|-
| Why are there so many spiders in my room?
|-
| Why do spider bites itch? ||This mostly happens as a immune response to [http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/why-do-mosquito-bites-itch histamines] under the skin which are injected through saliva.
|-
| Why is dying so scary? ||Part of human nature is the fear of the unknown, and death is the ultimate unknown because it is not knowable until it's experienced, and there is nobody to report what the result was. This leaves it open to speculation, and many major religions are based on preparing ones soul for death. Also, dying would leave loved ones families with the responsibility of taking care of their remains and finances. And finally, most people don't want to die, living for as long as possible, possibly because the unknown is too unbearable to cope with. Still though several people are not afraid of death and dying, and recognize life is short and to cherish each moment while we can. Death is inevitable, so we should not fear it. In addition, it would be evolutionarily advantageous for our ancestors to have feared and avoided death.
|-
| Why is there no GPS in laptops? ||It is not impossible for laptops to have a GPS, and some do. But there are [http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/50907/are-there-gps-tracker-for-laptops design difficulties] that have to be overcome including battery draining, room within the crowded device to place a receiver, WiFi can give a location just as well, and the product casing could interfere with its ability to functional normally and receive the signals necessary to operate as intended. Some Dell computers have these, but the privacy one needs to give up to accept the terms and conditions makes it unfavorable.
|-
| Why do knees click? || Typical of other clicking and cracking of joints, this may be the sound of [http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/knee-pain/features/knee-cracks-pops ligaments tightening]. However do not rely on a wiki to diagnose a medical conditions. Consult a licensed physician.
|-
|-
| Why aren't there E grades? ||E grades [http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/02/e-f-grading-scale/ actually exist] in some districts, but they are rare. In their long and bizarre history, E was originally used where F is today (E was the lowest grade), but in those systems, students often received E's for an "Excellent" grade, creating much confusion. F was used in place instead and E was eliminated from a standard grading scale.
|-
| Why is isolation bad? ||Isolation is when a person deliberately secludes themselves away from others, often far-removed from society. This can happen in locations as small as a city apartment and as large as the open woods. People evolved as social animals and it is generally held that those who isolate themselves suffer from depression or other forms of psychological imbalance. Of course society can trigger many of these imbalances causing an individual to isolate themselves. Isolation is often seen as therapeutic so people can spend time with themselves constructively, often finding peace within themselves and through mediation. Monks and hermits generally live in solitude as well. Many people view a decision to be isolated as noble, and others as healthy. While general interaction is largely healthy, in the crowded modern world, isolation is neither good or bad; it depends on the person and what that isolation does to them.
|-
| Why do boys like me? ||Attraction comes in many forms: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, among others. Many people will lie about what they like about you to get something else (money, sex, etc), but most are genuine. It is not possible to assert definitively why one person may like another person, and that is something that needs to be discussed openly and honestly with them and nobody else.
|-
| Why don't boys like me? ||Similar to the answer above about what makes one desirable to another, there are an equal number of factors that make one unappealing. This can include everything from physical appearance to how one treats others. If a person is rude and unfriendly, most people find that not-conducive to healthy relationship and avoid the person who is asking. Not being liked by someone you like however does not mean you're wrong or are a bad person and in most cases has to do with the person you are asking about.
|-
| Why is there always a Java update? ||[https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/whatis_java.xml Java] is a software that runs on most computers and mobile devices that is crucial to its security and stability. The reason why it always updates is because it needs to stay current with the ever-upgrading fleet of browsers, operating systems and software that supports Java. Additionally Java updates itself so each version can run optimally. Software coding and debugging is a never-ending process towards perfectly stable releases.
|-
| Why are there red dots on my thighs? || This might be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petechia Petechia], which are broken blood vessels, however do not rely on a wiki to diagnose medical conditions. Consult a licensed physician.
|-
| Why is lying good? ||Lying and other forms of dishonesty is typically seen as bad because it lowers one's credibility and makes them less likely to be trusted in the future. It is almost always advantageous to tell the truth, as lies have a way of escalating as you need to keep expanding on the lie to cover your tracks. There are instances however where lying may be used in more noble circumstances. For example, if a friend asks your opinion on something they have made (such as a poem or painting) that you do not like, it is okay to tell them you like it because protecting their feelings and your relationship is more important than how you feel. Often military personnel are trained to keep national security secrets at all costs and will lie about what they know to save themselves and the country.
|}

===Section Seven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there slaves in the bible? ||Slavery was viewed differently in the early years of human civilization before the contemporary moral and ethical conversations began centuries later. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery bible justified slavery] for a number of reasons, notably to pay off some sort of debt. Slaves were seen as property and their work provided value to the slave owner. Similarly slave owners rationalized their ownership through scripture, pointing out that it was in the Bible and therefore okay with God.
|-
| Why do twins have different fingerprints? || Fingerprints are not only from the DNA, but from the conditions in the womb which differ from child to child.
|-
| Why are Americans afraid of dragons? ||This question was the title of a [http://blogs.sfu.ca/courses/spring2012/engl387/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Why-are-Americans-Afraid-of-Dragons.docx 1974 essay] by Ursula K. LeGeuin in which she makes a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics semiotic] analysis of dragon mythology. She argues that our belief in dragons (and those outside of America as well) stems from childhood, much like other ferocious fictional creatures such as goblins and hobbits, but many hold onto these fears as a way of avoiding reality. In her closing argument, she writes, "They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life they have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom."
|-
| Why is HTTPS crossed out in red? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a line through HTTPS? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook? || Facebook has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is HTTPS important? || For security reasons, as a site with HTTPS has encrypted traffic.
|}

===Section Eight===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there swarms of gnats? || The reason gnats (and other creatures) tend to swarm together is likely a safety-in-numbers protection, and as a big gathering to find a mate.
|-
| Why is there phlegm? ||{{w|Phlegm#Phlegm|Phlegm}} is a thick, viscous fluid produced by the mucus membranes as a way to clear the airway and aids in the release of bacteria, disease and debris in those passages.
|-
| Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN || From a Minnesota Paper, [http://www.startribune.com/local/138902104.html the Star Tribune], "Laws prevent the city from poisoning the crows". "Duffy [Steve Duffy, a co-owner of U.S. Bird Abatement Services, which has contracted with Rochester to get rid of the crows] isn't sure why Rochester has such a bad crow problem; probably a confluence of many bird-friendly conditions that has also made it a magnet for geese. He's seen worse cases, but called Rochester's situation 'hideous.'" And best of all, "The city has twice this winter hired experts to chase them off. They tried lasers and bullhorns — hey, get out of here, you crows — and even employed raptors to pick them off, one by one. That worked, for awhile." Unfortunately, they mean a {{w|bird of prey}}, not a {{w|velociraptor}}.
|-
| Why is Psychic weak to Bug || In Pokémon, Pokémon of the psychic type like Mr. Mime are weak to three types of attacks: Ghost, Dark, and Bug. The general theory is that Psychic Pokémon, relying heavily on their thoughts for attacks, are weak to fears, which ghosts, darkness, and bugs can be classified as.
|-
| Why do children get cancer? ||{{w|Cancer}} is an aggressive and often fatal disease that has the potential to affect all humans as well as other organisms. There are multiple types of cancer, each with their own epidemiology, but children are not immune to succumbing to the horrific effects of the disease. Children are human beings and are subject to the same illnesses adults have, regardless of age, or their innocence. There is no divine or supernatural explanation for this. Simply put, life is a battle for all humans regardless of how small they are.
|-
| Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus? || {{w|Poseidon}} was the patron deity of the city of {{w|Troy}}, which after a 10 years siege by the Greeks fell due to {{w|Odysseus}}' list of the {{w|Trojan_Horse|Trojan horse}}. As the Greeks were returning home after the Trojan War, Oddyseus' ship accidentally landed on the island home of the cyclops Polyphemus, who imprisoned the crew and ate many of them. In order to escape, Odysseus blinded the cyclops. Poseidon, Polyphemus' father, was extremely angered by his son being blinded, so he cursed Odysseus' ship to prevent him from reaching his home in {{W|Ithaca}}. The adventures which Odysseus encountered during his quest for reaching Ithaca are the main theme of {{w|Homer|Homer's}} {{w|Odyssey}} The Odyssey also says that before sailing, the crew forgot to offer a sacrifice as was ordained.
|-
| Why is there ice in space? || Space is {{w|Outer_space#Environment|Cold}}. The background radiation, which is used to measure the temperature of space's vacuum, is estimated at about 3K (−270 °C; −454 °F). Water freezes at 273.15 K (0ºC; 32ºF). Because the temperature in space is less than the freezing point of water, liquids freeze in space, turning into ice.
|}

===Section <strike>Owl</strike> Nine===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there an owl in my back yard? || Owls can be seen all over the world, and live in a wide variety of habitats. They are mainly noctural, and spend a large portion of the night hunting. The owl in your back yard is likely looking for food.
|-
| Why is there an owl outside my window? || As with the question above, the owl is likely to be hunting for food.
|-
| Why is there an owl on the dollar bill? || On the front of a dollar bill, near the upper right '1' is a tiny section of the design which can be seen to represent an owl. Conspiracy theorists will note that owls were symbolically linked to the Masons, while others will instead see a spider.
|-
| Why do owls attack people? || While owls and human often live in close proximity without problems, as with other species, owls may attack if they feel threatened. When people irritate or otherwise make owls feel unsafe, they retaliate with violence to protect themselves.
|-
| Why are AK47s so expensive? || The market value of an AK47 varies depending on where in the world you live. With strict gun control laws, obtaining an AK47 in the UK is likely to be more expensive due to the risks involved for those supplying the weapon. In ex-soviet countries and the middle east, AK47s are more plentiful, and hence the price is likely to be lower.
|-
| Why are there helicopters circling my house? ||This question is likely a joke because it is so incongruous to the others in this section. The joke is that people would be Googling about owls attacking people and assault rifle prices, which could, ostensibly alert authorities to come to your house to arrest you. If this is not the case, then the helicopter could be there for myriad reasons.
|}

===Section Ten===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there gods? ||All gods and goddesses man made and are part of ancient and fictional mythology and folklore that are used to give spiritual guidance and explanations for phenomenons that were yet unexplained by natural processes. Lightning for example was thought to be produced by Zeus, King of all Greek Gods.
|-
|Why are there two Spocks? || This is probably a reference to the {{w|Star_Trek_(film)|2009 Star Trek movie}} in which the franchise was given a {{w|Reboot_(fiction)|continuity reboot}}. The modified setting is explained in-universe by time travel, with both the villain Nero and the original-timeline Spock being brought back from the 24th century to the 23rd, creating a timeline in which both older Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) and the younger Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) coexist.

Another possibility is that the question refers to the episode {{w|Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)|"Mirror, Mirror"}}, which mostly takes place in an alternate universe populated by ruthless versions of most of the characters (including Spock).
|-
| Why is Mt Vesuvius there? ||The simple answer is that volcanoes are created by interactions where the Earth's tectonic plates meet. These conditions only exist in a few places on Earth. The question could also be asking, "why is Mt Vesuvius near such a heavily populated area?" Humans have lived near Vesuvius throughout history, due to its pleasant climate, rich soil, and proximity to other major cities. The Italian government [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jun/05/italy.sophiearie offers generous cash incentives] to move people away from the danger zone, but finds few takers.This question could also be a reference to mountaineer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory George Mallory]'s famous answer as to why he wanted to climb Mount Everest: "Because it's there."
|-
| Why do they say T minus? || Time before the launch of a spacecraft is denoted as T minus because the launch has not happened yet. Any time after the launched is stated without the minus, for example T 3 seconds, so time before the launch can be seen as "minus" time. The T stands for "Test" or "Time".
|-
| Why are there obelisks? || [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk Obeiliks article has more]
|-
| Why are wrestlers always wet? || Professional wrestling is strenuous activity, whether its fake or not. Strenuous activity results in sweat, giving the bodyan appearance of being wet. Greco-roman wrestling and Turkish Oil Wrestling both involve oiling the body, giving a similar appearance.
|-
| Why are oceans becoming more acidic? || Due to the higher amount of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere, which dissolves in the oceans turning into carbonic acid - CO2+H2O=H2CO3 (see {{w|Ocean acidification}})
|-
| Why is Arwen dying? || Because Peter Jackson wanted to give Aragorn manpain
|-
| Why aren't my quail laying eggs? || Have you tried turning them off and on again?
|-
| Why aren't my quail eggs hatching? || Problems in incubation, probably.
|-
|Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America? || ''Further information: {{w|United States military deployments}}''This is a very interesting question, albeit one likely based on a regional misunderstanding. Presumably, this question is asked by Americans who assume that the existence of {{w|Category:Military facilities of the United States by country|U.S. military bases abroad}} is a general trend among countries, as opposed to being the rarity that it is. In fact, {{w|List of countries with overseas military bases|only a handful of other countries}} have military bases outside of their borders, and the three—{{w|France}}, the {{w|United Kingdom}}, and {{w|Russia}}—that have more than one or two are all countries that, like the United States, {{w|Allies of World War II|were on the winning side of World War II}}, have {{w|List of countries by military expenditures|massive military expenditures}}, and have {{w|United Nations Security Council veto power|UN Security Council vetoes}}. In other words, only the most militarily elite countries have bases overseas. The U.S. is unique, however, in that it has far more overseas bases than any other country (and, pretty much, far more of anything else than any other country, when it comes to the military), and in that {{w|List of United States military bases|it has bases in several other highly-industrialized nations}}, including {{w|List of United States Army installations in South Korea|South Korea}} and the United Kingdom, and, most notably, the World War II {{w|Axis powers}}: {{w|List of United States Army installations in Germany|Germany}}, {{w|United States Forces Japan|Japan}}, and {{w|List of United States Army installations in Italy|Italy}}. France, Russia, and the U.K.'s bases, on the other hand, are almost all within areas that they previously controlled.These bases can be controversial in some countries, while in others they are a major source of economic and political stability. The U.S. traditionally justifies their presence as a necessary and crucial element in its efforts to promote peace domestically and worldwide. Despite their major role in {{w|U.S. foreign policy}}, and in the general political structure of the globe, the American public often largely ignores them, and they rarely become a major political issue (apart from an occasional mention by {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian presidential candidates}}).So, essentially, the absence of foreign military bases within the U.S. is primarily because there aren't really any other countries in a position to place bases there. Ironically, although no battles in the traditional sense have been fought within the U.S. since the {{w|U.S. Civil War}} and the U.S. mainland has seen {{w|Mainland invasion of the United States|almost no military action}}, foreign air force bases might have been useful on September 11, 2001. (The {{w|attack on Pearl Harbor}} in 1941 was 18 years before Hawaii became a U.S. state, but Hawaii was still a fundamental part of the United States as it was an incorporated territory.)There are, however, foreign troops stationed at some continental US military bases. For example RAF (British Royal Air Force) 39 Sqn and 361 Sqn at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada flying Reaper and Predator drones. But this are not foreign military bases, they are just guests.
|}

===Section Eleven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are my boobs itchy? ||It could be anything from dry skin to a rare life-threatening disease. Could also be related to pregnancy, PMS, or puberty. [http://www.just-health.net/Itchy-Breast.html Here's a thorough list] of possible causes and remedies.
|-
| Why are cigarettes legal? ||Despite the obvious detrimental affects nicotine has on health, like caffeine and alcohol, it is easy to regulate. Substances like marijuana and other drugs are mainly illegal because the government and regulatory agencies have no control over their production and distribution and therefore cannot profit from it. Nicotine however, which is the key ingredient in tobacco can be regulated and taxed and is.
|-
| Why are there ducks in my pool? ||Most likely, they're looking for a place to mate. Which means you'll soon have baby ducks in your pool. Most migratory birds are protected by wildlife laws, so you want to prevent them from moving into your pool in the first place. The [http://www.dfwwildlife.org/duck.html DFW Wildlife Coalition] has some tips.
|-
| Why is Jesus white? ||This is an ethnocentric viewpoint that varies throughout cultures. In African cultures he is portrayed as black. In short, whatever culture he is introduced to, those inhabitants will have him fit their own image.
|-
| Why is there liquid in my ear? ||[http://www.healthline.com/symptom/discharge-from-ear It's called otorrhea], and can be caused by infection, trauma, or changes in pressure. A common cause is [http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/swimmers-ear/basics/definition/con-20014723 Swimmer's ear], an infection of the outer ear canal.
|-
| Why do Q tips feel good? ||The inner ear contains [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erectile_tissue erectile tissue] (as does your inner nose which is why sneezing feels good) so you are massing tissue which gets aroused upon stimulation.
|-
| Why do good people die? ||Everybody dies, but loved ones and ones who were known to make memorable or valuable contributions are mourned and revered more than a person who has left much pain to others as their legacy; we remember the good ones and that's why it hurts more.
|-
| Why are ultrasounds important? ||Ultrasound scans provide a great deal of information about a fetus, thus increasing the chances of a healthy birth. They have many other medical uses.
|-
| Why are ultrasound machines expensive? ||As hospital equipment goes, ultrasound machines are actually a bargain. [http://www.costowl.com/healthcare/healthcare-ultrasound-machine-costs.html A new ultrasound machine] costs about $20,000-$75,000, depending on features. Comparable devices are much more expensive: The [http://info.blockimaging.com/bid/84432/CT-Scanner-Price-Guide CT scanner] runs $90,000-$250,000, while the [http://www.ehow.com/about_4731161_much-do-mri-machines-cost.html MRI machine] easily goes over a million.
|-
| Why is stealing wrong? ||Stealing is theft and it is illegal. Taking something that is not yours without permission or payment hurts the livelihood of other individuals as well as damages their trust in others.
|}

===Vertical Questions===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there hell if god forgives? ||There is not a single answer to this question. The answer varies based on the religion and that religion's sect mixed with personal interpretations of that religions scripture and how a person decides to follow it. However the idea of what Hell will be like also varies. There is no one answer to this question, but the easiest explanation is that the individual did not pray hard enough, correctly, was not part of the right religion, and their forgiveness was contingent on something that the person either did not do or know to do (or say or think)
|-
| Why do iguanas die? ||All living things die, but iguanas may suffer from [http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/kidneyfailure.html kidney failure].
|-
| Why is GPS free? || GPS was originally developed by the U.S. military for its own use, not for commercial purposes. Once the satellites were launched and service began, anyone could receive the signals. Because it is a one-way transmission, there is no incremental cost to provide service to more users, and no practical way to prevent use without payment.
|-
| Why are trees tall? ||Tall is a relative term, and Redwoods are famous for their height - among the tallest in the world. The reason for this is, in part [http://www.nps.gov/redw/faqs.htm climate, fog, rain, good soil, few predators, among others].
|-
|Why are there female Mr. Mimes? || {{w|Mr. Mime}} is a Pokémon introduced in the first generation of the games, and despite its name, it can be either of a male or female gender. As the Pokémon was introduced before the concept of [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender gender in Pokémon games], it is likely that the people in charge of translating its Japanese name (Barrierd) did not take this into account during the process.
|-
| Why is there lava? ||Lava is simply magma (molten rock) which has been ejected from volcanoes. Once it is flowing on land, it is called lava. Magma is heated by the earth's core to create a liquid surface under earth's crust that the land floats on. Sometimes it has to come out through faults and fissures (and volcanoes).
|-
| Why is YKK on a zippers? || YKK Group is the name of a large group of Japanese manufacturing companies, which among other things manufacture a lot of zippers.
|-
| Why is life so boring? ||It is up to an individual to find meaning and interest in life. Monotony, predictability and lack of physical and intellectual stimulation would lead to a feeling of boredom.
|-
| Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts? ||Ghosts are a supernatural phenomenon that have not been empirically proven to exist. Those who believe in ghosts implicitly believe in a soul (of which a ghost is a materialization of), and it is a commonly held belief by religious institutions and ghost-hunters that animals do not have souls and thus dinosaurs would not have any either.
|-
|Why is there no king in England? || ''Note: For simplicity's sake, "England" here is being read as "United Kingdom." The various name changes, mergers, and splits of kingdoms are complicated.''The basis for this question is that for the past several hundred years, there has almost always been a queen in England, the sole exceptions being when the king has not had a wife. However, there is a distinction between being the queen of England (that is to say, {{w|List of British monarchs|a monarch}}) and being the {{w|queen consort|queen ''consort''}} of England: The former refers to a woman who {{w|Succession to the British throne|succeeded to the throne}} in her own right, becoming sovereign, while the latter refers to the wife of the king. Both roles, though, are commonly referred to as "Queen of England," creating the impression that there is always such a person. The logical question, therefore, is why {{w|Elizabeth II}}'s husband, {{w|Prince Philip|Philip}}, is not considered the king of England. The answer lies in Britain's system of {{w|male-preference cognatic primogeniture}}, which causes the monarch of England to usually be a man, not a woman. As a result of this, British laws were generally built around the presumption that the monarch would be a man, and that said man would be married to a woman, [[223: Valentine's Day|comic 223]] be damned. Since the creation of the modern British throne in 1707, only two women have reigned as queen in their own right; it just so happens that these two women have been two of the most famous and longest-reigning monarchs in world history, {{w|Queen Victoria}} and Queen Elizabeth II. This fact may add to people's enhanced perception of the lack of a British king. Victoria and Elizabeth's respective consorts, {{w|Albert, Prince Consort|Albert}} and Philip, have been styled as princes—Albert as {{w|Prince Consort}} and Philip as "{{w|British prince|Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}}." Both were explicitly granted their titles by their wives, though Albert was already a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Philip had previously been a prince of Denmark and Greece, but had renounced both titles before marrying Elizabeth.The title {{w|king consort}} also exists, but has never been used in the United Kingdom.Notably, should {{w|Prince Charles}} succeed to his mother's throne, it has been announced that his wife, {{w|Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Camilla}}, will be styled as {{w|princess consort}}, ''not'' as queen consort, just as she has declined the title {{w|Princess of Wales}}, which is strongly associated with Charles's first wife, {{w|Princess Diana|Diana}}. Assuming that Charles succeeds, this means that Britain will not have anyone referred to as "queen," after decades of not having anyone referred to as "king."
|-
| Why do I feel dizzy? ||Balance is achieved from fluids in the inner-ear, but [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizziness#Epidemiology dizziness] can have nearly a dozen causes.]
|-
| Why are dogs afraid of fireworks? ||Loud noises can trigger their flight or fight responses when they are [http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/hyperdog/How-to-Keep-Your-Dog-Safe-and-Calm-During-Fireworks nervous].
|-
| Why are there weeks? || Weeks were originally important for religious reasons, primarily the requirement to observe a sabbath (day of rest) every seventh day. Today it is used to evenly divide months into equal pieces, much like the months divide a year. Similarly, hours and minutes divide a day.
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
:[This strip is a rectangular word cloud, titled 'Questions found in Google autocomplete'. Embedded in the cloud are 5 single panels, with illustrated questions. These are described at the end. Questions are given in roughly columnar order. None of the questions have question marks.]

:Questions found in Google Autocomplete

:Why do whales jump
:Why are witches green
:Why are there mirrors above beds
:Why do I say uh
:Why is sea salt better
:Why are there trees in the middle of fields
:Why is there not a Pokemon MMO
:Why is there laughing in TV shows
:Why are there doors on the freeway
:Why are there so many svchost.exe running
:Why aren't there any countries in antarctica
:Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft
:Why is there kicking in my stomach
:Why are there two slashes after HTTP
:Why are there celebrities
:Why do snakes exist
:Why do oysters have pearls
:Why are ducks called ducks
:Why do they call it the clap
:Why are Kyle and Cartman friends
:Why is there an arraow on Aang's head
:Why are text messages blue
:Why are there mustaches on clothes
:Why are there mustaches on cars
:Why are there mustaches everywhere
:Why are there so many birds in Ohio
:Why is there so much rain in Ohio
:Why is Ohio weather so weird
:Why are there male and female bikes
:Why are there bridesmaids
:Why do dying people reach up
:Why aren't there varicose arteries
:Why are old Klingons different
:Why is programming so hard
:Why is there a 0 ohm resistor
:Why do Americans hate soccer
:Why do rhymes sound good
:Why do trees die
:Why is there no sound on CNN
:Why aren't Pokemon real
:Why aren't bullets sharp
:Why do dreams seem so real
:Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts
:Why do iguanas die
:Why do testicles move
:Why are there psychics
:Why are hats so expensive
:Why is there caffeine in my shampoo
:Why do your boobs hurt
:Why aren't economists rich
:Why do Americans call it soccer
:Why are my ears ringing
:Why are there so many Avengers
:Why are the Avengers fighting the X men
:Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers
:Why are there ants in my laptop
:Why is Earth tilted
:Why is space black
:Why is outer space so cold
:Why are there pyramids on the moon
:Why is NASA shutting down
:Why is there Hell if God forgives
:Why are there tiny spiders in my house
:Why do spiders come inside
:Why are there huge spiders in my house
:Why are there lots of spiders in my house
:Why are there spiders in my room
:Why are there so many spiders in my room
:Why do spider bites itch
:Why is dying so scary
:Why is there no GPS in laptops
:Why do knees click
:Why aren't there E grades
:Why is isolation bad
:Why do boys like me
:Why don't boys like me
:Why is there always a Java update
:Why are there red dots on my thighs
:Why is lying good
:Why is GPS free
:Why are trees tall
:Why are there slaves in the Bible
:Why do twins have different fingerprints
:Why are Americans afraid of dragons
:Why is there lava
:Why are there swarms of gnats
:Why is there phlegm
:Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN
:Why is psychic weak to bug
:Why do children get cancer
:Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus
:Why is there ice in space
:Why are there female Mr Mimes
:Why is there an owl in my backyard
:Why is there an owl outside my window
:Why is there an owl on the dollar bill
:Why do owls attack people
:Why are AK47s so expensive
:Why are there helicopters circling my house
:Why are there gods
:Why are there two Spocks
:Why is Mt Vesuvius there
:Why do they say T minus
:Why are there obelisks
:Why are wrestlers always wet
:Why are oceans becoming more acidic
:Why is Arwen dying
:Why aren't my quail laying eggs
:Why aren't my quail eggs hatching
:Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America
:Why is life so boring
:Why are my boobs itchy
:Why are cigarettes legal
:Why are there ducks in my pool
:Why is Jesus white
:Why is there liquid in my ear
:Why do Q tips feel good
:Why do good people die
:Why are ultrasounds important
:Why are ultrasound machines expensive
:Why is stealing wrong
:Why is YKK on all zippers
:Why is HTTPS crossed out in red
:Why is there a line through HTTPS
:Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook
:Why is HTTPS important
:Why are there weeks
:Why do I feel dizzy
:Why are dogs afraid of fireworks
:Why is there no king in England

:[We see Cueball from the torso up, with arms outstretched.]
:Cueball: Why aren't my arms growing

:[Megan stands with a grey ghost on either side of her.]
:Megan: Why are there ghosts

:[Beret Guy stands, looking at a squirrel.]
:Beret Guy: Why are there squirrels

:[Cueball stands.]
:Cueball: Why is sex so important.

:[We see Ponytail from the torso up.]
:Ponytail: Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

Talk:1256: Questions

2015-03-23T21:00:55Z

4jonah:

Another reason Poseidon is angry with Odysseus - early in the Odyssey, Odysseus blinds a cyclops who happens to be Poseidon's son.

Why did I just type the following in, when doubtless someone else has already done this..?
...a former great post just went to the main page.
They probably need error-checking/rearranging/something. And feel free to delete this entire comment if it becomes superfluous. [[Special:Contributions/178.104.103.140|178.104.103.140]] 10:19, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
:Just copied your comment into the transcript area. [[Special:Contributions/72.246.0.10|72.246.0.10]] 13:12, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
::I did delete it here, just because it's copied to the main page. Thanks for your great work!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:18, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Although I appreciate the LOTR reference, is this really the intent? What is Randall's wife's name? Delete if this is a bridge too far into personal life. --[[Special:Contributions/131.70.204.120|131.70.204.120]] 16:29, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

I answered [http://jlandl.blogspot.se/2013/08/answers-from-top-of-my-head.html all the questions], for my amusement. Feel free to use any answers you deem appropriate or accurate enough for the wiki. [[Special:Contributions/213.66.207.152|213.66.207.152]] 20:06, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

I'm confused that answers are being presented in different formats. Is the hyperlinked transcript a temporary state before answers are transferred to the table? Or is the transcript just a cleaner and more desirable alternative?{{unsigned ip|98.166.43.28}}

All answers here: http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1l3na7/questions/cbvigrd -- [[User:Connectink|Connectink]]

Today's XKCD is good but it looks like the omitted the first Google suggestion when you begin to type "Why does " Go to google and begin to search that... Dont' see it in today's comic. {{unsigned|Glitch}}
:Google's suggestions can vary from user to user. At its most benign, this can be location based. For example, in Seattle, when I type "washington", I get suggestions related to Washington state and not the District of Columbia. At its most sinister, these suggestions can be based on what Google perceives your political beliefs to be. Try typing "gun" into Google. Did you get "gun show" or "gun control?"[http://dontbubble.us/ More info here.] --[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 14:00, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
::How odd. I got gunbroker, and then as soon as I typed space, I got gun control as well. [[Special:Contributions/97.87.12.114|97.87.12.114]]
::: WHY do people complain about this? As long as you're going to get into a debate, in an open minded manner, and are going to critically evaluate the strength of arguments presented (regardless of source), then your starting inclinations shouldn't matter!

