This week in one big storm system on April 26-28, 258 storms broke out. This was the greatest amount of storms worldwide that was ever recorded, the previous record was 148. The largest and most devastating tornado went through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Alabama (according to Tammie Souza of FOX Chicago News, April 29, 2011). It was a rare EF-5, with wind speeds in excess of 200 mph. This sets a new track record by staying on the ground for at least 175 miles. 

Am I wrong, or are there ever increasing amounts of major and record breaking storms, earthquakes and tsunamis happening in all parts of the world recently? 

Japan just suffered it’s strongest earthquake in 140 years in the north-east coast, coupled with a giant tsunami that caused many to perish and much damage to the country. 

A brief look back in history will show that within the last decades, some major events have transpired and in record numbers. 

2000-2009 had the most category five hurricanes in one decade. 2007 was the first time that two category five hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. 2005 was the first time that two category five hurricanes ever formed in one year. 

In 1970, the deadliest cyclone (Bhola) formed in Pakistan and about half a million people died.

In 1975, the worst typhoon (Nina) in history struck China and killed 100,000 people.

In 2008, the largest natural disaster to hit the U.S. was hurricane Katrina, about 2,000 people perished and it’s cost was $80 billion dollars.

Some other brief facts:

That in the 16th Century, Nicolaus Copernicus revealed to mankind the first general diagram of the Solar System. In 1619, Johannes Kepler (who wanted to be a Lutheran Minister) showed the elliptical orbits of the planets. I 1687, Isaac Newton (who believed in only One God, and not the trinity) discovered the Law of Gravity. In 1610, Galileo (who was persecuted by the Catholic Church for a while) discovered Jupiter’s moons. In 1774 William Herschel (who was also a noted musician) mapped out 90,000 stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

It was not until the Twentieth Century when mankind began to see and understand the heavens. Between 1915 and 1919, Albert Einstein unveiled his “General Theory of Relativity,” which enabled giant leaps forward in the understanding of time, light, and space. During the 1920s, Edwin Hubble discovered that several presumed “nebulae” were instead entire galaxies. Before that time, the Milky Way Galaxy was presumed to be the entire Universe. In 1957, Russia launches the first Satellite into orbit. The U.S. landed on the moon in 1969. In 1990, Hubble also discovered the fact that the Universe is constantly expanding. As we speak now, plans are being made to explore the planet Mars by the year 2030 or less.