::: Moreover, the general internet user is only searching for zeitgeist terms so they know what websites to quote on a Facebook status, so that they can pat themselves on the back. Repeat for next topic.

::: Personalised results keep you comfy in your happy bubble.

::: In any case, the "fix" is simple. Enable do-not track requests, private browsing, or connect through proxies (Given the IPv4 saturation, most people are likely configured to have dynamic IP addresses anyway). If you're concerned about geographical location based filtering, just switch the domain name that you search on! [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]]

Why doesn't Queen Anne count as a "woman who reigned as queen in her own right"? --[[User:Nick Douglas|Nick Douglas]] ([[User talk:Nick Douglas|talk]]) 21:50, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

:If I'm not mistaken, Queen Anne was queen dowager acting as a regent, rather than being queen in her own right. [[User:Sailorleo|Sailorleo]] ([[User talk:Sailorleo|talk]]) 03:54, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

----
Today's Comic was brought to you by the grep "why"''!'' [[Special:Contributions/98.195.202.130|98.195.202.130]] 18:24, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

It seems that Randall is confused about the meaning of life. All the questions he asked begin with why. I like what happens when you type "where is"... I got "where is chuck norris". --[[Special:Contributions/97.87.12.114|97.87.12.114]] 11:41, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

The term "King Consort" may not have been used in the UK, but i believe it was used before in pre Act of Unification England. When Mary Tudor married Philip II of Spain, he was accepted by Parliament and the court as King of England, but was not granted any power. It may not have been elevated to an official title yet, but he was king consort. [[User:Dr Pepper|Dr Pepper]] ([[User talk:Dr Pepper|talk]]) Dr Pepper

My question is "Why do we need to answer all the questions, when the answers have nothing to do with the comic?". The answers are fun and interesting, but they should be in the trivia section. The comic is explained well without them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.125|108.162.217.125]] 21:36, 8 August 2014 (UTC)
:Maybe because this is a wiki and, as such, ALL information must be present. I'm not certain whether the answers help explain the comic but, as it is, I'm not entirely sure of Randall's objective with this one. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.148|108.162.219.148]] 04:20, 2 November 2014 (UTC)
:: The purpose of this page is to EXPLAIN the comic. If you don't know what the comic is about you probably should not be trying to EXPLAIN the comic, and you probably should not comment as well. The purpose of this comic is to demonstrate in a visually interesting way the questions that we, users of the internet, ask. But without this EXPLAINATION it is fairly obvious that finding the answers to these questions do nothing to EXPLAIN the comic, especially since the answers do not give the readers any further understanding into the comic. Adding random information to a page does not EXPLAIN anything. Wiki does not mean “ALL information must be present”. Adding unnecessary information DISTRACTS from the EXPLAINATION and confuses readers, this impairs the ability of this wiki to EXPLAIN the comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 21:44, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

The dinosaur ghost question was duplicated in the answer boxes so I deleted the extra one. Also been filling out a ton of fields.[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 01:35, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

Why is there an incomplete tag? What questions are unanswered? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:10, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

I answered the last 2 remaining questions in section six. Can this be closed now?[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 21:00, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

1256: Questions

2015-03-23T20:59:16Z

4jonah: /* Section Spider Six */

{{comic
| number = 1256
| date = August 26, 2013
| title = Questions
| image = questions.png
| titletext = To whoever typed 'why is arwen dying': GOOD. FUCKING. QUESTION.
}}
A larger version of the picture can be found [http://xkcd.com/1256/large/ here]
.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many questions unanswered.}}
{{w|Google}}, a rather popular internet search engine, has a feature known as [https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230?hl=en autocomplete] that guesses at search queries before they are fully typed out. These guesses are generally made based on popular searches by other people. From time to time, a particularly strange or hilarious one may be found, as is evidenced in this comic.

The largest pictured questions are: "Why are there slaves in the bible" and "Why are there ants in my laptop".

All of the questions in the comic are "why" questions, so many of them are predicated on false assumptions, such as "Why are there pyramids on the moon".

Regarding the title text: in the Peter Jackson films of {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy}}, Arwen becomes sickly for unspecified reasons as the plot advances, apparently giving Aragorn a more personal reason to fight. The only explanation given is by Elrond, who says "As Sauron's power grows, her [Arwen's] strength wanes." This subplot is entirely absent from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings|original novels}}.

From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/faq#.2.1.21 IMDB]: <blockquote>
Arwen, like her father (and brothers) is considered to be a Half-Elf, the result of a union between an Elf and a mortal human. The Half-Elven of Middle-earth get a choice, to remain immortal and return to the West (Valinor) or to become mortal and to die as humans do. Elrond chose to remain an Elf. Arwen (like her uncle Elros) chooses to become mortal in order to wed and remain with Aragorn. Elrond senses this; this is what he means when he says that Arwen is dying. It is the same as in The Last Unicorn, when the unicorn is given the form of a human woman and can feel that she is no longer immortal ("I can feel this body dying all around me"). According to Tolkien, though, after Aragorn dies in the year 120 (Fourth Age), Arwen returns to Lórien, where she dies by choice the following winter. </blockquote>

==Selected answers==
The tables below have been created so as to split the comic into almost entirely arbitrary blocks, which have then been identified with similarly arbitrary numbers. As a general rule, section numbers work top to bottom, then right to left.
===Illustrated Panels===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why aren't my arms growing?||Arms stop growing because longer arms would not be a very useful way to spend resources. Human DNA has programmed the body to gradually ossify the growing arms and legs, closing the epiphyseal plate, at which point these extremities stop growing.
|-
|Why are there ghosts?||There is no hard evidence of ghosts.
|-
|Why are there squirrels?||Squirrels exist because they fit their biological niche better than any other species.
|-
|Why is sex so important?||Sex is important because it is the primary method of reproduction in many different species.
|-
| Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter? || In the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe, Muggle technology (human inventions) are often looked down on by wizards - the majority of half-blooded wizards like Harry won't touch one, let alone a wizard extremist like {{w|Voldemort}}. Not only does any Muggle device more complex than a wristwatch interfere with magical artifacts, but wands are usually more versatile than most guns; a revolver can't shoot lightning or summon items or teleport its user. Finally, while Harry himself may or may not consider using firearms due to his Muggle upbringing, ''Harry Potter'' is a series of children's books (which usually don't include guns) set in the United Kingdom (which has stricter gun laws than, say, the United States).
|-
|-
|}

===Section One===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do whales jump? || To the whale, it's like going into outer space!
|-
|Why are witches green? || See {{w|Wizard of Oz}}.
|-
|Why are there mirrors above beds?|| Often, these are used by couples to view themselves during coitus.
|-
|Why do I say Uh?||See ''[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/06/the_odd_body_language_fillers/ Why do we say 'um', 'er', or 'ah' when we hesitate in speaking?]''.
|-
| Why is sea salt better? || The question likely refers to the difference between common {{w|Fortified table salt}} and usually more expensive sea salt. While the major part of both of these is sodium chloride (NaCl) the idea behind the claim is the different composition mostly in regards to trace elements of sea salt compared to "normal" salt. Table salt's composition is often influenced by a country's health department and thus addition of trace elements is regulated. While these regulations are based on scientific studies there remain to be debates concerning the additions, such as iodine.
|-
| Why are there trees in the middle of fields? || Many images of fields contain singular trees in the middle of them. While there exist such trees it is likely an artistic choice to give a more pleasing or aesthetically satisfying image compared to just a field. In modern agriculture those would in fact be quite troublesome since they are a hindrance to large machines used and a new tree would be unlikely to grow in a constantly worked field.
|-
| Why is there not a Pokémon MMO? || {{w|Pokémon}} is a popular franchise, spanning game consoles, anime series, a trading card game, and many other things. Among fans, it is a frequent topic of discussion why a Pokémon {{w|massively multiplayer online game}} has not been officially announced by the series' developers {{w|Game Freak}}, as they often [http://www.dorkly.com/comic/52546/be-careful-what-you-wish-for predict] that such a game would be extremely popular, and bring in massive revenue for the company. However, if Game Freak were to develop a Pokémon MMO the MMOs would be strong competition against the console games and therefore reducing the Pokémon demographic significantly.
|-
|Why is there laughing in TV shows? || Sitcoms were once filmed with an audience, so the actors could respond to their reactions. That's the historical reason why there were laughs in TV shows. The tradition continues, with the difference that now the laughter mostly comes from recorded tapes. See {{w|Laugh track}}.
|-
|Why are there doors on the freeway?|| Highway/freeway {{w|noise barrier|noise barriers}} sometimes have doors in them to allow workers access to both sides of the barrier.
|-
|Why are there so many svchost.exe running?||See {{w|svchost.exe}}.
|-
| Why aren't there any countries in Antarctica? || {{w|Antarctica}} is the southern most continent and is by large covered in ice and in general pretty cold. While it is a regular target of tourists and researchers it also lacks native human inhabitants. At the moment, the territorial claims concerning Antarctica are mostly handled via the {{w|Antarctic Treaty System}}. In short there are a few countries who claim certain parts of the continent as their own in theory but so far it is considered neutral territory and most maps don't concern themselves with displaying the (in some regards disputed) territorial claims because they do not matter at this point in time. If there are ever any worthwhile resources discovered, this might change.
|-
|Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft?|| To add atmosphere and to give players hints when there is a dark cave nearby. See [http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Ambience Minecraft Wiki].
|-
|Why is there kicking in my stomach?||See ''[http://www.webmd.com/baby/fetal-movement-feeling-baby-kick Feeling Your Baby Kick]''. Here, ''stomach'' means ''abdomen''.
|-
|Why are there two slashes after http?||See ''[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220286/Sir-Tim-Berners-Lee-admits-forward-slashes-web-address-mistake.html Sir Tim Berners-Lee admits the forward slashes in every web address 'were a mistake']''.
|-
|Why are there celebrities?||There are certain people who are more respected and well-known than other people, whether it be because of their acting career, major advancements to science, or a sex tape.
|-
|Why do snakes exist?|| The question is rather general and likely based on a widespread dislike for the reptilians. Be it due to their appearance, their spread, or the danger a few snakes pose to humans (often due to being venomous) many people have a dislike for snakes and would prefer them to not exist (similar to spiders).
In regards to "why do snakes exist on earth?": Because evolution. Snakes fill a gap in the ecosystem as predators and hunt different species, including vermin. Snakes are in that regard similar to many other predatory animals. The question on why snakes developed with their distinct streamlined shape is still debated but {{w|snakes|likely it either provided an advantage when burrowing or swimming}}.
|-
|Why do oysters have pearls?||{{w|Creation of a pearl|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism against a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside the shell, or an attack from outside, injuring the mantle tissue. The mollusk creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritation. Pearls are commonly viewed by scientists as a by-product of an adaptive immune system-like function.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are ducks called ducks?||See {{w|Duck#Etymology}}. {{W|wikt:duck|According to Wiktionary}}, the noun ''duck'' can be traced back to the {{w|Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic}} word {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/dūkaną|''dūkaną''}} ("to dive, bend down"), and, in turn, the {{w|Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European}} {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/dʰewb-|''dʰewb-''}} ("deep, hollow"), which is the origin of the verb ''to duck''. The link between the noun and the verb comes from ducks' tendency to dive under water for short periods of time.
|-
|Why do they call it the clap?||An old folk remedy for {{w|gonorrhea}} was to clap on the sides of the penis.
|-
|Why are Kyle and Cartman friends?|| The question relates to the TV show {{w|South Park}}. Both are children living in the small titular town in Colorado. Cartman is widely accepted to a be very bad person, one of his many character flaws being his antisemitism. Kyle on the other hand is a Jew. However, both, along with two other kids, Stan and Kenny, are the core focus of the show (or used to be) and to some extent are considered to be friends. While there are episodes which show Cartman being not entirely a horrible person and him holding Kyle in a position of at least a worthy adversary, most of the time the question should be "Why is anyone friends with Cartman?" However, they most likely remain "friends" because they are in the same class at school and are therefore "forced" to be around one another.
|-
|Why is there an arrow on Aang's head?||{{w|Avatar: The Last Airbender#Characters|Aang}} is the main character of the TV series {{w|Avatar the last Airbender|Avatar - The last Airbender}} and features as part of a large body spanning tattoo an arrow on his head. These tattoos are made to replicate the markings of one of the shows fictional animals, the air bison which are regarded as the original air benders. They are given to human air benders once they attain the status of masters. Because Aang acquired this status very early in life he was already tattooed accordingly.
|-
|Why are text messages blue?||This likely refers to imessage chat being blue. These messages are blue when sending a message to another apple device.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on clothes?||Because some people buy them. Mustaches, especially handlebar-style mustaches, were a popular fad at the time of this comic.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on cars?||Fuzzy pink mustaches are used to designate cars in the {{w|Lyft}} service.
|-
|Why are there mustaches everywhere?||See {{w|Movember}}
|-
|Why are there so many birds in Ohio?||There are an estimated [http://oh.audubon.org/bsc/SOTB.html 400 bird species] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Ohio Ohio], but there are [http://www.jstor.org/discover/2419997sid=21104910103541&uid=4&uid=3739776&uid=2&uid=3739256 2.74 nesting pairs per acre].
|-
|Why is there so much rain in Ohio?|| {{w|lake_effect|Lake-effect}} rain develops in the same manner as lake-effect snow.
|-
|Why is Ohio weather so weird?||See {{w|Lake-effect snow}}.
|-
|}

===Section Two===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there male and female bikes? || {{w|bicycle|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Historically, women's bicycle frames had a top tube that connected in the middle of the seat tube instead of the top, resulting in a lower {{w|Frame geometry|standover height}} at the expense of compromised structural integrity, since this places a strong bending load in the seat tube, and bicycle frame members are typically weak in bending. This design, referred to as a '''''{{w|step-through frame}}''''' or as an ''open frame'', allows the rider to mount and dismount in a dignified way while wearing a skirt or dress.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are there bridesmaids?||See {{w|Bridesmaid#Origin and history}}.
|-
|Why do dying people reach up?|| In many works of fiction dying people are regarded with an outstretched arm, grasping for unseen objects towards the sky. In all likelihood this originates in the idea of heaven as the place where (good) people go after death. People "reach for the light" which is seen when dying according to similar beliefs or possibly for already dead relatives or other associated people waiting for them. An alternative hypothesis is that they want to hug/touch their loved ones one last time.
|-
|Why aren't there varicose arteries?||Blood moves through veins due to irregular pressure from skeletal muscles combined with valves to control direction. In varicose veins these valves malfunction affecting blood flow. In arteries blood flow is produced directly from pressure caused by the heart.
|-
|Why are old Klingons different?|| {{w|Klingon Redesign|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>For {{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}} (1979), the Klingons were retconned and their appearance and behavior radically changed. To give the aliens a more sophisticated and threatening demeanor, the Klingons were depicted with ridged foreheads, snaggled and prominent teeth, and a defined language and alphabet. Lee Cole, a production designer, used red gels and primitive shapes in the design of Klingon consoles and ship interiors, which took on a dark and moody atmosphere. The alphabet was designed as angular, with sharp edges harkening to the Klingon's militaristic focus.[5] Costume designer Robert Fletcher created new uniforms for the Klingons, reminiscent of feudal Japanese armor.</blockquote>
|-
|Why is programming so hard?||Programming is the art of writing instructions for a computer to do. Since the computer has a limited set of instructions for you to use it involves a new way of thinking for many. It is also hard because the computer itself is not smart or adaptable to unexpected problems. For instance when a human is told to sort books in a shelf, he or she can do that despite there might be things in the way (he or she will just move it to the side). A computer will generally just crash if it doesn't have instructions on how to deal with the unexcepted problem.
|-
|Why is there a 0 Ohm resistor?|| A resistor is usually designed to create a certain resistance, measured in {{w|Ohm}} in an electronic device. A 0 Ohm resistor seems pointless as it would only provide the same resistance as a normal cable. However, Wikipedia's {{w|Zero-ohm link}} article gives sufficient explanation.
|-
|Why do Americans hate soccer? || Soccer, or football in British English, is rather unpopular in the USA compared to most other regions of the world. Finding a particular reason behind the (dis)like for certain sports, apart from cultural spread, is difficult. One possible explanation is soccer's tendency to have far fewer points scored in an average game and a higher likelihood of draws compared to such things as American Football, basketball or baseball, which are far more popular. In how far this is a legitimate argument for regarding soccer as "less interesting" is up to debate.
|-
|Why do rhymes sound good?||The brain enjoys repetition especially in music.
|-
|Why do trees die?||Some common reasons include lack of water, lack of nitrogen in the soil and being chopped down.
|-
|Why is there no sound on CNN?||Some stations broadcast a {{w|second audio program}}, an alternative sound track that your TV can be configured to use instead of the primary program. This is intended to be used for broadcasting in an alternate language, or for {{w|Descriptive Video Service}} to make a program accessible to the visually impaired. Many programs that don't actually use SAP will still broadcast an SAP that is identical to the primary program; however, this is not required. If your TV is configured to use SAP and a particular channel isn't broadcasting SAP at that time, there won't be any sound.
|-
|Why aren't Pokémon real?||Pokémon are fantasised creatures that were designed to produce an interesting battle mechanic in a game. Some of the pokémons abilities would be impossible on earth as we know it. For instance, Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the sun<ref name="Bulbapedia Magcargo"> [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magcargo#Trivia|Magcargo]]</ref>.
|-
|Why aren't bullets sharp?||See {{w|Terminal ballistics}}.
|-
|Why do dreams seem so real?|| Most dreams occur during a stage known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement). During REM, your brain is highly active and its wave pattern is the same as the wave patterns in a person who is awake. It should be noted that dreams can occur during other stages of sleep but most dreams that are vivid occur during the REM stage.
|-
|}

===Section Three===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do testicles move?|| The scrotum shrinks and expands to account for temperature changes.
|-
| Why are there psychics?|| Psychics are humans who supposedly have supernatural abilities to know things. A better question would be to ask why do people suppose there are psychics.
|-
| Why are hats so expensive?|| Hats can be expensive depending on the quality of material, size, location, and demand. A probable answer is that hats are simply difficult to make, causing high prices.
|-
| Why is there caffeine in my shampoo?|| Because the producers want you to believe that caffeine penetrates the hair roots and thereby somehow protects it from negative testosterone impacts and from premature hair loss.
|-
| Why do your boobs hurt?|| The most probable reason is that your bra doesn't fit correctly. It could also be a hormone imbalance or awkwardly shaped breasts.
|}

===Section Four===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why aren't economists rich? || Economists study how laws of self-interest bring about an efficient allocation of resources. In order to become rich, one has to enter a market seeking profit by trading or producing goods or services.
|-
| Why do Americans call it soccer? || {{w|Association Football}} is called Soccer in the USA because {{w|American Football}} is the more popular version there.
|-
| Why are my ears ringing? || {{w|Tinnitus}}, or ringing of the ears, can result from stress, foreign objects in the ear, hearing damage, wax build up, or any other number of causes.
|-
| Why are there so many Avengers? ||The number of Avengers has [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avengers_members varied greatly] over the years and decades, each time with it's own justification for why they need to work together, but the simplest answer is money. Cross-branding and cross-merchandising is successful to the brand and brings in new readers, plus creates a new franchise to profit from.
|-
|Why are the Avengers fighting the X Men || {{w|Avengers vs. X-Men}} was a 2012 Marvel crossover event that, like many other recent comic book events, had heroes fight other heroes. In this case, the {{w|Avengers (comics)|Avengers}} and the {{w|X-Men}} fought over the {{w|Phoenix Force (comics)|Phoenix Force}}, a godlike power that often possesses {{w|Jean Grey}} or her descendants (in this case, her alternate universe daughter Hope Summers). The Avengers believed the Phoenix Force is too powerful for humanity to control and wanted to contain it, while the X-Men believed the Phoenix was the messiah for mutants and could fix all of the Earth's problems.
|-
|Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers || Wolverine ''has'' been an Avenger, in some circumstances. e.g. in the {{w|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes}} cartoon series, the episode ''New Avengers'' had Wolverine (along with Spiderman, War Machine, The Thing and Luke Cage and Iron Fist) substitute while the 'original' Avengers were unavailable to deal with the current crisis (which of course included the fate of the 'proper' Avengers). However, in general his anti-authority personality makes him a difficult team-member to field, and he has frequently disassociated himself even from the X-Men. But, in Avengers vs. X-Men (see above) Wolverine ''sided'' with The Avengers, and more modern treatments have even included the character in about as much a permanent a membership of the group as Logan is ever likely to have.

But if the question is about why Wolverine didn't appear in {{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|''The Avengers''}}, the answer is that ''The Avengers'' is being produced by Marvel/Disney, while Fox still has the rights to the X-Men and all Marvel mutants in general. Unless there is studio agreement, the two properties cannot cross, except through complicated machinations. For example, there are plans to bring Avengers mainstays Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch to both the ''Avengers'' and ''X-Men'' franchises, but only the Fox films have the right to call them the children of Magneto, and Marvel/Disney cannot even identify them on-screen as "mutants".
|}

===Section Five===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why are there ants in my laptop? || Ants usually come in your laptop when there are little crumbs of food. It is advised to get screen protectors.
|-
| Why is Earth tilted? || The Earth is not tilted. Axial tilt is just a result of conservation of momentum when the Earth was formed, because not everything orbits in the same way. It is pure happenstance that Earth's axis is not normal to its plane of orbit.
|-
| Why is space black? || What we call black is the absence of light. Space is mostly empty. Whe we look at a part of space where there is nothing that can reflect the stars' light, it consequently appears black to us.
|-
| Why is outer space so cold? || Space is not cold. There is no matter in space. However, most of space has very little radiation hitting it, so a person won't recieve any energy, but will still radiate some away, resulting in a net loss of energy, colloquially "heat."
|-
| Why are there pyramids on the moon? || There are no pyramids on the moon.
|-
| Why is NASA shutting down? ||NASA isn't shutting down. This question might have something to do with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_2013 Government Shutdown of 2013] or perhaps due to the then-current shuttle program ending, but that is not the entirety of NASA.
|}

===Section <strike>Spider</strike> Six===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there tiny spiders in my house?
|rowspan="6"|During autumn in particular male spiders reaching maturing will set off to find a mate. By chance they may end up in your house. When encountering spiders in large numbers, it is more likely that they are young from the same female spider. Females lay {{w|Spider#Reproduction_and_life_cycle|up to 3,000}} eggs at a time. These questions also plays off of Munroe's longstanding fear of spiders, especialy the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/8:_Red_spiders red spiders] mentioned in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Red_Spiders several early comics].
|-
| Why do spiders come inside?
|-
| Why are there huge spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there lots of spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there spiders in my room?
|-
| Why are there so many spiders in my room?
|-
| Why do spider bites itch? ||This mostly happens as a immune response to [http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/why-do-mosquito-bites-itch histamines] under the skin which are injected through saliva.
|-
| Why is dying so scary? ||Part of human nature is the fear of the unknown, and death is the ultimate unknown because it is not knowable until it's experienced, and there is nobody to report what the result was. This leaves it open to speculation, and many major religions are based on preparing ones soul for death. Also, dying would leave loved ones families with the responsibility of taking care of their remains and finances. And finally, most people don't want to die, living for as long as possible, possibly because the unknown is too unbearable to cope with. Still though several people are not afraid of death and dying, and recognize life is short and to cherish each moment while we can. Death is inevitable, so we should not fear it. In addition, it would be evolutionarily advantageous for our ancestors to have feared and avoided death.
|-
| Why is there no GPS in laptops? ||It is not impossible for laptops to have a GPS, and some do. But there are [http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/50907/are-there-gps-tracker-for-laptops design difficulties] that have to be overcome including battery draining, room within the crowded device to place a receiver, WiFi can give a location just as well, and the product casing could interfere with its ability to functional normally and receive the signals necessary to operate as intended. Some Dell computers have these, but the privacy one needs to give up to accept the terms and conditions makes it unfavorable.
|-
| Why do knees click? || Typical of other clicking and cracking of joints, this may be the sound of [http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/knee-pain/features/knee-cracks-pops ligaments tightening]. However do not rely on a wiki to diagnose a medical conditions. Consult a licensed physician.
|-
|-
| Why aren't there E grades? ||E grades [http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/02/e-f-grading-scale/ actually exist] in some districts, but they are rare. In their long and bizarre history, E was originally used where F is today (E was the lowest grade), but in those systems, students often received E's for an "Excellent" grade, creating much confusion. F was used in place instead and E was eliminated from a standard grading scale.
|-
| Why is isolation bad? ||Isolation is when a person deliberately secludes themselves away from others, often far-removed from society. This can happen in locations as small as a city apartment and as large as the open woods. People evolved as social animals and it is generally held that those who isolate themselves suffer from depression or other forms of psychological imbalance. Of course society can trigger many of these imbalances causing an individual to isolate themselves. Isolation is often seen as therapeutic so people can spend time with themselves constructively, often finding peace within themselves and through mediation. Monks and hermits generally live in solitude as well. Many people view a decision to be isolated as noble, and others as healthy. While general interaction is largely healthy, in the crowded modern world, isolation is neither good or bad; it depends on the person and what that isolation does to them.
|-
| Why do boys like me? ||Attraction comes in many forms: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, among others. Many people will lie about what they like about you to get something else (money, sex, etc), but most are genuine. It is not possible to assert definitively why one person may like another person, and that is something that needs to be discussed openly and honestly with them and nobody else.
|-
| Why don't boys like me? ||Similar to the answer above about what makes one desirable to another, there are an equal number of factors that make one unappealing. This can include everything from physical appearance to how one treats others. If a person is rude and unfriendly, most people find that not-conducive to healthy relationship and avoid the person who is asking. Not being liked by someone you like however does not mean you're wrong or are a bad person and in most cases has to do with the person you are asking about.
|-
| Why is there always a Java update? ||[https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/whatis_java.xml Java] is a software that runs on most computers and mobile devices that is crucial to its security and stability. The reason why it always updates is because it needs to stay current with the ever-upgrading fleet of browsers, operating systems and software that supports Java. Additionally Java updates itself so each version can run optimally. Software coding and debugging is a never-ending process towards perfectly stable releases.
|-
| Why are there red dots on my thighs? || This might be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petechia Petechia], which are broken blood vessels, however do not rely on a wiki to diagnose a medical conditions. Consult a licensed physician.
|-
| Why is lying good? ||Lying and other forms of dishonesty is typically seen as bad because it lowers one's credibility and makes them less likely to be trusted in the future. It is almost always advantageous to tell the truth, as lies have a way of escalating as you need to keep expanding on the lie to cover your tracks. There are instances however where lying may be used in more noble circumstances. For example, if a friend asks your opinion on something they have made (such as a poem or painting) that you do not like, it is okay to tell them you like it because protecting their feelings and your relationship is more important than how you feel. Often military personnel are trained to keep national security secrets at all costs and will lie about what they know to save themselves and the country.
|}

===Section Seven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there slaves in the bible? ||Slavery was viewed differently in the early years of human civilization before the contemporary moral and ethical conversations began centuries later. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery bible justified slavery] for a number of reasons, notably to pay off some sort of debt. Slaves were seen as property and their work provided value to the slave owner. Similarly slave owners rationalized their ownership through scripture, pointing out that it was in the Bible and therefore okay with God.
|-
| Why do twins have different fingerprints? || Fingerprints are not only from the DNA, but from the conditions in the womb which differ from child to child.
|-
| Why are Americans afraid of dragons? ||This question was the title of a [http://blogs.sfu.ca/courses/spring2012/engl387/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Why-are-Americans-Afraid-of-Dragons.docx 1974 essay] by Ursula K. LeGeuin in which she makes a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics semiotic] analysis of dragon mythology. She argues that our belief in dragons (and those outside of America as well) stems from childhood, much like other ferocious fictional creatures such as goblins and hobbits, but many hold onto these fears as a way of avoiding reality. In her closing argument, she writes, "They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life they have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom."
|-
| Why is HTTPS crossed out in red? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a line through HTTPS? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook? || Facebook has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is HTTPS important? || For security reasons, as a site with HTTPS has encrypted traffic.
|}

===Section Eight===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there swarms of gnats? || The reason gnats (and other creatures) tend to swarm together is likely a safety-in-numbers protection, and as a big gathering to find a mate.
|-
| Why is there phlegm? ||{{w|Phlegm#Phlegm|Phlegm}} is a thick, viscous fluid produced by the mucus membranes as a way to clear the airway and aids in the release of bacteria, disease and debris in those passages.
|-
| Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN || From a Minnesota Paper, [http://www.startribune.com/local/138902104.html the Star Tribune], "Laws prevent the city from poisoning the crows". "Duffy [Steve Duffy, a co-owner of U.S. Bird Abatement Services, which has contracted with Rochester to get rid of the crows] isn't sure why Rochester has such a bad crow problem; probably a confluence of many bird-friendly conditions that has also made it a magnet for geese. He's seen worse cases, but called Rochester's situation 'hideous.'" And best of all, "The city has twice this winter hired experts to chase them off. They tried lasers and bullhorns — hey, get out of here, you crows — and even employed raptors to pick them off, one by one. That worked, for awhile." Unfortunately, they mean a {{w|bird of prey}}, not a {{w|velociraptor}}.
|-
| Why is Psychic weak to Bug || In Pokémon, Pokémon of the psychic type like Mr. Mime are weak to three types of attacks: Ghost, Dark, and Bug. The general theory is that Psychic Pokémon, relying heavily on their thoughts for attacks, are weak to fears, which ghosts, darkness, and bugs can be classified as.
|-
| Why do children get cancer? ||{{w|Cancer}} is an aggressive and often fatal disease that has the potential to affect all humans as well as other organisms. There are multiple types of cancer, each with their own epidemiology, but children are not immune to succumbing to the horrific effects of the disease. Children are human beings and are subject to the same illnesses adults have, regardless of age, or their innocence. There is no divine or supernatural explanation for this. Simply put, life is a battle for all humans regardless of how small they are.
|-
| Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus? || {{w|Poseidon}} was the patron deity of the city of {{w|Troy}}, which after a 10 years siege by the Greeks fell due to {{w|Odysseus}}' list of the {{w|Trojan_Horse|Trojan horse}}. As the Greeks were returning home after the Trojan War, Oddyseus' ship accidentally landed on the island home of the cyclops Polyphemus, who imprisoned the crew and ate many of them. In order to escape, Odysseus blinded the cyclops. Poseidon, Polyphemus' father, was extremely angered by his son being blinded, so he cursed Odysseus' ship to prevent him from reaching his home in {{W|Ithaca}}. The adventures which Odysseus encountered during his quest for reaching Ithaca are the main theme of {{w|Homer|Homer's}} {{w|Odyssey}} The Odyssey also says that before sailing, the crew forgot to offer a sacrifice as was ordained.
|-
| Why is there ice in space? || Space is {{w|Outer_space#Environment|Cold}}. The background radiation, which is used to measure the temperature of space's vacuum, is estimated at about 3K (−270 °C; −454 °F). Water freezes at 273.15 K (0ºC; 32ºF). Because the temperature in space is less than the freezing point of water, liquids freeze in space, turning into ice.
|}

===Section <strike>Owl</strike> Nine===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there an owl in my back yard? || Owls can be seen all over the world, and live in a wide variety of habitats. They are mainly noctural, and spend a large portion of the night hunting. The owl in your back yard is likely looking for food.
|-
| Why is there an owl outside my window? || As with the question above, the owl is likely to be hunting for food.
|-
| Why is there an owl on the dollar bill? || On the front of a dollar bill, near the upper right '1' is a tiny section of the design which can be seen to represent an owl. Conspiracy theorists will note that owls were symbolically linked to the Masons, while others will instead see a spider.
|-
| Why do owls attack people? || While owls and human often live in close proximity without problems, as with other species, owls may attack if they feel threatened. When people irritate or otherwise make owls feel unsafe, they retaliate with violence to protect themselves.
|-
| Why are AK47s so expensive? || The market value of an AK47 varies depending on where in the world you live. With strict gun control laws, obtaining an AK47 in the UK is likely to be more expensive due to the risks involved for those supplying the weapon. In ex-soviet countries and the middle east, AK47s are more plentiful, and hence the price is likely to be lower.
|-
| Why are there helicopters circling my house? ||This question is likely a joke because it is so incongruous to the others in this section. The joke is that people would be Googling about owls attacking people and assault rifle prices, which could, ostensibly alert authorities to come to your house to arrest you. If this is not the case, then the helicopter could be there for myriad reasons.
|}

===Section Ten===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there gods? ||All gods and goddesses man made and are part of ancient and fictional mythology and folklore that are used to give spiritual guidance and explanations for phenomenons that were yet unexplained by natural processes. Lightning for example was thought to be produced by Zeus, King of all Greek Gods.
|-
|Why are there two Spocks? || This is probably a reference to the {{w|Star_Trek_(film)|2009 Star Trek movie}} in which the franchise was given a {{w|Reboot_(fiction)|continuity reboot}}. The modified setting is explained in-universe by time travel, with both the villain Nero and the original-timeline Spock being brought back from the 24th century to the 23rd, creating a timeline in which both older Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) and the younger Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) coexist.

Another possibility is that the question refers to the episode {{w|Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)|"Mirror, Mirror"}}, which mostly takes place in an alternate universe populated by ruthless versions of most of the characters (including Spock).
|-
| Why is Mt Vesuvius there? ||The simple answer is that volcanoes are created by interactions where the Earth's tectonic plates meet. These conditions only exist in a few places on Earth. The question could also be asking, "why is Mt Vesuvius near such a heavily populated area?" Humans have lived near Vesuvius throughout history, due to its pleasant climate, rich soil, and proximity to other major cities. The Italian government [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jun/05/italy.sophiearie offers generous cash incentives] to move people away from the danger zone, but finds few takers.This question could also be a reference to mountaineer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory George Mallory]'s famous answer as to why he wanted to climb Mount Everest: "Because it's there."
|-
| Why do they say T minus? || Time before the launch of a spacecraft is denoted as T minus because the launch has not happened yet. Any time after the launched is stated without the minus, for example T 3 seconds, so time before the launch can be seen as "minus" time. The T stands for "Test" or "Time".
|-
| Why are there obelisks? || [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk Obeiliks article has more]
|-
| Why are wrestlers always wet? || Professional wrestling is strenuous activity, whether its fake or not. Strenuous activity results in sweat, giving the bodyan appearance of being wet. Greco-roman wrestling and Turkish Oil Wrestling both involve oiling the body, giving a similar appearance.
|-
| Why are oceans becoming more acidic? || Due to the higher amount of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere, which dissolves in the oceans turning into carbonic acid - CO2+H2O=H2CO3 (see {{w|Ocean acidification}})
|-
| Why is Arwen dying? || Because Peter Jackson wanted to give Aragorn manpain
|-
| Why aren't my quail laying eggs? || Have you tried turning them off and on again?
|-
| Why aren't my quail eggs hatching? || Problems in incubation, probably.
|-
|Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America? || ''Further information: {{w|United States military deployments}}''This is a very interesting question, albeit one likely based on a regional misunderstanding. Presumably, this question is asked by Americans who assume that the existence of {{w|Category:Military facilities of the United States by country|U.S. military bases abroad}} is a general trend among countries, as opposed to being the rarity that it is. In fact, {{w|List of countries with overseas military bases|only a handful of other countries}} have military bases outside of their borders, and the three—{{w|France}}, the {{w|United Kingdom}}, and {{w|Russia}}—that have more than one or two are all countries that, like the United States, {{w|Allies of World War II|were on the winning side of World War II}}, have {{w|List of countries by military expenditures|massive military expenditures}}, and have {{w|United Nations Security Council veto power|UN Security Council vetoes}}. In other words, only the most militarily elite countries have bases overseas. The U.S. is unique, however, in that it has far more overseas bases than any other country (and, pretty much, far more of anything else than any other country, when it comes to the military), and in that {{w|List of United States military bases|it has bases in several other highly-industrialized nations}}, including {{w|List of United States Army installations in South Korea|South Korea}} and the United Kingdom, and, most notably, the World War II {{w|Axis powers}}: {{w|List of United States Army installations in Germany|Germany}}, {{w|United States Forces Japan|Japan}}, and {{w|List of United States Army installations in Italy|Italy}}. France, Russia, and the U.K.'s bases, on the other hand, are almost all within areas that they previously controlled.These bases can be controversial in some countries, while in others they are a major source of economic and political stability. The U.S. traditionally justifies their presence as a necessary and crucial element in its efforts to promote peace domestically and worldwide. Despite their major role in {{w|U.S. foreign policy}}, and in the general political structure of the globe, the American public often largely ignores them, and they rarely become a major political issue (apart from an occasional mention by {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian presidential candidates}}).So, essentially, the absence of foreign military bases within the U.S. is primarily because there aren't really any other countries in a position to place bases there. Ironically, although no battles in the traditional sense have been fought within the U.S. since the {{w|U.S. Civil War}} and the U.S. mainland has seen {{w|Mainland invasion of the United States|almost no military action}}, foreign air force bases might have been useful on September 11, 2001. (The {{w|attack on Pearl Harbor}} in 1941 was 18 years before Hawaii became a U.S. state, but Hawaii was still a fundamental part of the United States as it was an incorporated territory.)There are, however, foreign troops stationed at some continental US military bases. For example RAF (British Royal Air Force) 39 Sqn and 361 Sqn at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada flying Reaper and Predator drones. But this are not foreign military bases, they are just guests.
|}

===Section Eleven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are my boobs itchy? ||It could be anything from dry skin to a rare life-threatening disease. Could also be related to pregnancy, PMS, or puberty. [http://www.just-health.net/Itchy-Breast.html Here's a thorough list] of possible causes and remedies.
|-
| Why are cigarettes legal? ||Despite the obvious detrimental affects nicotine has on health, like caffeine and alcohol, it is easy to regulate. Substances like marijuana and other drugs are mainly illegal because the government and regulatory agencies have no control over their production and distribution and therefore cannot profit from it. Nicotine however, which is the key ingredient in tobacco can be regulated and taxed and is.
|-
| Why are there ducks in my pool? ||Most likely, they're looking for a place to mate. Which means you'll soon have baby ducks in your pool. Most migratory birds are protected by wildlife laws, so you want to prevent them from moving into your pool in the first place. The [http://www.dfwwildlife.org/duck.html DFW Wildlife Coalition] has some tips.
|-
| Why is Jesus white? ||This is an ethnocentric viewpoint that varies throughout cultures. In African cultures he is portrayed as black. In short, whatever culture he is introduced to, those inhabitants will have him fit their own image.
|-
| Why is there liquid in my ear? ||[http://www.healthline.com/symptom/discharge-from-ear It's called otorrhea], and can be caused by infection, trauma, or changes in pressure. A common cause is [http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/swimmers-ear/basics/definition/con-20014723 Swimmer's ear], an infection of the outer ear canal.
|-
| Why do Q tips feel good? ||The inner ear contains [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erectile_tissue erectile tissue] (as does your inner nose which is why sneezing feels good) so you are massing tissue which gets aroused upon stimulation.
|-
| Why do good people die? ||Everybody dies, but loved ones and ones who were known to make memorable or valuable contributions are mourned and revered more than a person who has left much pain to others as their legacy; we remember the good ones and that's why it hurts more.
|-
| Why are ultrasounds important? ||Ultrasound scans provide a great deal of information about a fetus, thus increasing the chances of a healthy birth. They have many other medical uses.
|-
| Why are ultrasound machines expensive? ||As hospital equipment goes, ultrasound machines are actually a bargain. [http://www.costowl.com/healthcare/healthcare-ultrasound-machine-costs.html A new ultrasound machine] costs about $20,000-$75,000, depending on features. Comparable devices are much more expensive: The [http://info.blockimaging.com/bid/84432/CT-Scanner-Price-Guide CT scanner] runs $90,000-$250,000, while the [http://www.ehow.com/about_4731161_much-do-mri-machines-cost.html MRI machine] easily goes over a million.
|-
| Why is stealing wrong? ||Stealing is theft and it is illegal. Taking something that is not yours without permission or payment hurts the livelihood of other individuals as well as damages their trust in others.
|}

===Vertical Questions===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there hell if god forgives? ||There is not a single answer to this question. The answer varies based on the religion and that religion's sect mixed with personal interpretations of that religions scripture and how a person decides to follow it. However the idea of what Hell will be like also varies. There is no one answer to this question, but the easiest explanation is that the individual did not pray hard enough, correctly, was not part of the right religion, and their forgiveness was contingent on something that the person either did not do or know to do (or say or think)
|-
| Why do iguanas die? ||All living things die, but iguanas may suffer from [http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/kidneyfailure.html kidney failure].
|-
| Why is GPS free? || GPS was originally developed by the U.S. military for its own use, not for commercial purposes. Once the satellites were launched and service began, anyone could receive the signals. Because it is a one-way transmission, there is no incremental cost to provide service to more users, and no practical way to prevent use without payment.
|-
| Why are trees tall? ||Tall is a relative term, and Redwoods are famous for their height - among the tallest in the world. The reason for this is, in part [http://www.nps.gov/redw/faqs.htm climate, fog, rain, good soil, few predators, among others].
|-
|Why are there female Mr. Mimes? || {{w|Mr. Mime}} is a Pokémon introduced in the first generation of the games, and despite its name, it can be either of a male or female gender. As the Pokémon was introduced before the concept of [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender gender in Pokémon games], it is likely that the people in charge of translating its Japanese name (Barrierd) did not take this into account during the process.
|-
| Why is there lava? ||Lava is simply magma (molten rock) which has been ejected from volcanoes. Once it is flowing on land, it is called lava. Magma is heated by the earth's core to create a liquid surface under earth's crust that the land floats on. Sometimes it has to come out through faults and fissures (and volcanoes).
|-
| Why is YKK on a zippers? || YKK Group is the name of a large group of Japanese manufacturing companies, which among other things manufacture a lot of zippers.
|-
| Why is life so boring? ||It is up to an individual to find meaning and interest in life. Monotony, predictability and lack of physical and intellectual stimulation would lead to a feeling of boredom.
|-
| Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts? ||Ghosts are a supernatural phenomenon that have not been empirically proven to exist. Those who believe in ghosts implicitly believe in a soul (of which a ghost is a materialization of), and it is a commonly held belief by religious institutions and ghost-hunters that animals do not have souls and thus dinosaurs would not have any either.
|-
|Why is there no king in England? || ''Note: For simplicity's sake, "England" here is being read as "United Kingdom." The various name changes, mergers, and splits of kingdoms are complicated.''The basis for this question is that for the past several hundred years, there has almost always been a queen in England, the sole exceptions being when the king has not had a wife. However, there is a distinction between being the queen of England (that is to say, {{w|List of British monarchs|a monarch}}) and being the {{w|queen consort|queen ''consort''}} of England: The former refers to a woman who {{w|Succession to the British throne|succeeded to the throne}} in her own right, becoming sovereign, while the latter refers to the wife of the king. Both roles, though, are commonly referred to as "Queen of England," creating the impression that there is always such a person. The logical question, therefore, is why {{w|Elizabeth II}}'s husband, {{w|Prince Philip|Philip}}, is not considered the king of England. The answer lies in Britain's system of {{w|male-preference cognatic primogeniture}}, which causes the monarch of England to usually be a man, not a woman. As a result of this, British laws were generally built around the presumption that the monarch would be a man, and that said man would be married to a woman, [[223: Valentine's Day|comic 223]] be damned. Since the creation of the modern British throne in 1707, only two women have reigned as queen in their own right; it just so happens that these two women have been two of the most famous and longest-reigning monarchs in world history, {{w|Queen Victoria}} and Queen Elizabeth II. This fact may add to people's enhanced perception of the lack of a British king. Victoria and Elizabeth's respective consorts, {{w|Albert, Prince Consort|Albert}} and Philip, have been styled as princes—Albert as {{w|Prince Consort}} and Philip as "{{w|British prince|Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}}." Both were explicitly granted their titles by their wives, though Albert was already a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Philip had previously been a prince of Denmark and Greece, but had renounced both titles before marrying Elizabeth.The title {{w|king consort}} also exists, but has never been used in the United Kingdom.Notably, should {{w|Prince Charles}} succeed to his mother's throne, it has been announced that his wife, {{w|Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Camilla}}, will be styled as {{w|princess consort}}, ''not'' as queen consort, just as she has declined the title {{w|Princess of Wales}}, which is strongly associated with Charles's first wife, {{w|Princess Diana|Diana}}. Assuming that Charles succeeds, this means that Britain will not have anyone referred to as "queen," after decades of not having anyone referred to as "king."
|-
| Why do I feel dizzy? ||Balance is achieved from fluids in the inner-ear, but [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizziness#Epidemiology dizziness] can have nearly a dozen causes.]
|-
| Why are dogs afraid of fireworks? ||Loud noises can trigger their flight or fight responses when they are [http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/hyperdog/How-to-Keep-Your-Dog-Safe-and-Calm-During-Fireworks nervous].
|-
| Why are there weeks? || Weeks were originally important for religious reasons, primarily the requirement to observe a sabbath (day of rest) every seventh day. Today it is used to evenly divide months into equal pieces, much like the months divide a year. Similarly, hours and minutes divide a day.
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
:[This strip is a rectangular word cloud, titled 'Questions found in Google autocomplete'. Embedded in the cloud are 5 single panels, with illustrated questions. These are described at the end. Questions are given in roughly columnar order. None of the questions have question marks.]

:Questions found in Google Autocomplete

:Why do whales jump
:Why are witches green
:Why are there mirrors above beds
:Why do I say uh
:Why is sea salt better
:Why are there trees in the middle of fields
:Why is there not a Pokemon MMO
:Why is there laughing in TV shows
:Why are there doors on the freeway
:Why are there so many svchost.exe running
:Why aren't there any countries in antarctica
:Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft
:Why is there kicking in my stomach
:Why are there two slashes after HTTP
:Why are there celebrities
:Why do snakes exist
:Why do oysters have pearls
:Why are ducks called ducks
:Why do they call it the clap
:Why are Kyle and Cartman friends
:Why is there an arraow on Aang's head
:Why are text messages blue
:Why are there mustaches on clothes
:Why are there mustaches on cars
:Why are there mustaches everywhere
:Why are there so many birds in Ohio
:Why is there so much rain in Ohio
:Why is Ohio weather so weird
:Why are there male and female bikes
:Why are there bridesmaids
:Why do dying people reach up
:Why aren't there varicose arteries
:Why are old Klingons different
:Why is programming so hard
:Why is there a 0 ohm resistor
:Why do Americans hate soccer
:Why do rhymes sound good
:Why do trees die
:Why is there no sound on CNN
:Why aren't Pokemon real
:Why aren't bullets sharp
:Why do dreams seem so real
:Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts
:Why do iguanas die
:Why do testicles move
:Why are there psychics
:Why are hats so expensive
:Why is there caffeine in my shampoo
:Why do your boobs hurt
:Why aren't economists rich
:Why do Americans call it soccer
:Why are my ears ringing
:Why are there so many Avengers
:Why are the Avengers fighting the X men
:Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers
:Why are there ants in my laptop
:Why is Earth tilted
:Why is space black
:Why is outer space so cold
:Why are there pyramids on the moon
:Why is NASA shutting down
:Why is there Hell if God forgives
:Why are there tiny spiders in my house
:Why do spiders come inside
:Why are there huge spiders in my house
:Why are there lots of spiders in my house
:Why are there spiders in my room
:Why are there so many spiders in my room
:Why do spider bites itch
:Why is dying so scary
:Why is there no GPS in laptops
:Why do knees click
:Why aren't there E grades
:Why is isolation bad
:Why do boys like me
:Why don't boys like me
:Why is there always a Java update
:Why are there red dots on my thighs
:Why is lying good
:Why is GPS free
:Why are trees tall
:Why are there slaves in the Bible
:Why do twins have different fingerprints
:Why are Americans afraid of dragons
:Why is there lava
:Why are there swarms of gnats
:Why is there phlegm
:Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN
:Why is psychic weak to bug
:Why do children get cancer
:Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus
:Why is there ice in space
:Why are there female Mr Mimes
:Why is there an owl in my backyard
:Why is there an owl outside my window
:Why is there an owl on the dollar bill
:Why do owls attack people
:Why are AK47s so expensive
:Why are there helicopters circling my house
:Why are there gods
:Why are there two Spocks
:Why is Mt Vesuvius there
:Why do they say T minus
:Why are there obelisks
:Why are wrestlers always wet
:Why are oceans becoming more acidic
:Why is Arwen dying
:Why aren't my quail laying eggs
:Why aren't my quail eggs hatching
:Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America
:Why is life so boring
:Why are my boobs itchy
:Why are cigarettes legal
:Why are there ducks in my pool
:Why is Jesus white
:Why is there liquid in my ear
:Why do Q tips feel good
:Why do good people die
:Why are ultrasounds important
:Why are ultrasound machines expensive
:Why is stealing wrong
:Why is YKK on all zippers
:Why is HTTPS crossed out in red
:Why is there a line through HTTPS
:Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook
:Why is HTTPS important
:Why are there weeks
:Why do I feel dizzy
:Why are dogs afraid of fireworks
:Why is there no king in England

:[We see Cueball from the torso up, with arms outstretched.]
:Cueball: Why aren't my arms growing

:[Megan stands with a grey ghost on either side of her.]
:Megan: Why are there ghosts

:[Beret Guy stands, looking at a squirrel.]
:Beret Guy: Why are there squirrels

:[Cueball stands.]
:Cueball: Why is sex so important.

:[We see Ponytail from the torso up.]
:Ponytail: Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

Talk:1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-26T21:18:57Z

4jonah:

I tried to list all the unnamed hurricanes, but I gave up after 1938. Anybody feel like finishing it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 05:37, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

The current explanation seems to interpret the title text completely wrongly; it isn't about finding a person that lived in *all* of the states, but finding people that lived in *each*. The point is that the entire data is estimated based on rainfall, not based on actually asking people the question. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.231}}
:I very much doubt that the data was based on rainfall, which is pretty irrelevant to the severity of most hurricanes. The severity is generally a factor of storm surge and windspeed, rainfall only becomes relevant far inland.

:And the map is too small scale to really represent what you would get if actually asked people - for instance, in Fort Lauderdale it's unlikely anyone would say Andrew was worst (having been thru both Andrew and Wilma, I'd say Wilma was worse, but old timers in Fort Lauderdale would say the 1947 hurricane was worst).{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

::Except the fact remains that the comic says it is based on rainfall. So why is wind speed and pressure on the table? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]]

Hurricane Audrey was in June 1957.{{unsigned|Jkrstrt}}

Some areas in the map is pretty large se Opal, Katrina, Hugo while others are very small like 1946 near the tip of Florida. I don't know much about hurricanes but could one draw a conclusion that the hurricanes in the small areas are not as bad as the larger ones (and that some large ones like those near Mexico, are large only because they don't receive many hurricanes)? Should one add a note in the description why not entire America is mapped? We know that the Atlantic is very good at producing hurricanes but why doesn't the Pacific Ocean produce as many? I write my comment out of curiousity hoping someone has the answers, not that I know much about this (I am not even an American). [[User:Aquaplanet|Aquaplanet]] ([[User talk:Aquaplanet|talk]]) 10:09, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:That would be a false conclusion. The area of severe damage for a hurricane is fairly narrow (perhaps 50 miles wide), so if another hurricane has hit nearby, each would just be "worst" in a small area. Conversely, in an area that gets few hurricanes even light damage would count as "worst". Just for reference, in terms of deaths the three most severe hurricanes would be 1915 Galveston TX, 1926 Palm Beach FL, and 2005 Katrina MS/LA. In terms of wind strength, the three most severe would be 1935 Florida Keys, 1969 Camille MS, and 1992 Andrew (FL).{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

:On the Pacific coast of the US we get no hurricanes. This is due to the cold water flowing south from Alaska rather than coming north from the equator. This in turn is due to the clockwise flow of large bodies of water in the northern hemisphere, which is in turn due to the coreolis effect (caused by the rotation of the earth.) In California we only remember hurricanes because we here about them on the news, or occasionally when we travel. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.134|108.162.215.134]] 10:25, 13 August 2014 (UTC)BluDgeons

:There are no hurricanes in Pacific because they are called {{w|Typhoon}}s ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoonhttp://www.diffen.com/difference/Hurricane_vs_Typhoon difference]) and damage places like South East Asia where the concentration of news reporters is lower. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:01, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:: Both of the above comments are mistaken. Tropical cyclones in the western Pacific are called hurricanes. It is possible (altho rare) for a hurricane to hit California (it's common in Baja California). If the map were expanded to include California and Arizona, 1997 Kathleen would probably be the worst anyone remembered.{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

:::West Pacific and Baja are not US which I specifically stated for that reason. I also doubt anyone remembers Hurricane Kathleen, I certainly don't. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.197|173.245.54.197]] 08:56, 15 August 2014 (UTC)BluDgeons

::I swear there must be a small joke in there about the reporters, but the veil is a bit too opaque for me, I fear... Also, is it kosher for me to fix people's links, if it's evident what needs to be fixed, and what they ''meant'' to put? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:19, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:::You're welcome, and actually encouraged, to do that; a wiki is a group project, with every editor contributing their knowledge and fixing others' errors.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 12:12, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

"'If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!'" I would like to point out that if someone has the specific hurricane that they would like to claim to be worse than the presented one, they only need to find someone who experienced both hurricanes; there is no need for 105-year-olds every time.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 12:16, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Is there any rhyme or reason to the parentheses? I can't figure out why we have ''Connie (1955)'' and ''Diane 1955''. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 13:10, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

If we make a complete list, are we ordering it chronologically or north-to-south? It seems easier to list it from Maine to Texas. Unless we can create a list that lets you adjust those fields which I don't know how to do[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.152|173.245.56.152]] 12:44, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:There is no proper north to south order, but we could create a table with name, year, state and description, so you can order by it. [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 15:07, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Very cool. And next someone could mash this up with a population density map and find the number of people likely to remember each one as "worst", then sort by that ro find the hurricane most-remembered as "worst". [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 15:43, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

This comic might have been inspired by Robin William's bit on hurricanes in ''Weapons of Self-Destruction'' in light of his recent death.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.95|108.162.217.95]] 15:19, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

It might be of interest to colour the hurricanes by decade; see if there's a visible secular trend in hurricane "worseness". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.187|141.101.98.187]] 20:24, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:Like this? (smaller version isn't yet available or I'd link to that) --[[User:Mwarren|Mwarren]] ([[User talk:Mwarren|talk]]) 00:36, 14 August 2014 (UTC) 
[[File:XKCD_1407_with_timeline.png]]
 
::Not really. That doesn't distinguish between hurricanes which were the worse over a small area, and the worse over a large area. A less bad hurricane that by chance hasn't been topped in a small locality has the same weight as a more intense one that was the worse over large tracts of land. What I was thinking of was colouring the map according to date - start at hue 0 (red) in 1914 and end at hue 200 (magenta) in 2014. The problem is that the potential sample bias mentioned would lead to a apparent trend to worser hurricanes, so any map so coloured wouldn't necessarily represent the reality of the record. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.187}}

That's beautiful but I thought it would be more like the tables here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements (maybe not the best example) but each vertical column would be ordered so we'd have dates, states, severity, etc. Just basically like a grid. Maybe I was alone in that thought. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.152}}

Suggestion: HSL model (or perhaps HSV) colour-space applied on the map such that Hue (say Red/0° up to Magenta/300°, the long way round) represents the year of a given hurricane, Saturation (if only to cash in on the obvious pun) depicts actual rainfall and Luminosity/Lightness or 'brightness' Value or the Intensity value (whatever it is you're using) can show windspeeds. If anyone can go back to the source data (which Randall has) it might even be possible to blend neighbouring zones together, although with this system that'd risk (say) a 1914 (Red-hued) hurricane neighbouring a 1954 one (Green-hued) giving a yellowed zone between them that might looking like an intersticial 1934 storm area (with rainfall/windspeed qualities based upon the combinatorial method you use). However, sticking to just the 'areas of majority', you could either flood-fill with their worst/greatest/typical HS''X'' or (if the source data gives the required granularity) gradient it to show how (for example) 1995 Opal tails off into Tennessee, if my US geography is correct, while showing how Ivan's path interleaves the former patchily but (where it shows through against its competitors) doesn't evaporate, just get outdone. IYSWIM [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 12:38, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
:Restructured the list into a table. Would you like to fill in the states (I'm not familiar enough with US geography)? [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 06:38, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

The 105 year old comment is probably based on the earliest storm shown on the map being 1915 Galveston; you'd have to be 105 years old to remember that one.{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

Would/Should we add a section or modify what we have so we can rate by the more familiar categories (CAT 1, CAT 2, etc)?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.152|173.245.56.152]] 01:03, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
:Would it help understand the comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 18:23, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

The Weather Channel reported on this comic as if people were actually asked about which hurricanes they remember. I'm not even certain TWC understood its provenance. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.155}}

I propose we remove much of the table, and provide the name of the hurricane the year, and a link to a reference to the hurricane if we can find one.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 18:23, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

All of the hurricanes are linked on Wikipedia, and the remarks are arbitrary facts pulled from that. There is no standard as to what kind of remark or interesting fact should be left. Some just link to the wikipedia article, which already happens in the initial listing, while others tried to find a cool or key fact, but this is the least fun part of completing this list especially when there is no uniformity to this section. I propose removing the remarks point as it's the most subjective and least scientific and least important aspect of the list. If people want to read more about the storm, they can click the link by the name. Anyone agree or disagree? [[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 17:26, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

I have a followup thought - just make remarks 2 figures: number killed and cost of damage. That's pretty empirical and would make for simple columns. This allows it to be filtered by most deadly and most costly

I'm giving total casualties. The Wiki pages sometimes say x deaths direct, y deaths indirect. I'm giving a unified total otherwise it gets too confusing. {{unsigned|4jonah}}

There were duplicate entries for 1926 such as, in a single column, "1926 "IIII/II." In addition to being out of sequence, no other year did this so I have each one it's own listing. We should remove the remarks section. Does anyone attend this page anymore?[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 18:34, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

This table has more listed than the map does. Are we going to have 2 separate, inconsistent lists? Or is the table going to have only what's on the map?[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 21:18, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T23:59:08Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
(Est. total)
!Damage estimate
(USD; uninflated)
|-
|rowspan="2"|1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
|-
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
|-
|rowspan="2"|1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
|-
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
|-
|rowspan="4"|1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
|-
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
|-
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
|-
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
|-
|rowspan="2"|1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
|-
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
|-
|rowspan="3"|1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
|-
|rowspan="2"|1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
|-
|rowspan="2"|1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
|-
|rowspan="2"|1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||91
||$210.1 million
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||688
||$1 billion
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||259
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||28
||$930 million
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||128
||$2.1 billion
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||8
||$162 million
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||80
||$560 million
|-
|rowspan="2"|1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||<2,068
||$1.54 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||14
||$2.3 billion
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||269
||$1.24 billion
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||3
||$65.5 million
|-
|rowspan="3"|1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||9
||$1.3 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
|-
|rowspan="5"|2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
|-
|rowspan="3"|2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
|-
|rowspan="2"|2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
|-
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
|-
|rowspan="2"|2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
|-
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
|-
||2013
||
||
||
||
||
||
|-
||2014
||
||
||
||
||
||
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T20:59:05Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
(Est. total)
!Damage estimate
(USD; uninflated)
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||91
||$210.1 million
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||688
||$1 billion
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||259
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||28
||$930 million
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||128
||$2.1 billion
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||8
||$162 million
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||80
||$560 million
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||<2,068
||$1.54 billion
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||14
||$2.3 billion
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||269
||$1.24 billion
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||3
||$65.5 million
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||9
||$1.3 billion
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
|-
||2013
||
||
||
||
||
||
|-
||2014
||
||
||
||
||
||
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T20:57:54Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties (Est. total)
!Damage estimate
(USD; uninflated)
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||91
||$210.1 million
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||688
||$1 billion
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||259
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||28
||$930 million
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||128
||$2.1 billion
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||8
||$162 million
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||80
||$560 million
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||<2,068
||$1.54 billion
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||14
||$2.3 billion
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||269
||$1.24 billion
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||3
||$65.5 million
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||9
||$1.3 billion
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
|-
||2013
||
||
||
||
||
||
|-
||2014
||
||
||
||
||
||
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T20:56:51Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties (Est. total)
!Damage estimate (USD; uninflated)
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||91
||$210.1 million
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||688
||$1 billion
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||259
||$1.42 billion
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||28
||$930 million
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||128
||$2.1 billion
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||8
||$162 million
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||80
||$560 million
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||<2,068
||$1.54 billion
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||14
||$2.3 billion
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||269
||$1.24 billion
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||3
||$65.5 million
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||9
||$1.3 billion
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
|-
||2013
||
||
||
||
||
||
|-
||2014
||
||
||
||
||
||
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T20:36:06Z

4jonah:

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties (Estimated total)
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||91
||$210.1 million
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||688
||$1 billion
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||259
||$1.42 billion
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||28
||$930 million
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||128
||$2.1 billion
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||8
||$162 million
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||80
||$560 million
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||<2,068
||$1.54 billion
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||14
||$2.3 billion
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||269
||$1.24 billion
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||3
||$65.5 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||9
||$1.3 billion
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|-
||2013
||
||
||
||
||
||
||
|-
||2014
||
||
||
||
||
||
||
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T07:39:55Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties (Estimated total)
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|-
||2013
||
||
||
||
||
||
||
|-
||2014
||
||
||
||
||
||
||
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T04:50:52Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties (Estimated total)
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T04:50:34Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties (estimated total)
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||±107
||$10 billion
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||17
||$1.5 billion
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||65
||$26.5 billion
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||63
||$5.1 billion
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||27
||$3.2 billion
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||5
||$1 billion
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T04:45:23Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||15
||$700 million
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T04:42:44Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||<400
||unreported
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-25T04:15:12Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Gloria}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||14
||$900 million
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1256: Questions

2014-12-25T02:21:44Z

4jonah: /* Section Spider Six */

{{comic
| number = 1256
| date = August 26, 2013
| title = Questions
| image = questions.png
| titletext = To whoever typed 'why is arwen dying': GOOD. FUCKING. QUESTION.
}}
A larger version of the picture can be found [http://xkcd.com/1256/large/ here]
.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many questions unanswered.}}
{{w|Google}}, a rather popular internet search engine, has a feature known as [https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230?hl=en autocomplete] that guesses at search queries before they are fully typed out. These guesses are generally made based on popular searches by other people. From time to time, a particularly strange or hilarious one may be found, as is evidenced in this comic.

The largest pictured questions are: "Why are there slaves in the bible" and "Why are there ants in my laptop".

All of the questions in the comic are "why" questions, so many of them are predicated on false assumptions, such as "Why are there pyramids on the moon".

Regarding the title text: in the Peter Jackson films of {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy}}, Arwen becomes sickly for unspecified reasons as the plot advances, apparently giving Aragorn a more personal reason to fight. The only explanation given is by Elrond, who says "As Sauron's power grows, her [Arwen's] strength wanes." This subplot is entirely absent from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings|original novels}}.

From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/faq#.2.1.21 IMDB]: <blockquote>
Arwen, like her father (and brothers) is considered to be a Half-Elf, the result of a union between an Elf and a mortal human. The Half-Elven of Middle-earth get a choice, to remain immortal and return to the West (Valinor) or to become mortal and to die as humans do. Elrond chose to remain an Elf. Arwen (like her uncle Elros) chooses to become mortal in order to wed and remain with Aragorn. Elrond senses this; this is what he means when he says that Arwen is dying. It is the same as in The Last Unicorn, when the unicorn is given the form of a human woman and can feel that she is no longer immortal ("I can feel this body dying all around me"). According to Tolkien, though, after Aragorn dies in the year 120 (Fourth Age), Arwen returns to Lórien, where she dies by choice the following winter. </blockquote>

==Selected answers==
The tables below have been created so as to split the comic into almost entirely arbitrary blocks, which have then been identified with similarly arbitrary numbers. As a general rule, section numbers work top to bottom, then right to left.
===Illustrated Panels===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why aren't my arms growing?||Arms stop growing because longer arms would not be a very useful way to spend resources, and therefore your DNA tells your body not to grow your arms any more.
|-
|Why are there ghosts?||There is no hard evidence of ghosts.
|-
|Why are there squirrels?||Squirrels exist because they fit their biological niche better than any other species.
|-
|Why is sex so important?||Sex is important because it is the primary method of reproduction in many different species.
|-
| Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter? || In the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe, Muggle technology (human inventions) are often looked down on by wizards - the majority of half-blooded wizards like Harry won't touch one, let alone a wizard extremist like {{w|Voldemort}}. Not only does any Muggle device more complex than a wristwatch interfere with magical artifacts, but wands are usually more versatile than most guns; a revolver can't shoot lightning or summon items or teleport its user. Finally, while Harry himself may or may not consider using firearms due to his Muggle upbringing, ''Harry Potter'' is a children's book (which usually doesn't include guns) set in the United Kingdom (which has stricter gun laws than, say, the United States).
|-
|-
|}

===Section One===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do whales jump? || To the whale, it's like going into outer space!
|-
|Why are witches green? || See {{w|Wizard of Oz}}.
|-
|Why are there mirrors above beds?|| Often, these are used by couples to view themselves during coitus.
|-
|Why do I say Uh?||See ''[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/06/the_odd_body_language_fillers/ Why do we say 'um', 'er', or 'ah' when we hesitate in speaking?]''.
|-
| Why is sea salt better? || The question likely refers to the difference between common {{w|Fortified table salt}} and usually more expensive sea salt. While the major part of both of these is sodium chloride (NaCl) the idea behind the claim is the different composition mostly in regards to trace elements of sea salt compared to "normal" salt. Table salt's composition is often influenced by a country's health department and thus addition of trace elements is regulated. While these regulations are based on scientific studies there remain to be debates concerning the additions, such as iodine.
|-
| Why are there trees in the middle of fields? || Many images of fields contain singular trees in the middle of them. While there exist such trees it is likely an artistic choice to give a more pleasing or aesthetically satisfying image compared to just a field. In modern agriculture those would in fact be quite troublesome since they are a hindrance to large machines used and a new tree would be unlikely to grow in a constantly worked field.
|-
| Why is there not a Pokémon MMO? || {{w|Pokémon}} is a popular franchise, spanning game consoles, anime series, a trading card game, and many other things. Among fans, it is a frequent topic of discussion why a Pokémon {{w|massively multiplayer online game}} has not been officially announced by the series' developers {{w|Game Freak}}, as they often [http://www.dorkly.com/comic/52546/be-careful-what-you-wish-for predict] that such a game would be extremely popular, and bring in massive revenue for the company. However, if Game Freak were to develop a Pokémon MMO the MMOs would be strong competition against the console games and therefore reducing the Pokémon demographic significantly.
|-
|Why is there laughing in TV shows? || Sitcoms were once filmed with an audience, so the actors could respond to their reactions. That's the historical reason why there were laughs in TV shows. The tradition continues, with the difference that now the laughter mostly comes from recorded tapes. See {{w|Laugh track}}.
|-
|Why are there doors on the freeway?|| Highway/freeway {{w|noise barrier|noise barriers}} sometimes have doors in them to allow workers access to both sides of the barrier.
|-
|Why are there so many svchost.exe running?||See {{w|svchost.exe}}.
|-
| Why aren't there any countries in Antarctica? || {{w|Antarctica}} is the southern most continent and is by large covered in ice and in general pretty cold. While it is a regular target of tourists and researchers it also lacks native human inhabitants. At the moment, the territorial claims concerning Antarctica are mostly handled via the {{w|Antarctic Treaty System}}. In short there are a few countries who claim certain parts of the continent as their own in theory but so far it is considered neutral territory and most maps don't concern themselves with displaying the (in some regards disputed) territorial claims because they do not matter at this point in time. If there are ever any worthwhile resources discovered, this might change.
|-
|Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft?|| To add atmosphere and to give players hints when there is a dark cave nearby. See [http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Ambience Minecraft Wiki].
|-
|Why is there kicking in my stomach?||See ''[http://www.webmd.com/baby/fetal-movement-feeling-baby-kick Feeling Your Baby Kick]''. Here, ''stomach'' means ''abdomen''.
|-
|Why are there two slashes after http?||See ''[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220286/Sir-Tim-Berners-Lee-admits-forward-slashes-web-address-mistake.html Sir Tim Berners-Lee admits the forward slashes in every web address 'were a mistake']''.
|-
|Why are there celebrities?||There are certain people who are more respected and well-known than other people, whether it be because of their acting career, major advancements to science, or a sex tape.
|-
|Why do snakes exist?|| The question is rather general and likely based on a widespread dislike for the reptilians. Be it due to their appearance, their spread, or the danger a few snakes pose to humans (often due to being venomous) many people have a dislike for snakes and would prefer them to not exist (similar to spiders).
In regards to "why do snakes exist on earth?": Because evolution. Snakes fill a gap in the ecosystem as predators and hunt different species, including vermin. Snakes are in that regard similar to many other predatory animals. The question on why snakes developed with their distinct streamlined shape is still debated but {{w|snakes|likely it either provided an advantage when burrowing or swimming}}.
|-
|Why do oysters have pearls?||{{w|Creation of a pearl|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism against a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside the shell, or an attack from outside, injuring the mantle tissue. The mollusk creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritation. Pearls are commonly viewed by scientists as a by-product of an adaptive immune system-like function.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are ducks called ducks?||See {{w|Duck#Etymology}}. {{W|wikt:duck|According to Wiktionary}}, the noun ''duck'' can be traced back to the {{w|Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic}} word {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/dūkaną|''dūkaną''}} ("to dive, bend down"), and, in turn, the {{w|Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European}} {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/dʰewb-|''dʰewb-''}} ("deep, hollow"), which is the origin of the verb ''to duck''. The link between the noun and the verb comes from ducks' tendency to dive under water for short periods of time.
|-
|Why do they call it the clap?||An old folk remedy for {{w|gonorrhea}} was to clap on the sides of the penis.
|-
|Why are Kyle and Cartman friends?|| The question relates to the TV show {{w|South Park}}. Both are children living in the small titular town in Colorado. Cartman is widely accepted to a be very bad person, one of his many character flaws being his antisemitism. Kyle on the other hand is a Jew. However, both, along with two other kids, Stan and Kenny, are the core focus of the show (or used to be) and to some extent are considered to be friends. While there are episodes which show Cartman being not entirely a horrible person and him holding Kyle in a position of at least a worthy adversary, most of the time the question should be "Why is anyone friends with Cartman?" However, they most likely remain "friends" because they are in the same class at school and are therefore "forced" to be around one another.
|-
|Why is there an arrow on Aang's head?||{{w|Avatar: The Last Airbender#Characters|Aang}} is the main character of the TV series {{w|Avatar the last Airbender|Avatar - The last Airbender}} and features as part of a large body spanning tattoo an arrow on his head. These tattoos are made to replicate the markings of one of the shows fictional animals, the air bison which are regarded as the original air benders. They are given to human air benders once they attain the status of masters. Because Aang acquired this status very early in life he was already tattooed accordingly.
|-
|Why are text messages blue?||This likely refers to imessage chat being blue. These messages are blue when sending a message to another apple device.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on clothes?||Because some people buy them. Mustaches, especially handlebar-style mustaches, were a popular fad at the time of this comic.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on cars?||Fuzzy pink mustaches are used to designate cars in the {{w|Lyft}} service.
|-
|Why are there mustaches everywhere?||See {{w|Movember}}
|-
|Why are there so many birds in Ohio?||There are an estimated [http://oh.audubon.org/bsc/SOTB.html 400 bird species] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Ohio Ohio], but there are [http://www.jstor.org/discover/2419997sid=21104910103541&uid=4&uid=3739776&uid=2&uid=3739256 2.74 nesting pairs per acre].
|-
|Why is there so much rain in Ohio?|| {{w|lake_effect|Lake-effect}} rain develops in the same manner as lake-effect snow.
|-
|Why is Ohio weather so weird?||See {{w|Lake-effect snow}}.
|-
|}

===Section Two===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there male and female bikes? || {{w|bicycle|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Historically, women's bicycle frames had a top tube that connected in the middle of the seat tube instead of the top, resulting in a lower {{w|Frame geometry|standover height}} at the expense of compromised structural integrity, since this places a strong bending load in the seat tube, and bicycle frame members are typically weak in bending. This design, referred to as a '''''{{w|step-through frame}}''''' or as an ''open frame'', allows the rider to mount and dismount in a dignified way while wearing a skirt or dress.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are there bridesmaids?||See {{w|Bridesmaid#Origin and history}}.
|-
|Why do dying people reach up?|| In many works of fiction dying people are regarded with an outstretched arm, grasping for unseen objects towards the sky. In all likelihood this originates in the idea of heaven as the place where (good) people go after death. People "reach for the light" which is seen when dying according to similar beliefs or possibly for already dead relatives or other associated people waiting for them. An alternative hypothesis is that they want to hug/touch their loved ones one last time.
|-
|Why aren't there varicose arteries?||Blood moves through veins due to irregular pressure from skeletal muscles combined with valves to control direction. In varicose veins these valves malfunction affecting blood flow. In arteries blood flow is produced directly from pressure caused by the heart.
|-
|Why are old Klingons different?|| {{w|Klingon Redesign|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>For {{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}} (1979), the Klingons were retconned and their appearance and behavior radically changed. To give the aliens a more sophisticated and threatening demeanor, the Klingons were depicted with ridged foreheads, snaggled and prominent teeth, and a defined language and alphabet. Lee Cole, a production designer, used red gels and primitive shapes in the design of Klingon consoles and ship interiors, which took on a dark and moody atmosphere. The alphabet was designed as angular, with sharp edges harkening to the Klingon's militaristic focus.[5] Costume designer Robert Fletcher created new uniforms for the Klingons, reminiscent of feudal Japanese armor.</blockquote>
|-
|Why is programming so hard?||Programming is the art of writing instructions for a computer to do. Since the computer has a limited set of instructions for you to use it involves a new way of thinking for many. It is also hard because the computer itself is not smart or adaptable to unexpected problems. For instance when a human is told to sort books in a shelf, he or she can do that despite there might be things in the way (he or she will just move it to the side). A computer generally just crash if it doesn't have instructions on how to deal with the unexcepted problem.
|-
|Why is there a 0 Ohm resistor?|| A resistor is usually designed to create a certain resistance, measured in {{w|Ohm}} in an electronic device. A 0 Ohm resistor seems pointless as it would only provide the same resistance as a normal cable. However, Wikipedia's {{w|Zero-ohm link}} article gives sufficient explanation.
|-
|Why do Americans hate soccer? || Soccer, or football in British English, is rather unpopular in the USA compared to most other regions of the world. Finding a particular reason behind the (dis)like for certain sports, apart from cultural spread, is difficult. One possible explanation is soccer's tendency to have far fewer points scored in an average game and a higher likelihood of draws compared to such things as American Football, basketball or baseball, which are far more popular. In how far this is a legitimate argument for regarding soccer as "less interesting" is up to debate.
|-
|Why do rhymes sound good?||The brain enjoys repetition especially in music.
|-
|Why do trees die?||Some common reasons include lack of water, lack of nitrogen in the soil and being chopped down.
|-
|Why is there no sound on CNN?||Some stations broadcast a {{w|second audio program}}, an alternative sound track that your TV can be configured to use instead of the primary program. This is intended to be used for broadcasting in an alternate language, or for {{w|Descriptive Video Service}} to make a program accessible to the visually impaired. Many programs that don't actually use SAP will still broadcast an SAP that is identical to the primary program; however, this is not required. If your TV is configured to use SAP and a particular channel isn't broadcasting SAP at that time, there won't be any sound.
|-
|Why aren't Pokémon real?||Pokémon are fantasised creatures that were designed to produce an interesting battle mechanic in a game. Some of the pokémons abilities would be impossible on earth as we know it. For instance, Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the sun<ref name="Bulbapedia Magcargo"> [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magcargo#Trivia|Magcargo]]</ref>.
|-
|Why aren't bullets sharp?||See {{w|Terminal ballistics}}.
|-
|Why do dreams seem so real?|| Most dreams occur during a stage known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement). During REM, your brain is highly active and its wave pattern is the same as the wave patterns in a person who is awake. It should be noted that dreams can occur during other stages of sleep but most dreams that are vivid occur during the REM stage.
|-
|}

===Section Three===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do testicles move?|| The scrotum shrinks and expands to account for temperature changes.
|-
| Why are there psychics?|| Psychics are humans who supposedly have supernatural abilities to know things. A better question would be to ask why do people suppose there are psychics.
|-
| Why are hats so expensive?|| Hats can be expensive depending on the quality of material, size, location, and demand. A probable answer is that hats are simply difficult to make, causing high prices.
|-
| Why is there caffeine in my shampoo?|| Because the producers want you to believe that caffeine penetrates the hair roots and thereby somehow protects it from negative testosterone impacts and from premature hair loss.
|-
| Why do your boobs hurt?|| The most probable reason is that your bra doesn't fit correctly. It could also be a hormone imbalance or awkwardly shaped breasts.
|}

===Section Four===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why aren't economists rich? || Economists study the economy. In order to become rich, one has to take part in the economy by trading or producing goods or services.
|-
| Why do Americans call it soccer? || {{w|Association Football}} is called Soccer in the USA because {{w|American Football}} is the more popular version there.
|-
| Why are my ears ringing? || {{w|Tinnitus}}, or ringing of the ears, can result from stress, foreign objects in the ear, hearing damage, wax build up, or any other number of causes.
|-
| Why are there so many Avengers? ||The number of Avengers has [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avengers_members varied greatly] over the years and decades, each time with it's own justification for why they need to work together, but the simplest answer is money. Cross-branding and cross-merchandising is successful to the brand and brings in new readers, plus creates a new franchise to profit from.
|-
|Why are the Avengers fighting the X Men || {{w|Avengers vs. X-Men}} was a 2012 Marvel crossover event that, like many other recent comic book events, had heroes fight other heroes. In this case, the {{w|Avengers (comics)|Avengers}} and the {{w|X-Men}} fought over the {{w|Phoenix Force (comics)|Phoenix Force}}, a godlike power that often possesses {{w|Jean Grey}} or her descendants (in this case, her alternate universe daughter Hope Summers). The Avengers believed the Phoenix Force is too powerful for humanity to control and wanted to contain it, while the X-Men believed the Phoenix was the messiah for mutants and could fix all of the Earth's problems.
|-
|Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers || Wolverine ''has'' been an Avenger, in some circumstances. e.g. in the {{w|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes}} cartoon series, the episode ''New Avengers'' had Wolverine (along with Spiderman, War Machine, The Thing and Luke Cage and Iron Fist) substitute while the 'original' Avengers were unavailable to deal with the current crisis (which of course included the fate of the 'proper' Avengers). However, in general his anti-authority personality makes him a difficult team-member to field, and he has frequently disassociated himself even from the X-Men. But, in Avengers vs. X-Men (see above) Wolverine ''sided'' with The Avengers, and more modern treatments have even included the character in about as much a permanent a membership of the group as Logan is ever likely to have.

But if the question is about why Wolverine didn't appear in {{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|''The Avengers''}}, the answer is that ''The Avengers'' is being produced by Marvel/Disney, while Fox still has the rights to the X-Men and all Marvel mutants in general. Unless there is studio agreement, the two properties cannot cross, except through complicated machinations. For example, there are plans to bring Avengers mainstays Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch to both the ''Avengers'' and ''X-Men'' franchises, but only the Fox films have the right to call them the children of Magneto, and Marvel/Disney cannot even identify them on-screen as "mutants".
|}

===Section Five===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why are there ants in my laptop? || Ants usually come in your laptop when there are little crumbs of food. It is advised to get screen protectors.
|-
| Why is Earth tilted? || The Earth is not tilted. Axial tilt is just a result of conservation of momentum when the Earth was formed, because not everything orbits in the same way. It is pure happenstance that Earth's axis is not normal to its plane of orbit.
|-
| Why is space black? || What we call black is the absence of light. Space is mostly empty. Whe we look at a part of space where there is nothing that can reflect the stars' light, it consequently appears black to us.
|-
| Why is outer space so cold? || Space is not cold. There is no matter in space. However, most of space has very little radiation hitting it, so a person won't recieve any energy, but will still radiate some away, resulting in a net loss of energy, colloquially "heat."
|-
| Why are there pyramids on the moon? || There are no pyramids on the moon.
|-
| Why is NASA shutting down? ||NASA isn't shutting down. This question might have something to do with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_2013 Government Shutdown of 2013] or perhaps due to the then-current shuttle program ending, but that is not the entirety of NASA.
|}

===Section <strike>Spider</strike> Six===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there tiny spiders in my house?
|rowspan="6"|During autumn in particular male spiders reaching maturing will set off to find a mate. By chance they may end up in your house. When encountering spiders in large numbers, it is more likely that they are young from the same female spider. Females lay {{w|Spider#Reproduction_and_life_cycle|up to 3,000}} eggs at a time.
|-
| Why do spiders come inside?
|-
| Why are there huge spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there lots of spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there spiders in my room?
|-
| Why are there so many spiders in my room?
|-
| Why do spider bites itch? ||This mostly happens as a immune response to [http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/why-do-mosquito-bites-itch histamines] under the skin which are injected through saliva.
|-
| Why is dying so scary? ||Part of human nature is the fear of the unknown, and death is the ultimate unknown because it is not knowable until it's experienced, and there is nobody to report what the result was. This leaves it open to speculation, and many major religions are based on preparing ones soul for death. Also, dying would leave loved ones families with the responsibility of taking care of their remains and finances. And finally, most people don't want to die, living for as long as possible, possibly because the unknown is too unbearable to cope with. Still though several people are not afraid of death and dying, and recognize life is short and to cherish each moment while we can. Death is inevitable, so we should not fear it.
|-
| Why is there no GPS in laptops? ||It is not impossible for laptops to have a GPS, and some do. But there are [http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/50907/are-there-gps-tracker-for-laptops design difficulties] that have to be overcome including battery draining, room within the crowded device to place a receiver, WiFi can give a location just as well, and the product casing could interfere with its ability to functional normally and receive the signals necessary to operate as intended. Some Dell computers have these, but the privacy one needs to give up to accept the terms and conditions makes it unfavorable.
|-
| Why do knees click? ||
|-
| Why aren't there E grades? ||E grades [http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/02/e-f-grading-scale/ actually exist] in some districts, but they are rare. In their long and bizarre history, E was originally used where F is today (E was the lowest grade), but in those systems, students often received E's for an "Excellent" grade, creating much confusion. F was used in place instead and E was eliminated from a standard grading scale.
|-
| Why is isolation bad? ||Isolation is when a person deliberately secludes themselves away from others, often far-removed from society. This can happen in locations as small as a city apartment and as large as the open woods. People evolved as social animals and it is generally held that those who isolate themselves suffer from depression or other forms of psychological imbalance. Of course society can trigger many of these imbalances causing an individual to isolate themselves. Isolation is often seen as therapeutic so people can spend time with themselves constructively, often finding peace within themselves and through mediation. Monks and hermits generally live in solitude as well. Many people view a decision to be isolated as noble, and others as healthy. While general interaction is largely healthy, in the crowded modern world, isolation is neither good or bad; it depends on the person and what that isolation does to them.
|-
| Why do boys like me? ||Attraction comes in many forms: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, among others. Many people will lie about what they like about you to get something else (money, sex, etc), but most are genuine. It is not possible to assert definitively why one person may like another person, and that is something that needs to be discussed openly and honestly with them and nobody else.
|-
| Why don't boys like me? ||Similar to the answer above about what makes one desirable to another, there are an equal number of factors that make one unappealing. This can include everything from physical appearance to how one treats others. If a person is rude and unfriendly, most people find that not-conducive to healthy relationship and avoid the person who is asking. Not being liked by someone you like however does not mean you're wrong or are a bad person and in most cases has to do with the person you are asking about.
|-
| Why is there always a Java update? ||[https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/whatis_java.xml Java] is a software that runs on most computers and mobile devices that is crucial to its security and stability. The reason why it always updates is because it needs to stay current with the ever-upgrading fleet of browsers, operating systems and software that supports Java. Additionally Java updates itself so each version can run optimally. Software coding and debugging is a never-ending process towards perfectly stable releases.
|-
| Why are there red dots on my thighs? ||
|-
| Why is lying good? ||Lying and other forms of dishonesty is typically seen as bad because it lowers one's credibility and makes them less likely to be trusted in the future. It is almost always advantageous to tell the truth, as lies have a way of escalating as you need to keep expanding on the lie to cover your tracks. There are instances however where lying may be used in more noble circumstances. For example, if a friend asks your opinion on something they have made (such as a poem or painting) that you do not like, it is okay to tell them you like it because protecting their feelings and your relationship is more important than how you feel. Often military personnel are trained to keep national security secrets at all costs and will lie about what they know to save themselves and the country.
|}

===Section Seven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there slaves in the bible? ||Slavery was viewed differently in the early years of human civilization before the contemporary moral and ethical conversations began centuries later. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery bible justified slavery] for a number of reasons, notably to pay off some sort of debt. Slaves were seen as property and their work provided value to the slave owner. Similarly slave owners rationalized their ownership through scripture, pointing out that it was in the Bible and therefore okay with God.
|-
| Why do twins have different fingerprints? || Fingerprints are not only from the DNA, but from the conditions in the womb which differ from child to child.
|-
| Why are Americans afraid of dragons? ||This question was the title of a [http://blogs.sfu.ca/courses/spring2012/engl387/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Why-are-Americans-Afraid-of-Dragons.docx 1974 essay] by Ursula K. LeGeuin in which she makes a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics semiotic] analysis of dragon mythology. She argues that our belief in dragons (and those outside of America as well) stems from childhood, much like other ferocious fictional creatures such as goblins and hobbits, but many hold onto these fears as a way of avoiding reality. In her closing argument, she writes, "They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life they have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom."
|-
| Why is HTTPS crossed out in red? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a line through HTTPS? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook? || Facebook has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is HTTPS important? || For security reasons, as a site with HTTPS has encrypted traffic.
|}

===Section Eight===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there swarms of gnats? ||
|-
| Why is there phlegm? ||[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegm#Phlegm Phlegm] is a thick, viscous fluid produced by the mucus membranes as a way to clear the airway and aids in the release of bacteria, disease and debris in those passages.
|-
| Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN || From a Minnesota Paper, [http://www.startribune.com/local/138902104.html the Star Tribune], "Laws prevent the city from poisoning the crows". "Duffy [Steve Duffy, a co-owner of U.S. Bird Abatement Services, which has contracted with Rochester to get rid of the crows] isn't sure why Rochester has such a bad crow problem; probably a confluence of many bird-friendly conditions that has also made it a magnet for geese. He's seen worse cases, but called Rochester's situation 'hideous.'" And best of all, "The city has twice this winter hired experts to chase them off. They tried lasers and bullhorns — hey, get out of here, you crows — and even employed raptors to pick them off, one by one. That worked, for awhile." Unfortunately, they mean a {{w|bird of prey}}, not a {{w|velociraptor}}.
|-
| Why is Psychic weak to Bug || In Pokémon, Pokémon of the psychic type like Mr. Mime are weak to three types of attacks: Ghost, Dark, and Bug. The general theory is that Psychic Pokémon, relying heavily on their thoughts for attacks, are weak to fears, which ghosts, darkness, and bugs can be classified as.
|-
| Why do children get cancer? ||[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer Cancer] is an aggressive and often fatal disease that has the potential to affect all humans as well as other organisms. There are multiple types of cancer, each with their own epidemiology, but children are not immune to succumbing to the horrific affects of the disease. Children are human beings and are subject to the same illnesses adults have, irregardless of age, or their innocence. There is no divine or supernatural explanation for this. Simply put, life is a battle for all humans regardless of how small they are.
|-
| Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus? || {{w|Poseidon}} was the patron deity of the city of {{w|Troy}}, which after a 10 years siege by the Greeks fell due to {{w|Odysseus}}' list of the {{w|Trojan_Horse|Trojan horse}}. As the Greeks were returning home after the Trojan War, Oddyseus' ship accidentally landed on the island home of the cyclops Polyphemus, who imprisoned the crew and ate many of them. In order to escape, Odysseus blinded the cyclops. Poseidon, Polyphemus' father, was extremely angered by his son being blinded, so he cursed Odysseus' ship to prevent him from reaching his home in {{W|Ithaca}}. The adventures which Odysseus encountered during his quest for reaching Ithaca are the main theme of {{w|Homer|Homer's}} {{w|Odyssey}} The Odyssey also says that before sailing, the crew forgot to offer a sacrifice as was ordained.
|-
| Why is there ice in space? ||
|}

===Section <strike>Owl</strike> Nine===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there an owl in my back yard? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl outside my window? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl on the dollar bill? ||
|-
| Why do owls attack people? ||
|-
| Why are AK47s so expensive? ||
|-
| Why are there helicopters circling my house? ||This question is likely a joke because it is so incongruous to the others in this section. The joke is that people would be Gooogling about owls attacking people and assault rifle prices, which could, ostensibly alert authorities to come to your house to arrest you. If this is not the case, then the helicopter could be there for myriad reasons.
|}

===Section Ten===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there gods? ||All gods and goddesses man made and are part of ancient and fictional mythology and folklore that are used to give spiritual guidance and explanations for phenomenons that were yet unexplained by natural processes. Lightning for example was thought to be produced by Zeus, King of all Greek Gods.
|-
|Why are there two Spocks? || This is probably a reference to the {{w|Star_Trek_(film)|2009 Star Trek movie}} in which the franchise was given a {{w|Reboot_(fiction)|continuity reboot}}. The modified setting is explained in-universe by time travel, with both the villain Nero and the original-timeline Spock being brought back from the 24th century to the 23rd, creating a timeline in which both older Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) and the younger Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) coexist.

Another possibility is that the question refers to the episode {{w|Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)|"Mirror, Mirror"}}, which mostly takes place in an alternate universe populated by ruthless versions of most of the characters (including Spock).
|-
| Why is Mt Vesuvius there? ||
|-
| Why do they say T minus? ||
|-
| Why are there obelisks? ||
|-
| Why are wrestlers always wet? ||
|-
| Why are oceans becoming more acidic? ||
|-
| Why is Arwen dying? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail laying eggs? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail eggs hatching? ||
|-
|Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America? || ''Further information: {{w|United States military deployments}}''This is a very interesting question, albeit one likely based on a regional misunderstanding. Presumably, this question is asked by Americans who assume that the existence of {{w|Category:Military facilities of the United States by country|U.S. military bases abroad}} is a general trend among countries, as opposed to being the rarity that it is. In fact, {{w|List of countries with overseas military bases|only a handful of other countries}} have military bases outside of their borders, and the three—{{w|France}}, the {{w|United Kingdom}}, and {{w|Russia}}—that have more than one or two are all countries that, like the United States, {{w|Allies of World War II|were on the winning side of World War II}}, have {{w|List of countries by military expenditures|massive military expenditures}}, and have {{w|United Nations Security Council veto power|UN Security Council vetoes}}. In other words, only the most militarily elite countries have bases overseas. The U.S. is unique, however, in that it has far more overseas bases than any other country (and, pretty much, far more of anything else than any other country, when it comes to the military), and in that {{w|List of United States military bases|it has bases in several other highly-industrialized nations}}, including {{w|List of United States Army installations in South Korea|South Korea}} and the United Kingdom, and, most notably, the World War II {{w|Axis powers}}: {{w|List of United States Army installations in Germany|Germany}}, {{w|United States Forces Japan|Japan}}, and {{w|List of United States Army installations in Italy|Italy}}. France, Russia, and the U.K.'s bases, on the other hand, are almost all within areas that they previously controlled.These bases can be controversial in some countries, while in others they are a major source of economic and political stability. The U.S. traditionally justifies their presence as a necessary and crucial element in its efforts to promote peace domestically and worldwide. Despite their major role in {{w|U.S. foreign policy}}, and in the general political structure of the globe, the American public often largely ignores them, and they rarely become a major political issue (apart from an occasional mention by {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian presidential candidates}}).So, essentially, the absence of foreign military bases within the U.S. is primarily because there aren't really any other countries in a position to place bases there. Ironically, although no battles in the traditional sense have been fought within the U.S. since the {{w|U.S. Civil War}} and the U.S. mainland has seen {{w|Mainland invasion of the United States|almost no military action}}, foreign air force bases might have been useful on September 11, 2001. (The {{w|attack on Pearl Harbor}} in 1941 was 18 years before Hawaii became a U.S. state.)There are, however, foreign troops stationed at some continental US military bases. For example RAF (British Royal Air Force) 39 Sqn and 361 Sqn at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada flying Reaper and Predator drones. But this are not foreign military bases, they are just guests.
|}

===Section Eleven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are my boobs itchy? ||
|-
| Why are cigarettes legal? ||Despite the obvious detrimental affects nicotine has on health, like caffeine and alcohol, it is easy to regulate. Substances like marijuana and other drugs are mainly illegal because the government and regulatory agencies have no control over their production and distribution and therefore cannot profit from it. Nicotine however, which is the key ingredient in tobacco can be regulated and taxed and is.
|-
| Why are there ducks in my pool? ||
|-
| Why is Jesus white? ||This is an ethnocentric viewpoint that varies throughout cultures. In Africian cultures he is portrayed as black. In short, whatever culture he is introduced to, those inhabitants will have him fit their own image.
|-
| Why is there liquid in my ear? ||
|-
| Why do Q tips feel good? ||The inner ear contains [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erectile_tissue erectile tissue] (as does your inner nose which is shy sneezing feels good) so you are massing tissue which gets aroused upon stimulation.
|-
| Why do good people die? ||Everybody dies, but loved ones and ones who were known to make memorable or valuable contributions are mourned and revered more than a person who has left much pain to others as their legacy; we remember the good ones and that's why it hurts more.
|-
| Why are ultrasounds important? ||
|-
| Why are ultrasound machines expensive? ||
|-
| Why is stealing wrong? ||Stealing is theft and it is illegal. Taking something that is not yours without permission or payment hurts the livelihood of other individuals as well as damages their trust in others.
|}

===Vertical Questions===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there hell if god forgives? ||There is not a single answer to this question because every person has their own particular unique rationale and opinion, which should indicate that the notion of divine forgiveness and divine punishment are arbitrary and made-up. The answer varies based on the religion and that religion's sect mixed with personal interpretations of that religions scripture and how a person decides to follow it. However the idea of what Hell will be like also varies. There is no one answer to this question, but the easiest explanation is that the individual did not pray hard enough, correctly, was not part of the right religion, and their forgiveness was contingent on something that the person either did not do or know to do (or say or think)
|-
| Why do iguanas die? ||All living things die, but iguanas may suffer from [http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/kidneyfailure.html kidney failure].
|-
| Why is GPS free? || GPS was originally developed by the U.S. military for its own use, not for commercial purposes. Once the satellites were launched and service began, anyone could receive the signals. Because it is a one-way transmission, there is no incremental cost to provide service to more users, and no practical way to prevent use without payment.
|-
| Why are trees tall? ||Tall is a relative term, and Redwoods are famous for their height - among the tallest in the world. The reason for this is, in part [http://www.nps.gov/redw/faqs.htm climate, fog, rain, good soil, few predators, among others].
|-
|Why are there female Mr. Mimes? || {{w|Mr. Mime}} is a Pokémon introduced in the first generation of the games, and despite its name, it can be either of a male or female gender. As the Pokémon was introduced before the concept of [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender gender in Pokémon games], it is likely that the people in charge of translating its Japanese name (Barrierd) did not take this into account during the process.
|-
| Why is there lava? ||Lava is simply magma (molten rock) which has been ejected from volcanoes. Once it is flowing on land, it is called lava. Magma is heated by the earth's core to create a liquid surface under earth's crust that the land floats on. Sometimes it has to come out through faults and fissures (and volcanoes).
|-
| Why is YKK on a zippers? || YKK Group is the name of a large group of Japanese manufacturing companies, which among other things manufacture a lot of zippers.
|-
| Why is life so boring? ||It is up to an individual to find meaning and interest in life. Monotony, predictability and lack of physical and intellectual stimulation would lead to a feeling of boredom.
|-
| Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts? ||Ghosts are a supernatural phenomenon that have not been empirically proven to exist. Those who believe in ghosts implicitly believe in a soul (of which a ghost is a materialization of), and it is a commonly held belief by religious institutions and ghost-hunters that animals do not have souls and thus dinosaurs would not have any either.
|-
|Why is there no king in England? || ''Note: For simplicity's sake, "England" here is being read as "United Kingdom." The various name changes, mergers, and splits of kingdoms are complicated.''The basis for this question is that for the past several hundred years, there has almost always been a queen in England, the sole exceptions being when the king has not had a wife. However, there is a distinction between being the queen of England (that is to say, {{w|List of British monarchs|a monarch}}) and being the {{w|queen consort|queen ''consort''}} of England: The former refers to a woman who {{w|Succession to the British throne|succeeded to the throne}} in her own right, becoming sovereign, while the latter refers to the wife of the king. Both roles, though, are commonly referred to as "Queen of England," creating the impression that there is always such a person. The logical question, therefore, is why {{w|Elizabeth II}}'s husband, {{w|Prince Philip|Philip}}, is not considered the king of England. The answer lies in Britain's system of {{w|male-preference cognatic primogeniture}}, which causes the monarch of England to usually be a man, not a woman. As a result of this, British laws were generally built around the presumption that the monarch would be a man, and that said man would be married to a woman, [[223: Valentine's Day|comic 223]] be damned. Since the creation of the modern British throne in 1707, only two women have reigned as queen in their own right; it just so happens that these two women have been two of the most famous and longest-reigning monarchs in world history, {{w|Queen Victoria}} and Queen Elizabeth II. This fact may add to people's enhanced perception of the lack of a British king. Victoria and Elizabeth's respective consorts, {{w|Albert, Prince Consort|Albert}} and Philip, have been styled as princes—Albert as {{w|Prince Consort}} and Philip as "{{w|British prince|Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}}." Both were explicitly granted their titles by their wives, though Albert was already a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Philip had previously been a prince of Denmark and Greece, but had renounced both titles before marrying Elizabeth.The title {{w|king consort}} also exists, but has never been used in the United Kingdom.Notably, should {{w|Prince Charles}} succeed to his mother's throne, it has been announced that his wife, {{w|Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Camilla}}, will be styled as {{w|princess consort}}, ''not'' as queen consort, just as she has declined the title {{w|Princess of Wales}}, which is strongly associated with Charles's first wife, {{w|Princess Diana|Diana}}. Assuming that Charles succeeds, this means that Britain will not have anyone referred to as "queen," after decades of not having anyone referred to as "king."
|-
| Why do I feel dizzy? ||Balance is achieved from fluids in the inner-ear, but [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizziness#Epidemiology dizziness] can have nearly a dozen causes.]
|-
| Why are dogs afraid of fireworks? ||Loud noises can trigger their flight or fight responses when they are [http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/hyperdog/How-to-Keep-Your-Dog-Safe-and-Calm-During-Fireworks nervous].
|-
| Why are there weeks? || Weeks were originally important for religious reasons, primarily the requirement to observe a sabbath (day of rest) every seventh day. Today it is used to evenly divide months into equal pieces, much like the months divide a year. Similarly, hours and minutes divide a day.
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
:[This strip is a rectangular word cloud, titled 'Questions found in Google autocomplete'. Embedded in the cloud are 5 single panels, with illustrated questions. These are described at the end. Questions are given in roughly columnar order. None of the questions have question marks.]

:Questions found in Google Autocomplete

:Why do whales jump
:Why are witches green
:Why are there mirrors above beds
:Why do I say uh
:Why is sea salt better
:Why are there trees in the middle of fields
:Why is there not a Pokemon MMO
:Why is there laughing in TV shows
:Why are there doors on the freeway
:Why are there so many svchost.exe running
:Why aren't there any countries in antarctica
:Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft
:Why is there kicking in my stomach
:Why are there two slashes after HTTP
:Why are there celebrities
:Why do snakes exist
:Why do oysters have pearls
:Why are ducks called ducks
:Why do they call it the clap
:Why are Kyle and Cartman friends
:Why is there an arraow on Aang's head
:Why are text messages blue
:Why are there mustaches on clothes
:Why are there mustaches on cars
:Why are there mustaches everywhere
:Why are there so many birds in Ohio
:Why is there so much rain in Ohio
:Why is Ohio weather so weird
:Why are there male and female bikes
:Why are there bridesmaids
:Why do dying people reach up
:Why aren't there varicose arteries
:Why are old Klingons different
:Why is programming so hard
:Why is there a 0 ohm resistor
:Why do Americans hate soccer
:Why do rhymes sound good
:Why do trees die
:Why is there no sound on CNN
:Why aren't Pokemon real
:Why aren't bullets sharp
:Why do dreams seem so real
:Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts
:Why do iguanas die
:Why do testicles move
:Why are there psychics
:Why are hats so expensive
:Why is there caffeine in my shampoo
:Why do your boobs hurt
:Why aren't economists rich
:Why do Americans call it soccer
:Why are my ears ringing
:Why are there so many Avengers
:Why are the Avengers fighting the X men
:Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers
:Why are there ants in my laptop
:Why is Earth tilted
:Why is space black
:Why is outer space so cold
:Why are there pyramids on the moon
:Why is NASA shutting down
:Why is there Hell if God forgives
:Why are there tiny spiders in my house
:Why do spiders come inside
:Why are there huge spiders in my house
:Why are there lots of spiders in my house
:Why are there spiders in my room
:Why are there so many spiders in my room
:Why do spider bites itch
:Why is dying so scary
:Why is there no GPS in laptops
:Why do knees click
:Why aren't there E grades
:Why is isolation bad
:Why do boys like me
:Why don't boys like me
:Why is there always a Java update
:Why are there red dots on my thighs
:Why is lying good
:Why is GPS free
:Why are trees tall
:Why are there slaves in the Bible
:Why do twins have different fingerprints
:Why are Americans afraid of dragons
:Why is there lava
:Why are there swarms of gnats
:Why is there phlegm
:Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN
:Why is psychic weak to bug
:Why do children get cancer
:Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus
:Why is there ice in space
:Why are there female Mr Mimes
:Why is there an owl in my backyard
:Why is there an owl outside my window
:Why is there an owl on the dollar bill
:Why do owls attack people
:Why are AK47s so expensive
:Why are there helicopters circling my house
:Why are there gods
:Why are there two Spocks
:Why is Mt Vesuvius there
:Why do they say T minus
:Why are there obelisks
:Why are wrestlers always wet
:Why are oceans becoming more acidic
:Why is Arwen dying
:Why aren't my quail laying eggs
:Why aren't my quail eggs hatching
:Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America
:Why is life so boring
:Why are my boobs itchy
:Why are cigarettes legal
:Why are there ducks in my pool
:Why is Jesus white
:Why is there liquid in my ear
:Why do Q tips feel good
:Why do good people die
:Why are ultrasounds important
:Why are ultrasound machines expensive
:Why is stealing wrong
:Why is YKK on all zippers
:Why is HTTPS crossed out in red
:Why is there a line through HTTPS
:Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook
:Why is HTTPS important
:Why are there weeks
:Why do I feel dizzy
:Why are dogs afraid of fireworks
:Why is there no king in England

:[We see Cueball from the torso up, with arms outstretched.]
:Cueball: Why aren't my arms growing

:[Megan stands with a grey ghost on either side of her.]
:Megan: Why are there ghosts

:[Beret Guy stands, looking at a squirrel.]
:Beret Guy: Why are there squirrels

:[Cueball stands.]
:Cueball: Why is sex so important.

:[We see Ponytail from the torso up.]
:Ponytail: Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

1256: Questions

2014-12-25T02:19:53Z

4jonah: /* Section Spider Six */

{{comic
| number = 1256
| date = August 26, 2013
| title = Questions
| image = questions.png
| titletext = To whoever typed 'why is arwen dying': GOOD. FUCKING. QUESTION.
}}
A larger version of the picture can be found [http://xkcd.com/1256/large/ here]
.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many questions unanswered.}}
{{w|Google}}, a rather popular internet search engine, has a feature known as [https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230?hl=en autocomplete] that guesses at search queries before they are fully typed out. These guesses are generally made based on popular searches by other people. From time to time, a particularly strange or hilarious one may be found, as is evidenced in this comic.

The largest pictured questions are: "Why are there slaves in the bible" and "Why are there ants in my laptop".

All of the questions in the comic are "why" questions, so many of them are predicated on false assumptions, such as "Why are there pyramids on the moon".

Regarding the title text: in the Peter Jackson films of {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy}}, Arwen becomes sickly for unspecified reasons as the plot advances, apparently giving Aragorn a more personal reason to fight. The only explanation given is by Elrond, who says "As Sauron's power grows, her [Arwen's] strength wanes." This subplot is entirely absent from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings|original novels}}.

From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/faq#.2.1.21 IMDB]: <blockquote>
Arwen, like her father (and brothers) is considered to be a Half-Elf, the result of a union between an Elf and a mortal human. The Half-Elven of Middle-earth get a choice, to remain immortal and return to the West (Valinor) or to become mortal and to die as humans do. Elrond chose to remain an Elf. Arwen (like her uncle Elros) chooses to become mortal in order to wed and remain with Aragorn. Elrond senses this; this is what he means when he says that Arwen is dying. It is the same as in The Last Unicorn, when the unicorn is given the form of a human woman and can feel that she is no longer immortal ("I can feel this body dying all around me"). According to Tolkien, though, after Aragorn dies in the year 120 (Fourth Age), Arwen returns to Lórien, where she dies by choice the following winter. </blockquote>

==Selected answers==
The tables below have been created so as to split the comic into almost entirely arbitrary blocks, which have then been identified with similarly arbitrary numbers. As a general rule, section numbers work top to bottom, then right to left.
===Illustrated Panels===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why aren't my arms growing?||Arms stop growing because longer arms would not be a very useful way to spend resources, and therefore your DNA tells your body not to grow your arms any more.
|-
|Why are there ghosts?||There is no hard evidence of ghosts.
|-
|Why are there squirrels?||Squirrels exist because they fit their biological niche better than any other species.
|-
|Why is sex so important?||Sex is important because it is the primary method of reproduction in many different species.
|-
| Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter? || In the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe, Muggle technology (human inventions) are often looked down on by wizards - the majority of half-blooded wizards like Harry won't touch one, let alone a wizard extremist like {{w|Voldemort}}. Not only does any Muggle device more complex than a wristwatch interfere with magical artifacts, but wands are usually more versatile than most guns; a revolver can't shoot lightning or summon items or teleport its user. Finally, while Harry himself may or may not consider using firearms due to his Muggle upbringing, ''Harry Potter'' is a children's book (which usually doesn't include guns) set in the United Kingdom (which has stricter gun laws than, say, the United States).
|-
|-
|}

===Section One===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do whales jump? || To the whale, it's like going into outer space!
|-
|Why are witches green? || See {{w|Wizard of Oz}}.
|-
|Why are there mirrors above beds?|| Often, these are used by couples to view themselves during coitus.
|-
|Why do I say Uh?||See ''[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/06/the_odd_body_language_fillers/ Why do we say 'um', 'er', or 'ah' when we hesitate in speaking?]''.
|-
| Why is sea salt better? || The question likely refers to the difference between common {{w|Fortified table salt}} and usually more expensive sea salt. While the major part of both of these is sodium chloride (NaCl) the idea behind the claim is the different composition mostly in regards to trace elements of sea salt compared to "normal" salt. Table salt's composition is often influenced by a country's health department and thus addition of trace elements is regulated. While these regulations are based on scientific studies there remain to be debates concerning the additions, such as iodine.
|-
| Why are there trees in the middle of fields? || Many images of fields contain singular trees in the middle of them. While there exist such trees it is likely an artistic choice to give a more pleasing or aesthetically satisfying image compared to just a field. In modern agriculture those would in fact be quite troublesome since they are a hindrance to large machines used and a new tree would be unlikely to grow in a constantly worked field.
|-
| Why is there not a Pokémon MMO? || {{w|Pokémon}} is a popular franchise, spanning game consoles, anime series, a trading card game, and many other things. Among fans, it is a frequent topic of discussion why a Pokémon {{w|massively multiplayer online game}} has not been officially announced by the series' developers {{w|Game Freak}}, as they often [http://www.dorkly.com/comic/52546/be-careful-what-you-wish-for predict] that such a game would be extremely popular, and bring in massive revenue for the company. However, if Game Freak were to develop a Pokémon MMO the MMOs would be strong competition against the console games and therefore reducing the Pokémon demographic significantly.
|-
|Why is there laughing in TV shows? || Sitcoms were once filmed with an audience, so the actors could respond to their reactions. That's the historical reason why there were laughs in TV shows. The tradition continues, with the difference that now the laughter mostly comes from recorded tapes. See {{w|Laugh track}}.
|-
|Why are there doors on the freeway?|| Highway/freeway {{w|noise barrier|noise barriers}} sometimes have doors in them to allow workers access to both sides of the barrier.
|-
|Why are there so many svchost.exe running?||See {{w|svchost.exe}}.
|-
| Why aren't there any countries in Antarctica? || {{w|Antarctica}} is the southern most continent and is by large covered in ice and in general pretty cold. While it is a regular target of tourists and researchers it also lacks native human inhabitants. At the moment, the territorial claims concerning Antarctica are mostly handled via the {{w|Antarctic Treaty System}}. In short there are a few countries who claim certain parts of the continent as their own in theory but so far it is considered neutral territory and most maps don't concern themselves with displaying the (in some regards disputed) territorial claims because they do not matter at this point in time. If there are ever any worthwhile resources discovered, this might change.
|-
|Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft?|| To add atmosphere and to give players hints when there is a dark cave nearby. See [http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Ambience Minecraft Wiki].
|-
|Why is there kicking in my stomach?||See ''[http://www.webmd.com/baby/fetal-movement-feeling-baby-kick Feeling Your Baby Kick]''. Here, ''stomach'' means ''abdomen''.
|-
|Why are there two slashes after http?||See ''[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220286/Sir-Tim-Berners-Lee-admits-forward-slashes-web-address-mistake.html Sir Tim Berners-Lee admits the forward slashes in every web address 'were a mistake']''.
|-
|Why are there celebrities?||There are certain people who are more respected and well-known than other people, whether it be because of their acting career, major advancements to science, or a sex tape.
|-
|Why do snakes exist?|| The question is rather general and likely based on a widespread dislike for the reptilians. Be it due to their appearance, their spread, or the danger a few snakes pose to humans (often due to being venomous) many people have a dislike for snakes and would prefer them to not exist (similar to spiders).
In regards to "why do snakes exist on earth?": Because evolution. Snakes fill a gap in the ecosystem as predators and hunt different species, including vermin. Snakes are in that regard similar to many other predatory animals. The question on why snakes developed with their distinct streamlined shape is still debated but {{w|snakes|likely it either provided an advantage when burrowing or swimming}}.
|-
|Why do oysters have pearls?||{{w|Creation of a pearl|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism against a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside the shell, or an attack from outside, injuring the mantle tissue. The mollusk creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritation. Pearls are commonly viewed by scientists as a by-product of an adaptive immune system-like function.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are ducks called ducks?||See {{w|Duck#Etymology}}. {{W|wikt:duck|According to Wiktionary}}, the noun ''duck'' can be traced back to the {{w|Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic}} word {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/dūkaną|''dūkaną''}} ("to dive, bend down"), and, in turn, the {{w|Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European}} {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/dʰewb-|''dʰewb-''}} ("deep, hollow"), which is the origin of the verb ''to duck''. The link between the noun and the verb comes from ducks' tendency to dive under water for short periods of time.
|-
|Why do they call it the clap?||An old folk remedy for {{w|gonorrhea}} was to clap on the sides of the penis.
|-
|Why are Kyle and Cartman friends?|| The question relates to the TV show {{w|South Park}}. Both are children living in the small titular town in Colorado. Cartman is widely accepted to a be very bad person, one of his many character flaws being his antisemitism. Kyle on the other hand is a Jew. However, both, along with two other kids, Stan and Kenny, are the core focus of the show (or used to be) and to some extent are considered to be friends. While there are episodes which show Cartman being not entirely a horrible person and him holding Kyle in a position of at least a worthy adversary, most of the time the question should be "Why is anyone friends with Cartman?" However, they most likely remain "friends" because they are in the same class at school and are therefore "forced" to be around one another.
|-
|Why is there an arrow on Aang's head?||{{w|Avatar: The Last Airbender#Characters|Aang}} is the main character of the TV series {{w|Avatar the last Airbender|Avatar - The last Airbender}} and features as part of a large body spanning tattoo an arrow on his head. These tattoos are made to replicate the markings of one of the shows fictional animals, the air bison which are regarded as the original air benders. They are given to human air benders once they attain the status of masters. Because Aang acquired this status very early in life he was already tattooed accordingly.
|-
|Why are text messages blue?||This likely refers to imessage chat being blue. These messages are blue when sending a message to another apple device.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on clothes?||Because some people buy them. Mustaches, especially handlebar-style mustaches, were a popular fad at the time of this comic.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on cars?||Fuzzy pink mustaches are used to designate cars in the {{w|Lyft}} service.
|-
|Why are there mustaches everywhere?||See {{w|Movember}}
|-
|Why are there so many birds in Ohio?||There are an estimated [http://oh.audubon.org/bsc/SOTB.html 400 bird species] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Ohio Ohio], but there are [http://www.jstor.org/discover/2419997sid=21104910103541&uid=4&uid=3739776&uid=2&uid=3739256 2.74 nesting pairs per acre].
|-
|Why is there so much rain in Ohio?|| {{w|lake_effect|Lake-effect}} rain develops in the same manner as lake-effect snow.
|-
|Why is Ohio weather so weird?||See {{w|Lake-effect snow}}.
|-
|}

===Section Two===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there male and female bikes? || {{w|bicycle|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Historically, women's bicycle frames had a top tube that connected in the middle of the seat tube instead of the top, resulting in a lower {{w|Frame geometry|standover height}} at the expense of compromised structural integrity, since this places a strong bending load in the seat tube, and bicycle frame members are typically weak in bending. This design, referred to as a '''''{{w|step-through frame}}''''' or as an ''open frame'', allows the rider to mount and dismount in a dignified way while wearing a skirt or dress.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are there bridesmaids?||See {{w|Bridesmaid#Origin and history}}.
|-
|Why do dying people reach up?|| In many works of fiction dying people are regarded with an outstretched arm, grasping for unseen objects towards the sky. In all likelihood this originates in the idea of heaven as the place where (good) people go after death. People "reach for the light" which is seen when dying according to similar beliefs or possibly for already dead relatives or other associated people waiting for them. An alternative hypothesis is that they want to hug/touch their loved ones one last time.
|-
|Why aren't there varicose arteries?||Blood moves through veins due to irregular pressure from skeletal muscles combined with valves to control direction. In varicose veins these valves malfunction affecting blood flow. In arteries blood flow is produced directly from pressure caused by the heart.
|-
|Why are old Klingons different?|| {{w|Klingon Redesign|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>For {{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}} (1979), the Klingons were retconned and their appearance and behavior radically changed. To give the aliens a more sophisticated and threatening demeanor, the Klingons were depicted with ridged foreheads, snaggled and prominent teeth, and a defined language and alphabet. Lee Cole, a production designer, used red gels and primitive shapes in the design of Klingon consoles and ship interiors, which took on a dark and moody atmosphere. The alphabet was designed as angular, with sharp edges harkening to the Klingon's militaristic focus.[5] Costume designer Robert Fletcher created new uniforms for the Klingons, reminiscent of feudal Japanese armor.</blockquote>
|-
|Why is programming so hard?||Programming is the art of writing instructions for a computer to do. Since the computer has a limited set of instructions for you to use it involves a new way of thinking for many. It is also hard because the computer itself is not smart or adaptable to unexpected problems. For instance when a human is told to sort books in a shelf, he or she can do that despite there might be things in the way (he or she will just move it to the side). A computer generally just crash if it doesn't have instructions on how to deal with the unexcepted problem.
|-
|Why is there a 0 Ohm resistor?|| A resistor is usually designed to create a certain resistance, measured in {{w|Ohm}} in an electronic device. A 0 Ohm resistor seems pointless as it would only provide the same resistance as a normal cable. However, Wikipedia's {{w|Zero-ohm link}} article gives sufficient explanation.
|-
|Why do Americans hate soccer? || Soccer, or football in British English, is rather unpopular in the USA compared to most other regions of the world. Finding a particular reason behind the (dis)like for certain sports, apart from cultural spread, is difficult. One possible explanation is soccer's tendency to have far fewer points scored in an average game and a higher likelihood of draws compared to such things as American Football, basketball or baseball, which are far more popular. In how far this is a legitimate argument for regarding soccer as "less interesting" is up to debate.
|-
|Why do rhymes sound good?||The brain enjoys repetition especially in music.
|-
|Why do trees die?||Some common reasons include lack of water, lack of nitrogen in the soil and being chopped down.
|-
|Why is there no sound on CNN?||Some stations broadcast a {{w|second audio program}}, an alternative sound track that your TV can be configured to use instead of the primary program. This is intended to be used for broadcasting in an alternate language, or for {{w|Descriptive Video Service}} to make a program accessible to the visually impaired. Many programs that don't actually use SAP will still broadcast an SAP that is identical to the primary program; however, this is not required. If your TV is configured to use SAP and a particular channel isn't broadcasting SAP at that time, there won't be any sound.
|-
|Why aren't Pokémon real?||Pokémon are fantasised creatures that were designed to produce an interesting battle mechanic in a game. Some of the pokémons abilities would be impossible on earth as we know it. For instance, Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the sun<ref name="Bulbapedia Magcargo"> [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magcargo#Trivia|Magcargo]]</ref>.
|-
|Why aren't bullets sharp?||See {{w|Terminal ballistics}}.
|-
|Why do dreams seem so real?|| Most dreams occur during a stage known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement). During REM, your brain is highly active and its wave pattern is the same as the wave patterns in a person who is awake. It should be noted that dreams can occur during other stages of sleep but most dreams that are vivid occur during the REM stage.
|-
|}

===Section Three===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do testicles move?|| The scrotum shrinks and expands to account for temperature changes.
|-
| Why are there psychics?|| Psychics are humans who supposedly have supernatural abilities to know things. A better question would be to ask why do people suppose there are psychics.
|-
| Why are hats so expensive?|| Hats can be expensive depending on the quality of material, size, location, and demand. A probable answer is that hats are simply difficult to make, causing high prices.
|-
| Why is there caffeine in my shampoo?|| Because the producers want you to believe that caffeine penetrates the hair roots and thereby somehow protects it from negative testosterone impacts and from premature hair loss.
|-
| Why do your boobs hurt?|| The most probable reason is that your bra doesn't fit correctly. It could also be a hormone imbalance or awkwardly shaped breasts.
|}

===Section Four===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why aren't economists rich? || Economists study the economy. In order to become rich, one has to take part in the economy by trading or producing goods or services.
|-
| Why do Americans call it soccer? || {{w|Association Football}} is called Soccer in the USA because {{w|American Football}} is the more popular version there.
|-
| Why are my ears ringing? || {{w|Tinnitus}}, or ringing of the ears, can result from stress, foreign objects in the ear, hearing damage, wax build up, or any other number of causes.
|-
| Why are there so many Avengers? ||The number of Avengers has [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avengers_members varied greatly] over the years and decades, each time with it's own justification for why they need to work together, but the simplest answer is money. Cross-branding and cross-merchandising is successful to the brand and brings in new readers, plus creates a new franchise to profit from.
|-
|Why are the Avengers fighting the X Men || {{w|Avengers vs. X-Men}} was a 2012 Marvel crossover event that, like many other recent comic book events, had heroes fight other heroes. In this case, the {{w|Avengers (comics)|Avengers}} and the {{w|X-Men}} fought over the {{w|Phoenix Force (comics)|Phoenix Force}}, a godlike power that often possesses {{w|Jean Grey}} or her descendants (in this case, her alternate universe daughter Hope Summers). The Avengers believed the Phoenix Force is too powerful for humanity to control and wanted to contain it, while the X-Men believed the Phoenix was the messiah for mutants and could fix all of the Earth's problems.
|-
|Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers || Wolverine ''has'' been an Avenger, in some circumstances. e.g. in the {{w|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes}} cartoon series, the episode ''New Avengers'' had Wolverine (along with Spiderman, War Machine, The Thing and Luke Cage and Iron Fist) substitute while the 'original' Avengers were unavailable to deal with the current crisis (which of course included the fate of the 'proper' Avengers). However, in general his anti-authority personality makes him a difficult team-member to field, and he has frequently disassociated himself even from the X-Men. But, in Avengers vs. X-Men (see above) Wolverine ''sided'' with The Avengers, and more modern treatments have even included the character in about as much a permanent a membership of the group as Logan is ever likely to have.

But if the question is about why Wolverine didn't appear in {{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|''The Avengers''}}, the answer is that ''The Avengers'' is being produced by Marvel/Disney, while Fox still has the rights to the X-Men and all Marvel mutants in general. Unless there is studio agreement, the two properties cannot cross, except through complicated machinations. For example, there are plans to bring Avengers mainstays Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch to both the ''Avengers'' and ''X-Men'' franchises, but only the Fox films have the right to call them the children of Magneto, and Marvel/Disney cannot even identify them on-screen as "mutants".
|}

===Section Five===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why are there ants in my laptop? || Ants usually come in your laptop when there are little crumbs of food. It is advised to get screen protectors.
|-
| Why is Earth tilted? || The Earth is not tilted. Axial tilt is just a result of conservation of momentum when the Earth was formed, because not everything orbits in the same way. It is pure happenstance that Earth's axis is not normal to its plane of orbit.
|-
| Why is space black? || What we call black is the absence of light. Space is mostly empty. Whe we look at a part of space where there is nothing that can reflect the stars' light, it consequently appears black to us.
|-
| Why is outer space so cold? || Space is not cold. There is no matter in space. However, most of space has very little radiation hitting it, so a person won't recieve any energy, but will still radiate some away, resulting in a net loss of energy, colloquially "heat."
|-
| Why are there pyramids on the moon? || There are no pyramids on the moon.
|-
| Why is NASA shutting down? ||NASA isn't shutting down. This question might have something to do with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_2013 Government Shutdown of 2013] or perhaps due to the then-current shuttle program ending, but that is not the entirety of NASA.
|}

===Section <strike>Spider</strike> Six===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there tiny spiders in my house?
|rowspan="6"|During autumn in particular male spiders reaching maturing will set off to find a mate. By chance they may end up in your house. When encountering spiders in large numbers, it is more likely that they are young from the same female spider. Females lay {{w|Spider#Reproduction_and_life_cycle|up to 3,000}} eggs at a time.
|-
| Why do spiders come inside?
|-
| Why are there huge spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there lots of spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there spiders in my room?
|-
| Why are there so many spiders in my room?
|-
| Why do spider bites itch? ||This mostly happens as a immune response to [http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/why-do-mosquito-bites-itch histamines] under the skin which are injected through saliva.
|-
| Why is dying so scary? ||Part of human nature is the fear of the unknown, and death is the ultimate unknown because it is not knowable until it's experienced, and there is nobody to report what the result was. This leaves it open to speculation, and many major religions are based on preparing ones soul for death. Also, dying would leave loved ones families with the responsibility of taking care of their remains and finances. And finally, most people don't want to die, living for as long as possible, possibly because the unknown is too unbearable to cope with. Still though several people are not afraid of death and dying, and recognize life is short and to cherish each moment while we can. Death is inevitable, so we should not fear it.
|-
| Why is there no GPS in laptops? ||It is not impossible for laptops to have a GPS, and some do. But there are [http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/50907/are-there-gps-tracker-for-laptops design difficulties] that have to be overcome including battery draining, room within the crowded device to place a receiver, WiFi can give a location just as well, and the product casing could interfere with its ability to functional normally and receive the signals necessary to operate as intended.
|-
| Why do knees click? ||
|-
| Why aren't there E grades? ||E grades [http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/02/e-f-grading-scale/ actually exist] in some districts, but they are rare. In their long and bizarre history, E was originally used where F is today (E was the lowest grade), but in those systems, students often received E's for an "Excellent" grade, creating much confusion. F was used in place instead and E was eliminated from a standard grading scale.
|-
| Why is isolation bad? ||Isolation is when a person deliberately secludes themselves away from others, often far-removed from society. This can happen in locations as small as a city apartment and as large as the open woods. People evolved as social animals and it is generally held that those who isolate themselves suffer from depression or other forms of psychological imbalance. Of course society can trigger many of these imbalances causing an individual to isolate themselves. Isolation is often seen as therapeutic so people can spend time with themselves constructively, often finding peace within themselves and through mediation. Monks and hermits generally live in solitude as well. Many people view a decision to be isolated as noble, and others as healthy. While general interaction is largely healthy, in the crowded modern world, isolation is neither good or bad; it depends on the person and what that isolation does to them.
|-
| Why do boys like me? ||Attraction comes in many forms: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, among others. Many people will lie about what they like about you to get something else (money, sex, etc), but most are genuine. It is not possible to assert definitively why one person may like another person, and that is something that needs to be discussed openly and honestly with them and nobody else.
|-
| Why don't boys like me? ||Similar to the answer above about what makes one desirable to another, there are an equal number of factors that make one unappealing. This can include everything from physical appearance to how one treats others. If a person is rude and unfriendly, most people find that not-conducive to healthy relationship and avoid the person who is asking. Not being liked by someone you like however does not mean you're wrong or are a bad person and in most cases has to do with the person you are asking about.
|-
| Why is there always a Java update? ||[https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/whatis_java.xml Java] is a software that runs on most computers and mobile devices that is crucial to its security and stability. The reason why it always updates is because it needs to stay current with the ever-upgrading fleet of browsers, operating systems and software that supports Java. Additionally Java updates itself so each version can run optimally. Software coding and debugging is a never-ending process towards perfectly stable releases.
|-
| Why are there red dots on my thighs? ||
|-
| Why is lying good? ||Lying and other forms of dishonesty is typically seen as bad because it lowers one's credibility and makes them less likely to be trusted in the future. It is almost always advantageous to tell the truth, as lies have a way of escalating as you need to keep expanding on the lie to cover your tracks. There are instances however where lying may be used in more noble circumstances. For example, if a friend asks your opinion on something they have made (such as a poem or painting) that you do not like, it is okay to tell them you like it because protecting their feelings and your relationship is more important than how you feel. Often military personnel are trained to keep national security secrets at all costs and will lie about what they know to save themselves and the country.
|}

===Section Seven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there slaves in the bible? ||Slavery was viewed differently in the early years of human civilization before the contemporary moral and ethical conversations began centuries later. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery bible justified slavery] for a number of reasons, notably to pay off some sort of debt. Slaves were seen as property and their work provided value to the slave owner. Similarly slave owners rationalized their ownership through scripture, pointing out that it was in the Bible and therefore okay with God.
|-
| Why do twins have different fingerprints? || Fingerprints are not only from the DNA, but from the conditions in the womb which differ from child to child.
|-
| Why are Americans afraid of dragons? ||This question was the title of a [http://blogs.sfu.ca/courses/spring2012/engl387/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Why-are-Americans-Afraid-of-Dragons.docx 1974 essay] by Ursula K. LeGeuin in which she makes a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics semiotic] analysis of dragon mythology. She argues that our belief in dragons (and those outside of America as well) stems from childhood, much like other ferocious fictional creatures such as goblins and hobbits, but many hold onto these fears as a way of avoiding reality. In her closing argument, she writes, "They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life they have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom."
|-
| Why is HTTPS crossed out in red? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a line through HTTPS? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook? || Facebook has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is HTTPS important? || For security reasons, as a site with HTTPS has encrypted traffic.
|}

===Section Eight===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there swarms of gnats? ||
|-
| Why is there phlegm? ||[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegm#Phlegm Phlegm] is a thick, viscous fluid produced by the mucus membranes as a way to clear the airway and aids in the release of bacteria, disease and debris in those passages.
|-
| Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN || From a Minnesota Paper, [http://www.startribune.com/local/138902104.html the Star Tribune], "Laws prevent the city from poisoning the crows". "Duffy [Steve Duffy, a co-owner of U.S. Bird Abatement Services, which has contracted with Rochester to get rid of the crows] isn't sure why Rochester has such a bad crow problem; probably a confluence of many bird-friendly conditions that has also made it a magnet for geese. He's seen worse cases, but called Rochester's situation 'hideous.'" And best of all, "The city has twice this winter hired experts to chase them off. They tried lasers and bullhorns — hey, get out of here, you crows — and even employed raptors to pick them off, one by one. That worked, for awhile." Unfortunately, they mean a {{w|bird of prey}}, not a {{w|velociraptor}}.
|-
| Why is Psychic weak to Bug || In Pokémon, Pokémon of the psychic type like Mr. Mime are weak to three types of attacks: Ghost, Dark, and Bug. The general theory is that Psychic Pokémon, relying heavily on their thoughts for attacks, are weak to fears, which ghosts, darkness, and bugs can be classified as.
|-
| Why do children get cancer? ||[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer Cancer] is an aggressive and often fatal disease that has the potential to affect all humans as well as other organisms. There are multiple types of cancer, each with their own epidemiology, but children are not immune to succumbing to the horrific affects of the disease. Children are human beings and are subject to the same illnesses adults have, irregardless of age, or their innocence. There is no divine or supernatural explanation for this. Simply put, life is a battle for all humans regardless of how small they are.
|-
| Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus? || {{w|Poseidon}} was the patron deity of the city of {{w|Troy}}, which after a 10 years siege by the Greeks fell due to {{w|Odysseus}}' list of the {{w|Trojan_Horse|Trojan horse}}. As the Greeks were returning home after the Trojan War, Oddyseus' ship accidentally landed on the island home of the cyclops Polyphemus, who imprisoned the crew and ate many of them. In order to escape, Odysseus blinded the cyclops. Poseidon, Polyphemus' father, was extremely angered by his son being blinded, so he cursed Odysseus' ship to prevent him from reaching his home in {{W|Ithaca}}. The adventures which Odysseus encountered during his quest for reaching Ithaca are the main theme of {{w|Homer|Homer's}} {{w|Odyssey}} The Odyssey also says that before sailing, the crew forgot to offer a sacrifice as was ordained.
|-
| Why is there ice in space? ||
|}

===Section <strike>Owl</strike> Nine===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there an owl in my back yard? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl outside my window? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl on the dollar bill? ||
|-
| Why do owls attack people? ||
|-
| Why are AK47s so expensive? ||
|-
| Why are there helicopters circling my house? ||This question is likely a joke because it is so incongruous to the others in this section. The joke is that people would be Gooogling about owls attacking people and assault rifle prices, which could, ostensibly alert authorities to come to your house to arrest you. If this is not the case, then the helicopter could be there for myriad reasons.
|}

===Section Ten===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there gods? ||All gods and goddesses man made and are part of ancient and fictional mythology and folklore that are used to give spiritual guidance and explanations for phenomenons that were yet unexplained by natural processes. Lightning for example was thought to be produced by Zeus, King of all Greek Gods.
|-
|Why are there two Spocks? || This is probably a reference to the {{w|Star_Trek_(film)|2009 Star Trek movie}} in which the franchise was given a {{w|Reboot_(fiction)|continuity reboot}}. The modified setting is explained in-universe by time travel, with both the villain Nero and the original-timeline Spock being brought back from the 24th century to the 23rd, creating a timeline in which both older Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) and the younger Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) coexist.

Another possibility is that the question refers to the episode {{w|Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)|"Mirror, Mirror"}}, which mostly takes place in an alternate universe populated by ruthless versions of most of the characters (including Spock).
|-
| Why is Mt Vesuvius there? ||
|-
| Why do they say T minus? ||
|-
| Why are there obelisks? ||
|-
| Why are wrestlers always wet? ||
|-
| Why are oceans becoming more acidic? ||
|-
| Why is Arwen dying? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail laying eggs? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail eggs hatching? ||
|-
|Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America? || ''Further information: {{w|United States military deployments}}''This is a very interesting question, albeit one likely based on a regional misunderstanding. Presumably, this question is asked by Americans who assume that the existence of {{w|Category:Military facilities of the United States by country|U.S. military bases abroad}} is a general trend among countries, as opposed to being the rarity that it is. In fact, {{w|List of countries with overseas military bases|only a handful of other countries}} have military bases outside of their borders, and the three—{{w|France}}, the {{w|United Kingdom}}, and {{w|Russia}}—that have more than one or two are all countries that, like the United States, {{w|Allies of World War II|were on the winning side of World War II}}, have {{w|List of countries by military expenditures|massive military expenditures}}, and have {{w|United Nations Security Council veto power|UN Security Council vetoes}}. In other words, only the most militarily elite countries have bases overseas. The U.S. is unique, however, in that it has far more overseas bases than any other country (and, pretty much, far more of anything else than any other country, when it comes to the military), and in that {{w|List of United States military bases|it has bases in several other highly-industrialized nations}}, including {{w|List of United States Army installations in South Korea|South Korea}} and the United Kingdom, and, most notably, the World War II {{w|Axis powers}}: {{w|List of United States Army installations in Germany|Germany}}, {{w|United States Forces Japan|Japan}}, and {{w|List of United States Army installations in Italy|Italy}}. France, Russia, and the U.K.'s bases, on the other hand, are almost all within areas that they previously controlled.These bases can be controversial in some countries, while in others they are a major source of economic and political stability. The U.S. traditionally justifies their presence as a necessary and crucial element in its efforts to promote peace domestically and worldwide. Despite their major role in {{w|U.S. foreign policy}}, and in the general political structure of the globe, the American public often largely ignores them, and they rarely become a major political issue (apart from an occasional mention by {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian presidential candidates}}).So, essentially, the absence of foreign military bases within the U.S. is primarily because there aren't really any other countries in a position to place bases there. Ironically, although no battles in the traditional sense have been fought within the U.S. since the {{w|U.S. Civil War}} and the U.S. mainland has seen {{w|Mainland invasion of the United States|almost no military action}}, foreign air force bases might have been useful on September 11, 2001. (The {{w|attack on Pearl Harbor}} in 1941 was 18 years before Hawaii became a U.S. state.)There are, however, foreign troops stationed at some continental US military bases. For example RAF (British Royal Air Force) 39 Sqn and 361 Sqn at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada flying Reaper and Predator drones. But this are not foreign military bases, they are just guests.
|}

===Section Eleven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are my boobs itchy? ||
|-
| Why are cigarettes legal? ||Despite the obvious detrimental affects nicotine has on health, like caffeine and alcohol, it is easy to regulate. Substances like marijuana and other drugs are mainly illegal because the government and regulatory agencies have no control over their production and distribution and therefore cannot profit from it. Nicotine however, which is the key ingredient in tobacco can be regulated and taxed and is.
|-
| Why are there ducks in my pool? ||
|-
| Why is Jesus white? ||This is an ethnocentric viewpoint that varies throughout cultures. In Africian cultures he is portrayed as black. In short, whatever culture he is introduced to, those inhabitants will have him fit their own image.
|-
| Why is there liquid in my ear? ||
|-
| Why do Q tips feel good? ||The inner ear contains [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erectile_tissue erectile tissue] (as does your inner nose which is shy sneezing feels good) so you are massing tissue which gets aroused upon stimulation.
|-
| Why do good people die? ||Everybody dies, but loved ones and ones who were known to make memorable or valuable contributions are mourned and revered more than a person who has left much pain to others as their legacy; we remember the good ones and that's why it hurts more.
|-
| Why are ultrasounds important? ||
|-
| Why are ultrasound machines expensive? ||
|-
| Why is stealing wrong? ||Stealing is theft and it is illegal. Taking something that is not yours without permission or payment hurts the livelihood of other individuals as well as damages their trust in others.
|}

===Vertical Questions===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there hell if god forgives? ||There is not a single answer to this question because every person has their own particular unique rationale and opinion, which should indicate that the notion of divine forgiveness and divine punishment are arbitrary and made-up. The answer varies based on the religion and that religion's sect mixed with personal interpretations of that religions scripture and how a person decides to follow it. However the idea of what Hell will be like also varies. There is no one answer to this question, but the easiest explanation is that the individual did not pray hard enough, correctly, was not part of the right religion, and their forgiveness was contingent on something that the person either did not do or know to do (or say or think)
|-
| Why do iguanas die? ||All living things die, but iguanas may suffer from [http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/kidneyfailure.html kidney failure].
|-
| Why is GPS free? || GPS was originally developed by the U.S. military for its own use, not for commercial purposes. Once the satellites were launched and service began, anyone could receive the signals. Because it is a one-way transmission, there is no incremental cost to provide service to more users, and no practical way to prevent use without payment.
|-
| Why are trees tall? ||Tall is a relative term, and Redwoods are famous for their height - among the tallest in the world. The reason for this is, in part [http://www.nps.gov/redw/faqs.htm climate, fog, rain, good soil, few predators, among others].
|-
|Why are there female Mr. Mimes? || {{w|Mr. Mime}} is a Pokémon introduced in the first generation of the games, and despite its name, it can be either of a male or female gender. As the Pokémon was introduced before the concept of [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender gender in Pokémon games], it is likely that the people in charge of translating its Japanese name (Barrierd) did not take this into account during the process.
|-
| Why is there lava? ||Lava is simply magma (molten rock) which has been ejected from volcanoes. Once it is flowing on land, it is called lava. Magma is heated by the earth's core to create a liquid surface under earth's crust that the land floats on. Sometimes it has to come out through faults and fissures (and volcanoes).
|-
| Why is YKK on a zippers? || YKK Group is the name of a large group of Japanese manufacturing companies, which among other things manufacture a lot of zippers.
|-
| Why is life so boring? ||It is up to an individual to find meaning and interest in life. Monotony, predictability and lack of physical and intellectual stimulation would lead to a feeling of boredom.
|-
| Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts? ||Ghosts are a supernatural phenomenon that have not been empirically proven to exist. Those who believe in ghosts implicitly believe in a soul (of which a ghost is a materialization of), and it is a commonly held belief by religious institutions and ghost-hunters that animals do not have souls and thus dinosaurs would not have any either.
|-
|Why is there no king in England? || ''Note: For simplicity's sake, "England" here is being read as "United Kingdom." The various name changes, mergers, and splits of kingdoms are complicated.''The basis for this question is that for the past several hundred years, there has almost always been a queen in England, the sole exceptions being when the king has not had a wife. However, there is a distinction between being the queen of England (that is to say, {{w|List of British monarchs|a monarch}}) and being the {{w|queen consort|queen ''consort''}} of England: The former refers to a woman who {{w|Succession to the British throne|succeeded to the throne}} in her own right, becoming sovereign, while the latter refers to the wife of the king. Both roles, though, are commonly referred to as "Queen of England," creating the impression that there is always such a person. The logical question, therefore, is why {{w|Elizabeth II}}'s husband, {{w|Prince Philip|Philip}}, is not considered the king of England. The answer lies in Britain's system of {{w|male-preference cognatic primogeniture}}, which causes the monarch of England to usually be a man, not a woman. As a result of this, British laws were generally built around the presumption that the monarch would be a man, and that said man would be married to a woman, [[223: Valentine's Day|comic 223]] be damned. Since the creation of the modern British throne in 1707, only two women have reigned as queen in their own right; it just so happens that these two women have been two of the most famous and longest-reigning monarchs in world history, {{w|Queen Victoria}} and Queen Elizabeth II. This fact may add to people's enhanced perception of the lack of a British king. Victoria and Elizabeth's respective consorts, {{w|Albert, Prince Consort|Albert}} and Philip, have been styled as princes—Albert as {{w|Prince Consort}} and Philip as "{{w|British prince|Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}}." Both were explicitly granted their titles by their wives, though Albert was already a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Philip had previously been a prince of Denmark and Greece, but had renounced both titles before marrying Elizabeth.The title {{w|king consort}} also exists, but has never been used in the United Kingdom.Notably, should {{w|Prince Charles}} succeed to his mother's throne, it has been announced that his wife, {{w|Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Camilla}}, will be styled as {{w|princess consort}}, ''not'' as queen consort, just as she has declined the title {{w|Princess of Wales}}, which is strongly associated with Charles's first wife, {{w|Princess Diana|Diana}}. Assuming that Charles succeeds, this means that Britain will not have anyone referred to as "queen," after decades of not having anyone referred to as "king."
|-
| Why do I feel dizzy? ||Balance is achieved from fluids in the inner-ear, but [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizziness#Epidemiology dizziness] can have nearly a dozen causes.]
|-
| Why are dogs afraid of fireworks? ||Loud noises can trigger their flight or fight responses when they are [http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/hyperdog/How-to-Keep-Your-Dog-Safe-and-Calm-During-Fireworks nervous].
|-
| Why are there weeks? || Weeks were originally important for religious reasons, primarily the requirement to observe a sabbath (day of rest) every seventh day. Today it is used to evenly divide months into equal pieces, much like the months divide a year. Similarly, hours and minutes divide a day.
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
:[This strip is a rectangular word cloud, titled 'Questions found in Google autocomplete'. Embedded in the cloud are 5 single panels, with illustrated questions. These are described at the end. Questions are given in roughly columnar order. None of the questions have question marks.]

:Questions found in Google Autocomplete

:Why do whales jump
:Why are witches green
:Why are there mirrors above beds
:Why do I say uh
:Why is sea salt better
:Why are there trees in the middle of fields
:Why is there not a Pokemon MMO
:Why is there laughing in TV shows
:Why are there doors on the freeway
:Why are there so many svchost.exe running
:Why aren't there any countries in antarctica
:Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft
:Why is there kicking in my stomach
:Why are there two slashes after HTTP
:Why are there celebrities
:Why do snakes exist
:Why do oysters have pearls
:Why are ducks called ducks
:Why do they call it the clap
:Why are Kyle and Cartman friends
:Why is there an arraow on Aang's head
:Why are text messages blue
:Why are there mustaches on clothes
:Why are there mustaches on cars
:Why are there mustaches everywhere
:Why are there so many birds in Ohio
:Why is there so much rain in Ohio
:Why is Ohio weather so weird
:Why are there male and female bikes
:Why are there bridesmaids
:Why do dying people reach up
:Why aren't there varicose arteries
:Why are old Klingons different
:Why is programming so hard
:Why is there a 0 ohm resistor
:Why do Americans hate soccer
:Why do rhymes sound good
:Why do trees die
:Why is there no sound on CNN
:Why aren't Pokemon real
:Why aren't bullets sharp
:Why do dreams seem so real
:Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts
:Why do iguanas die
:Why do testicles move
:Why are there psychics
:Why are hats so expensive
:Why is there caffeine in my shampoo
:Why do your boobs hurt
:Why aren't economists rich
:Why do Americans call it soccer
:Why are my ears ringing
:Why are there so many Avengers
:Why are the Avengers fighting the X men
:Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers
:Why are there ants in my laptop
:Why is Earth tilted
:Why is space black
:Why is outer space so cold
:Why are there pyramids on the moon
:Why is NASA shutting down
:Why is there Hell if God forgives
:Why are there tiny spiders in my house
:Why do spiders come inside
:Why are there huge spiders in my house
:Why are there lots of spiders in my house
:Why are there spiders in my room
:Why are there so many spiders in my room
:Why do spider bites itch
:Why is dying so scary
:Why is there no GPS in laptops
:Why do knees click
:Why aren't there E grades
:Why is isolation bad
:Why do boys like me
:Why don't boys like me
:Why is there always a Java update
:Why are there red dots on my thighs
:Why is lying good
:Why is GPS free
:Why are trees tall
:Why are there slaves in the Bible
:Why do twins have different fingerprints
:Why are Americans afraid of dragons
:Why is there lava
:Why are there swarms of gnats
:Why is there phlegm
:Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN
:Why is psychic weak to bug
:Why do children get cancer
:Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus
:Why is there ice in space
:Why are there female Mr Mimes
:Why is there an owl in my backyard
:Why is there an owl outside my window
:Why is there an owl on the dollar bill
:Why do owls attack people
:Why are AK47s so expensive
:Why are there helicopters circling my house
:Why are there gods
:Why are there two Spocks
:Why is Mt Vesuvius there
:Why do they say T minus
:Why are there obelisks
:Why are wrestlers always wet
:Why are oceans becoming more acidic
:Why is Arwen dying
:Why aren't my quail laying eggs
:Why aren't my quail eggs hatching
:Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America
:Why is life so boring
:Why are my boobs itchy
:Why are cigarettes legal
:Why are there ducks in my pool
:Why is Jesus white
:Why is there liquid in my ear
:Why do Q tips feel good
:Why do good people die
:Why are ultrasounds important
:Why are ultrasound machines expensive
:Why is stealing wrong
:Why is YKK on all zippers
:Why is HTTPS crossed out in red
:Why is there a line through HTTPS
:Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook
:Why is HTTPS important
:Why are there weeks
:Why do I feel dizzy
:Why are dogs afraid of fireworks
:Why is there no king in England

:[We see Cueball from the torso up, with arms outstretched.]
:Cueball: Why aren't my arms growing

:[Megan stands with a grey ghost on either side of her.]
:Megan: Why are there ghosts

:[Beret Guy stands, looking at a squirrel.]
:Beret Guy: Why are there squirrels

:[Cueball stands.]
:Cueball: Why is sex so important.

:[We see Ponytail from the torso up.]
:Ponytail: Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

1256: Questions

2014-12-25T02:14:11Z

4jonah: /* Section Spider Six */

{{comic
| number = 1256
| date = August 26, 2013
| title = Questions
| image = questions.png
| titletext = To whoever typed 'why is arwen dying': GOOD. FUCKING. QUESTION.
}}
A larger version of the picture can be found [http://xkcd.com/1256/large/ here]
.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many questions unanswered.}}
{{w|Google}}, a rather popular internet search engine, has a feature known as [https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230?hl=en autocomplete] that guesses at search queries before they are fully typed out. These guesses are generally made based on popular searches by other people. From time to time, a particularly strange or hilarious one may be found, as is evidenced in this comic.

The largest pictured questions are: "Why are there slaves in the bible" and "Why are there ants in my laptop".

All of the questions in the comic are "why" questions, so many of them are predicated on false assumptions, such as "Why are there pyramids on the moon".

Regarding the title text: in the Peter Jackson films of {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy}}, Arwen becomes sickly for unspecified reasons as the plot advances, apparently giving Aragorn a more personal reason to fight. The only explanation given is by Elrond, who says "As Sauron's power grows, her [Arwen's] strength wanes." This subplot is entirely absent from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings|original novels}}.

From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/faq#.2.1.21 IMDB]: <blockquote>
Arwen, like her father (and brothers) is considered to be a Half-Elf, the result of a union between an Elf and a mortal human. The Half-Elven of Middle-earth get a choice, to remain immortal and return to the West (Valinor) or to become mortal and to die as humans do. Elrond chose to remain an Elf. Arwen (like her uncle Elros) chooses to become mortal in order to wed and remain with Aragorn. Elrond senses this; this is what he means when he says that Arwen is dying. It is the same as in The Last Unicorn, when the unicorn is given the form of a human woman and can feel that she is no longer immortal ("I can feel this body dying all around me"). According to Tolkien, though, after Aragorn dies in the year 120 (Fourth Age), Arwen returns to Lórien, where she dies by choice the following winter. </blockquote>

==Selected answers==
The tables below have been created so as to split the comic into almost entirely arbitrary blocks, which have then been identified with similarly arbitrary numbers. As a general rule, section numbers work top to bottom, then right to left.
===Illustrated Panels===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why aren't my arms growing?||Arms stop growing because longer arms would not be a very useful way to spend resources, and therefore your DNA tells your body not to grow your arms any more.
|-
|Why are there ghosts?||There is no hard evidence of ghosts.
|-
|Why are there squirrels?||Squirrels exist because they fit their biological niche better than any other species.
|-
|Why is sex so important?||Sex is important because it is the primary method of reproduction in many different species.
|-
| Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter? || In the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe, Muggle technology (human inventions) are often looked down on by wizards - the majority of half-blooded wizards like Harry won't touch one, let alone a wizard extremist like {{w|Voldemort}}. Not only does any Muggle device more complex than a wristwatch interfere with magical artifacts, but wands are usually more versatile than most guns; a revolver can't shoot lightning or summon items or teleport its user. Finally, while Harry himself may or may not consider using firearms due to his Muggle upbringing, ''Harry Potter'' is a children's book (which usually doesn't include guns) set in the United Kingdom (which has stricter gun laws than, say, the United States).
|-
|-
|}

===Section One===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do whales jump? || To the whale, it's like going into outer space!
|-
|Why are witches green? || See {{w|Wizard of Oz}}.
|-
|Why are there mirrors above beds?|| Often, these are used by couples to view themselves during coitus.
|-
|Why do I say Uh?||See ''[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/06/the_odd_body_language_fillers/ Why do we say 'um', 'er', or 'ah' when we hesitate in speaking?]''.
|-
| Why is sea salt better? || The question likely refers to the difference between common {{w|Fortified table salt}} and usually more expensive sea salt. While the major part of both of these is sodium chloride (NaCl) the idea behind the claim is the different composition mostly in regards to trace elements of sea salt compared to "normal" salt. Table salt's composition is often influenced by a country's health department and thus addition of trace elements is regulated. While these regulations are based on scientific studies there remain to be debates concerning the additions, such as iodine.
|-
| Why are there trees in the middle of fields? || Many images of fields contain singular trees in the middle of them. While there exist such trees it is likely an artistic choice to give a more pleasing or aesthetically satisfying image compared to just a field. In modern agriculture those would in fact be quite troublesome since they are a hindrance to large machines used and a new tree would be unlikely to grow in a constantly worked field.
|-
| Why is there not a Pokémon MMO? || {{w|Pokémon}} is a popular franchise, spanning game consoles, anime series, a trading card game, and many other things. Among fans, it is a frequent topic of discussion why a Pokémon {{w|massively multiplayer online game}} has not been officially announced by the series' developers {{w|Game Freak}}, as they often [http://www.dorkly.com/comic/52546/be-careful-what-you-wish-for predict] that such a game would be extremely popular, and bring in massive revenue for the company. However, if Game Freak were to develop a Pokémon MMO the MMOs would be strong competition against the console games and therefore reducing the Pokémon demographic significantly.
|-
|Why is there laughing in TV shows? || Sitcoms were once filmed with an audience, so the actors could respond to their reactions. That's the historical reason why there were laughs in TV shows. The tradition continues, with the difference that now the laughter mostly comes from recorded tapes. See {{w|Laugh track}}.
|-
|Why are there doors on the freeway?|| Highway/freeway {{w|noise barrier|noise barriers}} sometimes have doors in them to allow workers access to both sides of the barrier.
|-
|Why are there so many svchost.exe running?||See {{w|svchost.exe}}.
|-
| Why aren't there any countries in Antarctica? || {{w|Antarctica}} is the southern most continent and is by large covered in ice and in general pretty cold. While it is a regular target of tourists and researchers it also lacks native human inhabitants. At the moment, the territorial claims concerning Antarctica are mostly handled via the {{w|Antarctic Treaty System}}. In short there are a few countries who claim certain parts of the continent as their own in theory but so far it is considered neutral territory and most maps don't concern themselves with displaying the (in some regards disputed) territorial claims because they do not matter at this point in time. If there are ever any worthwhile resources discovered, this might change.
|-
|Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft?|| To add atmosphere and to give players hints when there is a dark cave nearby. See [http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Ambience Minecraft Wiki].
|-
|Why is there kicking in my stomach?||See ''[http://www.webmd.com/baby/fetal-movement-feeling-baby-kick Feeling Your Baby Kick]''. Here, ''stomach'' means ''abdomen''.
|-
|Why are there two slashes after http?||See ''[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220286/Sir-Tim-Berners-Lee-admits-forward-slashes-web-address-mistake.html Sir Tim Berners-Lee admits the forward slashes in every web address 'were a mistake']''.
|-
|Why are there celebrities?||There are certain people who are more respected and well-known than other people, whether it be because of their acting career, major advancements to science, or a sex tape.
|-
|Why do snakes exist?|| The question is rather general and likely based on a widespread dislike for the reptilians. Be it due to their appearance, their spread, or the danger a few snakes pose to humans (often due to being venomous) many people have a dislike for snakes and would prefer them to not exist (similar to spiders).
In regards to "why do snakes exist on earth?": Because evolution. Snakes fill a gap in the ecosystem as predators and hunt different species, including vermin. Snakes are in that regard similar to many other predatory animals. The question on why snakes developed with their distinct streamlined shape is still debated but {{w|snakes|likely it either provided an advantage when burrowing or swimming}}.
|-
|Why do oysters have pearls?||{{w|Creation of a pearl|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism against a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside the shell, or an attack from outside, injuring the mantle tissue. The mollusk creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritation. Pearls are commonly viewed by scientists as a by-product of an adaptive immune system-like function.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are ducks called ducks?||See {{w|Duck#Etymology}}. {{W|wikt:duck|According to Wiktionary}}, the noun ''duck'' can be traced back to the {{w|Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic}} word {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/dūkaną|''dūkaną''}} ("to dive, bend down"), and, in turn, the {{w|Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European}} {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/dʰewb-|''dʰewb-''}} ("deep, hollow"), which is the origin of the verb ''to duck''. The link between the noun and the verb comes from ducks' tendency to dive under water for short periods of time.
|-
|Why do they call it the clap?||An old folk remedy for {{w|gonorrhea}} was to clap on the sides of the penis.
|-
|Why are Kyle and Cartman friends?|| The question relates to the TV show {{w|South Park}}. Both are children living in the small titular town in Colorado. Cartman is widely accepted to a be very bad person, one of his many character flaws being his antisemitism. Kyle on the other hand is a Jew. However, both, along with two other kids, Stan and Kenny, are the core focus of the show (or used to be) and to some extent are considered to be friends. While there are episodes which show Cartman being not entirely a horrible person and him holding Kyle in a position of at least a worthy adversary, most of the time the question should be "Why is anyone friends with Cartman?" However, they most likely remain "friends" because they are in the same class at school and are therefore "forced" to be around one another.
|-
|Why is there an arrow on Aang's head?||{{w|Avatar: The Last Airbender#Characters|Aang}} is the main character of the TV series {{w|Avatar the last Airbender|Avatar - The last Airbender}} and features as part of a large body spanning tattoo an arrow on his head. These tattoos are made to replicate the markings of one of the shows fictional animals, the air bison which are regarded as the original air benders. They are given to human air benders once they attain the status of masters. Because Aang acquired this status very early in life he was already tattooed accordingly.
|-
|Why are text messages blue?||This likely refers to imessage chat being blue. These messages are blue when sending a message to another apple device.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on clothes?||Because some people buy them. Mustaches, especially handlebar-style mustaches, were a popular fad at the time of this comic.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on cars?||Fuzzy pink mustaches are used to designate cars in the {{w|Lyft}} service.
|-
|Why are there mustaches everywhere?||See {{w|Movember}}
|-
|Why are there so many birds in Ohio?||There are an estimated [http://oh.audubon.org/bsc/SOTB.html 400 bird species] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Ohio Ohio], but there are [http://www.jstor.org/discover/2419997sid=21104910103541&uid=4&uid=3739776&uid=2&uid=3739256 2.74 nesting pairs per acre].
|-
|Why is there so much rain in Ohio?|| {{w|lake_effect|Lake-effect}} rain develops in the same manner as lake-effect snow.
|-
|Why is Ohio weather so weird?||See {{w|Lake-effect snow}}.
|-
|}

===Section Two===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there male and female bikes? || {{w|bicycle|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Historically, women's bicycle frames had a top tube that connected in the middle of the seat tube instead of the top, resulting in a lower {{w|Frame geometry|standover height}} at the expense of compromised structural integrity, since this places a strong bending load in the seat tube, and bicycle frame members are typically weak in bending. This design, referred to as a '''''{{w|step-through frame}}''''' or as an ''open frame'', allows the rider to mount and dismount in a dignified way while wearing a skirt or dress.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are there bridesmaids?||See {{w|Bridesmaid#Origin and history}}.
|-
|Why do dying people reach up?|| In many works of fiction dying people are regarded with an outstretched arm, grasping for unseen objects towards the sky. In all likelihood this originates in the idea of heaven as the place where (good) people go after death. People "reach for the light" which is seen when dying according to similar beliefs or possibly for already dead relatives or other associated people waiting for them. An alternative hypothesis is that they want to hug/touch their loved ones one last time.
|-
|Why aren't there varicose arteries?||Blood moves through veins due to irregular pressure from skeletal muscles combined with valves to control direction. In varicose veins these valves malfunction affecting blood flow. In arteries blood flow is produced directly from pressure caused by the heart.
|-
|Why are old Klingons different?|| {{w|Klingon Redesign|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>For {{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}} (1979), the Klingons were retconned and their appearance and behavior radically changed. To give the aliens a more sophisticated and threatening demeanor, the Klingons were depicted with ridged foreheads, snaggled and prominent teeth, and a defined language and alphabet. Lee Cole, a production designer, used red gels and primitive shapes in the design of Klingon consoles and ship interiors, which took on a dark and moody atmosphere. The alphabet was designed as angular, with sharp edges harkening to the Klingon's militaristic focus.[5] Costume designer Robert Fletcher created new uniforms for the Klingons, reminiscent of feudal Japanese armor.</blockquote>
|-
|Why is programming so hard?||Programming is the art of writing instructions for a computer to do. Since the computer has a limited set of instructions for you to use it involves a new way of thinking for many. It is also hard because the computer itself is not smart or adaptable to unexpected problems. For instance when a human is told to sort books in a shelf, he or she can do that despite there might be things in the way (he or she will just move it to the side). A computer generally just crash if it doesn't have instructions on how to deal with the unexcepted problem.
|-
|Why is there a 0 Ohm resistor?|| A resistor is usually designed to create a certain resistance, measured in {{w|Ohm}} in an electronic device. A 0 Ohm resistor seems pointless as it would only provide the same resistance as a normal cable. However, Wikipedia's {{w|Zero-ohm link}} article gives sufficient explanation.
|-
|Why do Americans hate soccer? || Soccer, or football in British English, is rather unpopular in the USA compared to most other regions of the world. Finding a particular reason behind the (dis)like for certain sports, apart from cultural spread, is difficult. One possible explanation is soccer's tendency to have far fewer points scored in an average game and a higher likelihood of draws compared to such things as American Football, basketball or baseball, which are far more popular. In how far this is a legitimate argument for regarding soccer as "less interesting" is up to debate.
|-
|Why do rhymes sound good?||The brain enjoys repetition especially in music.
|-
|Why do trees die?||Some common reasons include lack of water, lack of nitrogen in the soil and being chopped down.
|-
|Why is there no sound on CNN?||Some stations broadcast a {{w|second audio program}}, an alternative sound track that your TV can be configured to use instead of the primary program. This is intended to be used for broadcasting in an alternate language, or for {{w|Descriptive Video Service}} to make a program accessible to the visually impaired. Many programs that don't actually use SAP will still broadcast an SAP that is identical to the primary program; however, this is not required. If your TV is configured to use SAP and a particular channel isn't broadcasting SAP at that time, there won't be any sound.
|-
|Why aren't Pokémon real?||Pokémon are fantasised creatures that were designed to produce an interesting battle mechanic in a game. Some of the pokémons abilities would be impossible on earth as we know it. For instance, Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the sun<ref name="Bulbapedia Magcargo"> [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magcargo#Trivia|Magcargo]]</ref>.
|-
|Why aren't bullets sharp?||See {{w|Terminal ballistics}}.
|-
|Why do dreams seem so real?|| Most dreams occur during a stage known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement). During REM, your brain is highly active and its wave pattern is the same as the wave patterns in a person who is awake. It should be noted that dreams can occur during other stages of sleep but most dreams that are vivid occur during the REM stage.
|-
|}

===Section Three===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do testicles move?|| The scrotum shrinks and expands to account for temperature changes.
|-
| Why are there psychics?|| Psychics are humans who supposedly have supernatural abilities to know things. A better question would be to ask why do people suppose there are psychics.
|-
| Why are hats so expensive?|| Hats can be expensive depending on the quality of material, size, location, and demand. A probable answer is that hats are simply difficult to make, causing high prices.
|-
| Why is there caffeine in my shampoo?|| Because the producers want you to believe that caffeine penetrates the hair roots and thereby somehow protects it from negative testosterone impacts and from premature hair loss.
|-
| Why do your boobs hurt?|| The most probable reason is that your bra doesn't fit correctly. It could also be a hormone imbalance or awkwardly shaped breasts.
|}

===Section Four===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why aren't economists rich? || Economists study the economy. In order to become rich, one has to take part in the economy by trading or producing goods or services.
|-
| Why do Americans call it soccer? || {{w|Association Football}} is called Soccer in the USA because {{w|American Football}} is the more popular version there.
|-
| Why are my ears ringing? || {{w|Tinnitus}}, or ringing of the ears, can result from stress, foreign objects in the ear, hearing damage, wax build up, or any other number of causes.
|-
| Why are there so many Avengers? ||The number of Avengers has [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avengers_members varied greatly] over the years and decades, each time with it's own justification for why they need to work together, but the simplest answer is money. Cross-branding and cross-merchandising is successful to the brand and brings in new readers, plus creates a new franchise to profit from.
|-
|Why are the Avengers fighting the X Men || {{w|Avengers vs. X-Men}} was a 2012 Marvel crossover event that, like many other recent comic book events, had heroes fight other heroes. In this case, the {{w|Avengers (comics)|Avengers}} and the {{w|X-Men}} fought over the {{w|Phoenix Force (comics)|Phoenix Force}}, a godlike power that often possesses {{w|Jean Grey}} or her descendants (in this case, her alternate universe daughter Hope Summers). The Avengers believed the Phoenix Force is too powerful for humanity to control and wanted to contain it, while the X-Men believed the Phoenix was the messiah for mutants and could fix all of the Earth's problems.
|-
|Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers || Wolverine ''has'' been an Avenger, in some circumstances. e.g. in the {{w|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes}} cartoon series, the episode ''New Avengers'' had Wolverine (along with Spiderman, War Machine, The Thing and Luke Cage and Iron Fist) substitute while the 'original' Avengers were unavailable to deal with the current crisis (which of course included the fate of the 'proper' Avengers). However, in general his anti-authority personality makes him a difficult team-member to field, and he has frequently disassociated himself even from the X-Men. But, in Avengers vs. X-Men (see above) Wolverine ''sided'' with The Avengers, and more modern treatments have even included the character in about as much a permanent a membership of the group as Logan is ever likely to have.

But if the question is about why Wolverine didn't appear in {{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|''The Avengers''}}, the answer is that ''The Avengers'' is being produced by Marvel/Disney, while Fox still has the rights to the X-Men and all Marvel mutants in general. Unless there is studio agreement, the two properties cannot cross, except through complicated machinations. For example, there are plans to bring Avengers mainstays Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch to both the ''Avengers'' and ''X-Men'' franchises, but only the Fox films have the right to call them the children of Magneto, and Marvel/Disney cannot even identify them on-screen as "mutants".
|}

===Section Five===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why are there ants in my laptop? || Ants usually come in your laptop when there are little crumbs of food. It is advised to get screen protectors.
|-
| Why is Earth tilted? || The Earth is not tilted. Axial tilt is just a result of conservation of momentum when the Earth was formed, because not everything orbits in the same way. It is pure happenstance that Earth's axis is not normal to its plane of orbit.
|-
| Why is space black? || What we call black is the absence of light. Space is mostly empty. Whe we look at a part of space where there is nothing that can reflect the stars' light, it consequently appears black to us.
|-
| Why is outer space so cold? || Space is not cold. There is no matter in space. However, most of space has very little radiation hitting it, so a person won't recieve any energy, but will still radiate some away, resulting in a net loss of energy, colloquially "heat."
|-
| Why are there pyramids on the moon? || There are no pyramids on the moon.
|-
| Why is NASA shutting down? ||NASA isn't shutting down. This question might have something to do with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_2013 Government Shutdown of 2013] or perhaps due to the then-current shuttle program ending, but that is not the entirety of NASA.
|}

===Section <strike>Spider</strike> Six===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there tiny spiders in my house?
|rowspan="6"|During autumn in particular male spiders reaching maturing will set off to find a mate. By chance they may end up in your house. When encountering spiders in large numbers, it is more likely that they are young from the same female spider. Females lay {{w|Spider#Reproduction_and_life_cycle|up to 3,000}} eggs at a time.
|-
| Why do spiders come inside?
|-
| Why are there huge spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there lots of spiders in my house?
|-
| Why are there spiders in my room?
|-
| Why are there so many spiders in my room?
|-
| Why do spider bites itch? ||This mostly happens as a immune response to [http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/why-do-mosquito-bites-itch histamines] under the skin which are injected through saliva.
|-
| Why is dying so scary? ||Part of human nature is the fear of the unknown, and death is the ultimate unknown because it is not knowable until it's experienced, and there is nobody to report what the result was. This leaves it open to speculation, and many major religions are based on preparing ones soul for death. Also, dying would leave loved ones families with the responsibility of taking care of their remains and finances. And finally, most people don't want to die, living for as long as possible, possibly because the unknown is too unbearable to cope with. Still though several people are not afraid of death and dying, and recognize life is short and to cherish each moment while we can. Death is inevitable, so we should not fear it.
|-
| Why is there no GPS in laptops? ||
|-
| Why do knees click? ||
|-
| Why aren't there E grades? ||E grades [http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/02/e-f-grading-scale/ actually exist] in some districts, but they are rare. In their long and bizarre history, E was originally used where F is today (E was the lowest grade), but in those systems, students often received E's for an "Excellent" grade, creating much confusion. F was used in place instead and E was eliminated from a standard grading scale.
|-
| Why is isolation bad? ||Isolation is when a person deliberately secludes themselves away from others, often far-removed from society. This can happen in locations as small as a city apartment and as large as the open woods. People evolved as social animals and it is generally held that those who isolate themselves suffer from depression or other forms of psychological imbalance. Of course society can trigger many of these imbalances causing an individual to isolate themselves. Isolation is often seen as therapeutic so people can spend time with themselves constructively, often finding peace within themselves and through mediation. Monks and hermits generally live in solitude as well. Many people view a decision to be isolated as noble, and others as healthy. While general interaction is largely healthy, in the crowded modern world, isolation is neither good or bad; it depends on the person and what that isolation does to them.
|-
| Why do boys like me? ||Attraction comes in many forms: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, among others. Many people will lie about what they like about you to get something else (money, sex, etc), but most are genuine. It is not possible to assert definitively why one person may like another person, and that is something that needs to be discussed openly and honestly with them and nobody else.
|-
| Why don't boys like me? ||Similar to the answer above about what makes one desirable to another, there are an equal number of factors that make one unappealing. This can include everything from physical appearance to how one treats others. If a person is rude and unfriendly, most people find that not-conducive to healthy relationship and avoid the person who is asking. Not being liked by someone you like however does not mean you're wrong or are a bad person and in most cases has to do with the person you are asking about.
|-
| Why is there always a Java update? ||[https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/whatis_java.xml Java] is a software that runs on most computers and mobile devices that is crucial to its security and stability. The reason why it always updates is because it needs to stay current with the ever-upgrading fleet of browsers, operating systems and software that supports Java. Additionally Java updates itself so each version can run optimally. Software coding and debugging is a never-ending process towards perfectly stable releases.
|-
| Why are there red dots on my thighs? ||
|-
| Why is lying good? ||Lying and other forms of dishonesty is typically seen as bad because it lowers one's credibility and makes them less likely to be trusted in the future. It is almost always advantageous to tell the truth, as lies have a way of escalating as you need to keep expanding on the lie to cover your tracks. There are instances however where lying may be used in more noble circumstances. For example, if a friend asks your opinion on something they have made (such as a poem or painting) that you do not like, it is okay to tell them you like it because protecting their feelings and your relationship is more important than how you feel. Often military personnel are trained to keep national security secrets at all costs and will lie about what they know to save themselves and the country.
|}

===Section Seven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there slaves in the bible? ||Slavery was viewed differently in the early years of human civilization before the contemporary moral and ethical conversations began centuries later. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery bible justified slavery] for a number of reasons, notably to pay off some sort of debt. Slaves were seen as property and their work provided value to the slave owner. Similarly slave owners rationalized their ownership through scripture, pointing out that it was in the Bible and therefore okay with God.
|-
| Why do twins have different fingerprints? || Fingerprints are not only from the DNA, but from the conditions in the womb which differ from child to child.
|-
| Why are Americans afraid of dragons? ||This question was the title of a [http://blogs.sfu.ca/courses/spring2012/engl387/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Why-are-Americans-Afraid-of-Dragons.docx 1974 essay] by Ursula K. LeGeuin in which she makes a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics semiotic] analysis of dragon mythology. She argues that our belief in dragons (and those outside of America as well) stems from childhood, much like other ferocious fictional creatures such as goblins and hobbits, but many hold onto these fears as a way of avoiding reality. In her closing argument, she writes, "They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life they have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom."
|-
| Why is HTTPS crossed out in red? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a line through HTTPS? || The site accessed has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook? || Facebook has an invalid SSL certificate.
|-
| Why is HTTPS important? || For security reasons, as a site with HTTPS has encrypted traffic.
|}

===Section Eight===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there swarms of gnats? ||
|-
| Why is there phlegm? ||[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegm#Phlegm Phlegm] is a thick, viscous fluid produced by the mucus membranes as a way to clear the airway and aids in the release of bacteria, disease and debris in those passages.
|-
| Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN || From a Minnesota Paper, [http://www.startribune.com/local/138902104.html the Star Tribune], "Laws prevent the city from poisoning the crows". "Duffy [Steve Duffy, a co-owner of U.S. Bird Abatement Services, which has contracted with Rochester to get rid of the crows] isn't sure why Rochester has such a bad crow problem; probably a confluence of many bird-friendly conditions that has also made it a magnet for geese. He's seen worse cases, but called Rochester's situation 'hideous.'" And best of all, "The city has twice this winter hired experts to chase them off. They tried lasers and bullhorns — hey, get out of here, you crows — and even employed raptors to pick them off, one by one. That worked, for awhile." Unfortunately, they mean a {{w|bird of prey}}, not a {{w|velociraptor}}.
|-
| Why is Psychic weak to Bug || In Pokémon, Pokémon of the psychic type like Mr. Mime are weak to three types of attacks: Ghost, Dark, and Bug. The general theory is that Psychic Pokémon, relying heavily on their thoughts for attacks, are weak to fears, which ghosts, darkness, and bugs can be classified as.
|-
| Why do children get cancer? ||[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer Cancer] is an aggressive and often fatal disease that has the potential to affect all humans as well as other organisms. There are multiple types of cancer, each with their own epidemiology, but children are not immune to succumbing to the horrific affects of the disease. Children are human beings and are subject to the same illnesses adults have, irregardless of age, or their innocence. There is no divine or supernatural explanation for this. Simply put, life is a battle for all humans regardless of how small they are.
|-
| Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus? || {{w|Poseidon}} was the patron deity of the city of {{w|Troy}}, which after a 10 years siege by the Greeks fell due to {{w|Odysseus}}' list of the {{w|Trojan_Horse|Trojan horse}}. As the Greeks were returning home after the Trojan War, Oddyseus' ship accidentally landed on the island home of the cyclops Polyphemus, who imprisoned the crew and ate many of them. In order to escape, Odysseus blinded the cyclops. Poseidon, Polyphemus' father, was extremely angered by his son being blinded, so he cursed Odysseus' ship to prevent him from reaching his home in {{W|Ithaca}}. The adventures which Odysseus encountered during his quest for reaching Ithaca are the main theme of {{w|Homer|Homer's}} {{w|Odyssey}} The Odyssey also says that before sailing, the crew forgot to offer a sacrifice as was ordained.
|-
| Why is there ice in space? ||
|}

===Section <strike>Owl</strike> Nine===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there an owl in my back yard? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl outside my window? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl on the dollar bill? ||
|-
| Why do owls attack people? ||
|-
| Why are AK47s so expensive? ||
|-
| Why are there helicopters circling my house? ||This question is likely a joke because it is so incongruous to the others in this section. The joke is that people would be Gooogling about owls attacking people and assault rifle prices, which could, ostensibly alert authorities to come to your house to arrest you. If this is not the case, then the helicopter could be there for myriad reasons.
|}

===Section Ten===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there gods? ||All gods and goddesses man made and are part of ancient and fictional mythology and folklore that are used to give spiritual guidance and explanations for phenomenons that were yet unexplained by natural processes. Lightning for example was thought to be produced by Zeus, King of all Greek Gods.
|-
|Why are there two Spocks? || This is probably a reference to the {{w|Star_Trek_(film)|2009 Star Trek movie}} in which the franchise was given a {{w|Reboot_(fiction)|continuity reboot}}. The modified setting is explained in-universe by time travel, with both the villain Nero and the original-timeline Spock being brought back from the 24th century to the 23rd, creating a timeline in which both older Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) and the younger Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) coexist.

Another possibility is that the question refers to the episode {{w|Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)|"Mirror, Mirror"}}, which mostly takes place in an alternate universe populated by ruthless versions of most of the characters (including Spock).
|-
| Why is Mt Vesuvius there? ||
|-
| Why do they say T minus? ||
|-
| Why are there obelisks? ||
|-
| Why are wrestlers always wet? ||
|-
| Why are oceans becoming more acidic? ||
|-
| Why is Arwen dying? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail laying eggs? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail eggs hatching? ||
|-
|Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America? || ''Further information: {{w|United States military deployments}}''This is a very interesting question, albeit one likely based on a regional misunderstanding. Presumably, this question is asked by Americans who assume that the existence of {{w|Category:Military facilities of the United States by country|U.S. military bases abroad}} is a general trend among countries, as opposed to being the rarity that it is. In fact, {{w|List of countries with overseas military bases|only a handful of other countries}} have military bases outside of their borders, and the three—{{w|France}}, the {{w|United Kingdom}}, and {{w|Russia}}—that have more than one or two are all countries that, like the United States, {{w|Allies of World War II|were on the winning side of World War II}}, have {{w|List of countries by military expenditures|massive military expenditures}}, and have {{w|United Nations Security Council veto power|UN Security Council vetoes}}. In other words, only the most militarily elite countries have bases overseas. The U.S. is unique, however, in that it has far more overseas bases than any other country (and, pretty much, far more of anything else than any other country, when it comes to the military), and in that {{w|List of United States military bases|it has bases in several other highly-industrialized nations}}, including {{w|List of United States Army installations in South Korea|South Korea}} and the United Kingdom, and, most notably, the World War II {{w|Axis powers}}: {{w|List of United States Army installations in Germany|Germany}}, {{w|United States Forces Japan|Japan}}, and {{w|List of United States Army installations in Italy|Italy}}. France, Russia, and the U.K.'s bases, on the other hand, are almost all within areas that they previously controlled.These bases can be controversial in some countries, while in others they are a major source of economic and political stability. The U.S. traditionally justifies their presence as a necessary and crucial element in its efforts to promote peace domestically and worldwide. Despite their major role in {{w|U.S. foreign policy}}, and in the general political structure of the globe, the American public often largely ignores them, and they rarely become a major political issue (apart from an occasional mention by {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian presidential candidates}}).So, essentially, the absence of foreign military bases within the U.S. is primarily because there aren't really any other countries in a position to place bases there. Ironically, although no battles in the traditional sense have been fought within the U.S. since the {{w|U.S. Civil War}} and the U.S. mainland has seen {{w|Mainland invasion of the United States|almost no military action}}, foreign air force bases might have been useful on September 11, 2001. (The {{w|attack on Pearl Harbor}} in 1941 was 18 years before Hawaii became a U.S. state.)There are, however, foreign troops stationed at some continental US military bases. For example RAF (British Royal Air Force) 39 Sqn and 361 Sqn at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada flying Reaper and Predator drones. But this are not foreign military bases, they are just guests.
|}

===Section Eleven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are my boobs itchy? ||
|-
| Why are cigarettes legal? ||Despite the obvious detrimental affects nicotine has on health, like caffeine and alcohol, it is easy to regulate. Substances like marijuana and other drugs are mainly illegal because the government and regulatory agencies have no control over their production and distribution and therefore cannot profit from it. Nicotine however, which is the key ingredient in tobacco can be regulated and taxed and is.
|-
| Why are there ducks in my pool? ||
|-
| Why is Jesus white? ||This is an ethnocentric viewpoint that varies throughout cultures. In Africian cultures he is portrayed as black. In short, whatever culture he is introduced to, those inhabitants will have him fit their own image.
|-
| Why is there liquid in my ear? ||
|-
| Why do Q tips feel good? ||The inner ear contains [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erectile_tissue erectile tissue] (as does your inner nose which is shy sneezing feels good) so you are massing tissue which gets aroused upon stimulation.
|-
| Why do good people die? ||Everybody dies, but loved ones and ones who were known to make memorable or valuable contributions are mourned and revered more than a person who has left much pain to others as their legacy; we remember the good ones and that's why it hurts more.
|-
| Why are ultrasounds important? ||
|-
| Why are ultrasound machines expensive? ||
|-
| Why is stealing wrong? ||Stealing is theft and it is illegal. Taking something that is not yours without permission or payment hurts the livelihood of other individuals as well as damages their trust in others.
|}

===Vertical Questions===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there hell if god forgives? ||There is not a single answer to this question because every person has their own particular unique rationale and opinion, which should indicate that the notion of divine forgiveness and divine punishment are arbitrary and made-up. The answer varies based on the religion and that religion's sect mixed with personal interpretations of that religions scripture and how a person decides to follow it. However the idea of what Hell will be like also varies. There is no one answer to this question, but the easiest explanation is that the individual did not pray hard enough, correctly, was not part of the right religion, and their forgiveness was contingent on something that the person either did not do or know to do (or say or think)
|-
| Why do iguanas die? ||All living things die, but iguanas may suffer from [http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/kidneyfailure.html kidney failure].
|-
| Why is GPS free? || GPS was originally developed by the U.S. military for its own use, not for commercial purposes. Once the satellites were launched and service began, anyone could receive the signals. Because it is a one-way transmission, there is no incremental cost to provide service to more users, and no practical way to prevent use without payment.
|-
| Why are trees tall? ||Tall is a relative term, and Redwoods are famous for their height - among the tallest in the world. The reason for this is, in part [http://www.nps.gov/redw/faqs.htm climate, fog, rain, good soil, few predators, among others].
|-
|Why are there female Mr. Mimes? || {{w|Mr. Mime}} is a Pokémon introduced in the first generation of the games, and despite its name, it can be either of a male or female gender. As the Pokémon was introduced before the concept of [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender gender in Pokémon games], it is likely that the people in charge of translating its Japanese name (Barrierd) did not take this into account during the process.
|-
| Why is there lava? ||Lava is simply magma (molten rock) which has been ejected from volcanoes. Once it is flowing on land, it is called lava. Magma is heated by the earth's core to create a liquid surface under earth's crust that the land floats on. Sometimes it has to come out through faults and fissures (and volcanoes).
|-
| Why is YKK on a zippers? || YKK Group is the name of a large group of Japanese manufacturing companies, which among other things manufacture a lot of zippers.
|-
| Why is life so boring? ||It is up to an individual to find meaning and interest in life. Monotony, predictability and lack of physical and intellectual stimulation would lead to a feeling of boredom.
|-
| Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts? ||Ghosts are a supernatural phenomenon that have not been empirically proven to exist. Those who believe in ghosts implicitly believe in a soul (of which a ghost is a materialization of), and it is a commonly held belief by religious institutions and ghost-hunters that animals do not have souls and thus dinosaurs would not have any either.
|-
|Why is there no king in England? || ''Note: For simplicity's sake, "England" here is being read as "United Kingdom." The various name changes, mergers, and splits of kingdoms are complicated.''The basis for this question is that for the past several hundred years, there has almost always been a queen in England, the sole exceptions being when the king has not had a wife. However, there is a distinction between being the queen of England (that is to say, {{w|List of British monarchs|a monarch}}) and being the {{w|queen consort|queen ''consort''}} of England: The former refers to a woman who {{w|Succession to the British throne|succeeded to the throne}} in her own right, becoming sovereign, while the latter refers to the wife of the king. Both roles, though, are commonly referred to as "Queen of England," creating the impression that there is always such a person. The logical question, therefore, is why {{w|Elizabeth II}}'s husband, {{w|Prince Philip|Philip}}, is not considered the king of England. The answer lies in Britain's system of {{w|male-preference cognatic primogeniture}}, which causes the monarch of England to usually be a man, not a woman. As a result of this, British laws were generally built around the presumption that the monarch would be a man, and that said man would be married to a woman, [[223: Valentine's Day|comic 223]] be damned. Since the creation of the modern British throne in 1707, only two women have reigned as queen in their own right; it just so happens that these two women have been two of the most famous and longest-reigning monarchs in world history, {{w|Queen Victoria}} and Queen Elizabeth II. This fact may add to people's enhanced perception of the lack of a British king. Victoria and Elizabeth's respective consorts, {{w|Albert, Prince Consort|Albert}} and Philip, have been styled as princes—Albert as {{w|Prince Consort}} and Philip as "{{w|British prince|Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}}." Both were explicitly granted their titles by their wives, though Albert was already a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Philip had previously been a prince of Denmark and Greece, but had renounced both titles before marrying Elizabeth.The title {{w|king consort}} also exists, but has never been used in the United Kingdom.Notably, should {{w|Prince Charles}} succeed to his mother's throne, it has been announced that his wife, {{w|Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Camilla}}, will be styled as {{w|princess consort}}, ''not'' as queen consort, just as she has declined the title {{w|Princess of Wales}}, which is strongly associated with Charles's first wife, {{w|Princess Diana|Diana}}. Assuming that Charles succeeds, this means that Britain will not have anyone referred to as "queen," after decades of not having anyone referred to as "king."
|-
| Why do I feel dizzy? ||Balance is achieved from fluids in the inner-ear, but [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizziness#Epidemiology dizziness] can have nearly a dozen causes.]
|-
| Why are dogs afraid of fireworks? ||Loud noises can trigger their flight or fight responses when they are [http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/hyperdog/How-to-Keep-Your-Dog-Safe-and-Calm-During-Fireworks nervous].
|-
| Why are there weeks? || Weeks were originally important for religious reasons, primarily the requirement to observe a sabbath (day of rest) every seventh day. Today it is used to evenly divide months into equal pieces, much like the months divide a year. Similarly, hours and minutes divide a day.
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
:[This strip is a rectangular word cloud, titled 'Questions found in Google autocomplete'. Embedded in the cloud are 5 single panels, with illustrated questions. These are described at the end. Questions are given in roughly columnar order. None of the questions have question marks.]

:Questions found in Google Autocomplete

:Why do whales jump
:Why are witches green
:Why are there mirrors above beds
:Why do I say uh
:Why is sea salt better
:Why are there trees in the middle of fields
:Why is there not a Pokemon MMO
:Why is there laughing in TV shows
:Why are there doors on the freeway
:Why are there so many svchost.exe running
:Why aren't there any countries in antarctica
:Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft
:Why is there kicking in my stomach
:Why are there two slashes after HTTP
:Why are there celebrities
:Why do snakes exist
:Why do oysters have pearls
:Why are ducks called ducks
:Why do they call it the clap
:Why are Kyle and Cartman friends
:Why is there an arraow on Aang's head
:Why are text messages blue
:Why are there mustaches on clothes
:Why are there mustaches on cars
:Why are there mustaches everywhere
:Why are there so many birds in Ohio
:Why is there so much rain in Ohio
:Why is Ohio weather so weird
:Why are there male and female bikes
:Why are there bridesmaids
:Why do dying people reach up
:Why aren't there varicose arteries
:Why are old Klingons different
:Why is programming so hard
:Why is there a 0 ohm resistor
:Why do Americans hate soccer
:Why do rhymes sound good
:Why do trees die
:Why is there no sound on CNN
:Why aren't Pokemon real
:Why aren't bullets sharp
:Why do dreams seem so real
:Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts
:Why do iguanas die
:Why do testicles move
:Why are there psychics
:Why are hats so expensive
:Why is there caffeine in my shampoo
:Why do your boobs hurt
:Why aren't economists rich
:Why do Americans call it soccer
:Why are my ears ringing
:Why are there so many Avengers
:Why are the Avengers fighting the X men
:Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers
:Why are there ants in my laptop
:Why is Earth tilted
:Why is space black
:Why is outer space so cold
:Why are there pyramids on the moon
:Why is NASA shutting down
:Why is there Hell if God forgives
:Why are there tiny spiders in my house
:Why do spiders come inside
:Why are there huge spiders in my house
:Why are there lots of spiders in my house
:Why are there spiders in my room
:Why are there so many spiders in my room
:Why do spider bites itch
:Why is dying so scary
:Why is there no GPS in laptops
:Why do knees click
:Why aren't there E grades
:Why is isolation bad
:Why do boys like me
:Why don't boys like me
:Why is there always a Java update
:Why are there red dots on my thighs
:Why is lying good
:Why is GPS free
:Why are trees tall
:Why are there slaves in the Bible
:Why do twins have different fingerprints
:Why are Americans afraid of dragons
:Why is there lava
:Why are there swarms of gnats
:Why is there phlegm
:Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN
:Why is psychic weak to bug
:Why do children get cancer
:Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus
:Why is there ice in space
:Why are there female Mr Mimes
:Why is there an owl in my backyard
:Why is there an owl outside my window
:Why is there an owl on the dollar bill
:Why do owls attack people
:Why are AK47s so expensive
:Why are there helicopters circling my house
:Why are there gods
:Why are there two Spocks
:Why is Mt Vesuvius there
:Why do they say T minus
:Why are there obelisks
:Why are wrestlers always wet
:Why are oceans becoming more acidic
:Why is Arwen dying
:Why aren't my quail laying eggs
:Why aren't my quail eggs hatching
:Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America
:Why is life so boring
:Why are my boobs itchy
:Why are cigarettes legal
:Why are there ducks in my pool
:Why is Jesus white
:Why is there liquid in my ear
:Why do Q tips feel good
:Why do good people die
:Why are ultrasounds important
:Why are ultrasound machines expensive
:Why is stealing wrong
:Why is YKK on all zippers
:Why is HTTPS crossed out in red
:Why is there a line through HTTPS
:Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook
:Why is HTTPS important
:Why are there weeks
:Why do I feel dizzy
:Why are dogs afraid of fireworks
:Why is there no king in England

:[We see Cueball from the torso up, with arms outstretched.]
:Cueball: Why aren't my arms growing

:[Megan stands with a grey ghost on either side of her.]
:Megan: Why are there ghosts

:[Beret Guy stands, looking at a squirrel.]
:Beret Guy: Why are there squirrels

:[Cueball stands.]
:Cueball: Why is sex so important.

:[We see Ponytail from the torso up.]
:Ponytail: Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T19:13:44Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||4
||$7 million
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T19:12:13Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||<4,078
||$100 million
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||40
||$7.5 million
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||31
||$27 million
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||682
||$300 million
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||50
||$13 million
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||8
||$26.5
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T19:02:49Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||unknown
||unreported
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||25
||$6million
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||478
||$22 billion
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T18:34:38Z

4jonah:

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T18:33:00Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}}
||GA
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}}
||TX LA AL
||115 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}}
||FL AL MS LA
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T18:22:30Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA MS AK
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T18:18:36Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||400
||$50 million
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||275
||$13 million
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||7
||$100,000
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||15
||$1.8 million
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||34
||$5 million
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||6
||$3 million
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||<287
||$16,401,000
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T03:31:45Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||SC to ME
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||SC GA VA PA
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T03:21:42Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-24T02:47:32Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||35
||$16.3 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||49
||$9 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||9
||$130 million
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||123
||$18 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||<3,035
||$7 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||89
||$4 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||<1,833
||$108 billion
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||97-125
||$12 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||153
||$6.61 billion
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||195
||$37.5 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||56
||$16.6 billion
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||18
||$1.6 billion
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||286
||≥ $68 billion
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:55:44Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||77-87
||$6.9 billion
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||15
||$925 million
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||51
||$5.37 billion
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:40:14Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||390
||<$100 million
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:34:39Z

4jonah:

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:33:37Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (USD) (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:33:10Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||72
||$462 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||29
||>$42.8 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||1,000-1,200
||$420 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||74
||<$86 million
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||≥184
||$754.7 million
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||<416
||$147 million
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||1
||$11.4 million
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||22
||$14 million
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||164-364
||$900 million
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||43
||$325.74
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:23:22Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||7
||$6 million
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||5
||$250 million
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||38
||$126 million
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||81
||$1.42 billion
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:19:31Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||300
||$100 million
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||5 (in Cuba)
||$5.2 million
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||1
||$20 million
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||
||
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:14:43Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||
||
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:14:11Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate (Without inflation)
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million (1950 USD)
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||
||
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:10:23Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||2
||$52 million
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million (1950 USD)
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||
||
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T21:07:03Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Casualties
!Damage estimate
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||
||
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||
||
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2
||$3.3 million (1950 USD)
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||
||
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||
||
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
||
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||
||
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||
||
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-12-23T20:51:18Z

4jonah: /* Listed Hurricanes */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|State, severity and remarks still need to be filled for all hurricanes.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database ({{w|HURDAT}}) to determine the severity and the {{w|National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction}}'s (NCEP) rainfall to determin where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

===Listed Hurricanes===
A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after {{w|Tropical cyclone naming}} was introduced can be found {{w|List_of_historic_tropical_cyclone_names#North_Atlantic|here}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Name
!States
!Highest winds
!Lowest pressure
!Remarks
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1915 II}}
||LA TX OK AR
||145 mph
||940 mbar
||Hit hardest along the Texas coastline near {{w|1915_Galveston_hurricane|Galveston}}.
|-
||1915
||{{w|1915_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1915 VI}}
||LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
||145 mph
||931 mbar
||Hit hardest in the areas near {{w|1915_New_Orleans_hurricane|New Orleans}}.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1916 IV}}
||SC NC
||115 mph
||960 mbar
||Caused 7 deaths and $100,000 in damages in South Carolina, with 80 deaths and $15-$20 million in damages in North Carolina.
|-
||1916
||{{w|1916_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1916 VI}}
||TX
||135 mph
||932 mbar
||Hit hardest along the west side of {{w|1916_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}'s coastline.
|-
||1918
||{{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 I}}
||LA
||120 mph
||955 mbar
||Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
|-
||1921
||{{w|1921_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1921 VI}}
||FL
||140 mph
||941 mbar
||Hit hardest in {{w|1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane|Tampa Bay}}.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1926 I}}
||FL
||140 mph
||967 mbar
||Hit hardest in {{w|1926_Nassau_hurricane|Nassau}} and a small area of north-eastern Florida.
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|II}}
||TX LA AL / GA
||115 mph / 140 mph
||955 mbar / 967 mbar
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1926 II}} did not hit land where indicated on the map. What is labelled "1926 II" is most likely Hurricane III which did make land around Lousiana but affected the entire coast line from Mobile Alabama. Hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle. {{w|1926_Louisiana_hurricane|Louisiana}}
|-
||1926
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1926 VII}} / {{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|III}}
||FL AL MS LA / TX LA AL
||150 mph / 115 mph
||930 mbar / 955 mbar
||{{w|1926_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1926 III}} did not hit Miami as indicated on the map, instead it hit west Louisiana and Texas. What is labelled "1926 III" is most likely hurricane seven instead. It the {{w|1926_Miami_hurricane|Miami}} area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
|-
||1928
||{{w|1928_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Four|1928 IV}}
||FL SC NC
||160 mph
||≤ 929 mbar
||{{w|1928_Okeechobee_hurricane|Okeechobee}}
|-
||1932
||{{w|1932_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1932 II}}
||TX
||150 mph
||935 mbar
||{{w|1932_Freeport_hurricane|Freeport}}
|-
||1933
||{{w|1933_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1933 VI}}
||NC VA MD PA
||140 mph
||940 mbar
||Hit hardest along the western side of {{w|1933_Chesapeake-Potomac_hurricane|Chesapeake Bay}}.
|-
||1935
||{{w|1935_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1935 III}}
||FL
||185 mph
||892 mbar
||Hit hardest on {{w|1935_Labor_Day_hurricane|Labor Day}} along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
|-
||1938
||{{w|1938_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1938 VI}}
||NY CT
||160 mph
||940 mbar
||Known as Great New England Hurricane. Hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut, {{w|1938_New_England_hurricane|New England}}. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths, totaling over 700.
|-
||1940
||{{w|1940_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1940 III}}
||SC NC
||100 mph
||972 mbar
||{{w|1940_South_Carolina_hurricane|South Carolina}}
|-
||1941
||{{w|1941_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1941 II}}
||LA TX
||125 mph
||942 mbar
||{{w|1941_Texas_hurricane|Texas}}
|-
||1942
||{{w|1942_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Three|1942 III}}
||TX NM OK
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||{{w|1942_Matagorda_hurricane|Matagorda}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Seven|1944 VII}}
||NY NC to CT
||145 mph
||933 mbar
||{{w|1944_Great_Atlantic_hurricane|Great Atlantic hurricane}}
|-
||1944
||{{w|1944_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Thirteen|1944 XII}}
||FL
||145 mph
||937 mbar
||{{w|1944_Cuba–Florida_hurricane|Cuba–Florida}}
|-
||1946
||{{w|1946_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Six|1946 VI}}
||FL NC
||100 mph
||977 mbar
||{{w|1946_Florida_hurricane|Florida}} Became extra-tropical over NC
|-
||1947
||{{w|1947_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Nine_.28King.29|1947 IX}}
||FL GA SN NC
||105 mph
||965 mbar
||{{w|1947_Cape_Sable_hurricane|King}}
|-
||1949
||{{w|1949_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Two|1949 II}}
||FL GA to NH
||130 mph
||954 mbar
||{{w|1949_Florida_hurricane|Florida}}
|-
||1950
||{{w|Hurricane_Easy_(1950)|Easy}}
||FL GA AK
||125 mph
||958 mbar
||2 fatalities, ;; $3.3 million (1950 USD) in damages
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Carol|Carol}}
||
||115 mph
||957 mbar
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Edna|Edna}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 954 mbar
||
|-
||1954
||{{w|Hurricane_Hazel|Hazel}}
||
||150 mph
||≤ 937 mbar
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Connie|Connie}}
||
||145 mph
||936 mbar
||
|-
||1955
||{{w|Hurricane_Diane|Diane}}
||
||120 mph
||≤ 969 mbar
||
|-
||1957
||{{w|Hurricane_Audrey|Audrey}}
||
||145 mph
||945 mbar
||
|-
||1958
||{{w|Hurricane_Helene_(1958)|Helene}}
||
||135 mph
||934 mbar
||
|-
||1959
||{{w|Hurricane_Gracie|Gracie}}
||
||140 mph
||950 mbar
||
|-
||1960
||{{w|Hurricane_Donna|Donna}}
||
||160 mph
||932 mbar
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Carla|Carla}}
||
||175 mph
||931 mbar
||
|-
||1961
||{{w|Hurricane_Esther_(1961)|Esther}}
||NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
||145 mph
||927 mbar
||Labelled incorrectly as 1951. The first cyclone to be discovered using satellite.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Dora|Dora}}
||FL
||130 mph
||942 mbar
||The first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the extreme northeast coast of Florida in the almost 80 years of record keeping. It killed five people.
|-
||1964
||{{w|Hurricane_Hilda|Hilda}}
||FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||Most intense of season, lasting 7 days and killing 38
|-
||1965
||{{w|Hurricane_Betsy|Betsy}}
||FL LA MS AR TE MO
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||Tropical Cyclone
|-
||1966
||{{w|Hurricane_Alma_(1966)|Alma}}
||
||125 mph
||970 mbar
||
|-
||1967
||{{w|Hurricane_Beulah|Beulah}}
||
||160 mph
||≤ 923 mbar
||
|-
||1969
||{{w|Hurricane_Camille|Camille}}
||
||175 mph
||900 mbar
||
|-
||1970
||{{w|Hurricane_Celia|Celia}}
||
||125 mph
||945 mbar
||
|-
||1972
||{{w|Hurricane_Agnes|Agnes}}
||
||85 mph
||977 mbar
||
|-
||1974
||{{w|Hurricane_Carmen|Carmen}}
||
||150 mph
||928 mbar
||
|-
||1975
||{{w|Hurricane_Eloise|Eloise}}
||
||125 mph
||955 mbar
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_David|David}}
||
||175 mph
||924 mbar
||
|-
||1979
||{{w|Hurricane_Frederic|Frederic}}
||
||135 mph
||943 mbar
||
|-
||1980
||{{w|Hurricane_Allen|Allen}}
||
||190 mph
||899 mbar
||
|-
||1984
||{{w|Hurricane_Diana_(1984)|Diana}}
||
||130 mph
||949 mbar
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Elena|Elena}}
||
||125 mph
||953 mbar
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Gloria|Glora}}
||
||145 mph
||919 mbar
||
|-
||1985
||{{w|Hurricane_Kate_(1985)|Kate}}
||
||120 mph
||954 mbar
||
|-
||1989
||{{w|Hurricane_Hugo|Hugo}}
||
||160 mph
||918 mbar
||
|-
||1991
||{{w|Hurricane_Bob|Bob}}
||
||115 mph
||950 mbar
||
|-
||1992
||{{w|Hurricane_Andrew|Andrew}}
||
||175 mph
||922 mbar
||
|-
||1995
||{{w|Hurricane_Opal|Opal}}
||
||150 mph
||916 mbar
||
|-
||1996
||{{w|Hurricane_Fran|Fran}}
||
||120 mph
||946 mbar
||
|-
||1998
||{{w|Hurricane_Bonnie_(1998)|Bonnie}}
||
||115 mph
||954 mbar
||
|-
||1999
||{{w|Hurricane_Floyd|Floyd}}
||FL to ME
||155 mph
||921 mbar
||Bad weather over Florida.
|-
||2002
||{{w|Hurricane_Lili|Lili}}
||LA
||145 mph
||938 mbar
||
|-
||2003
||{{w|Hurricane_Isabel|Isabel}}
||NC to PA
||165 mph
||915 mbar
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Charley|Charley}}
||
||150 mph
||941 mbar
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Frances|Frances}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Gaston_(2004)|Gaston}}
||
||75 mph
||985 mbar
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Ivan|Ivan}}
||
||165 mph
||910 mbar
||
|-
||2004
||{{w|Hurricane_Jeanne|Jeanne}}
||
||120 mph
||950 mbar
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Dennis|Dennis}}
||
||150 mph
||930 mbar
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Katrina|Katrina}}
||
||175 mph
||902 mbar
||
|-
||2005
||{{w|Hurricane_Rita|Rita}}
||
||180 mph
||895 mbar
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Gustav|Gustav}}
||
||155 mph
||941 mbar
||
|-
||2008
||{{w|Hurricane_Ike|Ike}}
||
||145 mph
||935 mbar
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Hurricane_Irene|Irene}}
||
||120 mph
||942 mbar
||
|-
||2011
||{{w|Tropical_Storm_Lee_(2011)|Lee}}
||
||60 mph
||986 mbar
||Not a hurricane, but "just" a tropical storm.
|-
||2012
||{{w|Hurricane_Sandy|Sandy}}
||
||115 mph
||940 mbar
||Hitting the New York City and New Jersey area with devastating effects for the Jersey Shore area.
|}

===Irrelevant Hurricane Facts===
Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, like Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*The current transcript below lacks all the hurricane names.

:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Maps]]