North County Times/The Californian - Mark Ritter's Skies Above column

Our planet spins and spins, all the live-long day. It is because of this spin that we have the giant ocean currents that swirl around the Atlantic, and the overall nice weather that our friends in the south enjoy and which attracts millions of tourists annually.

As the warm waters of the ocean currents around the southern latitudes cycle up toward the north, they can spawn hurricanes. It seems now that the warmer the waters, the faster the currents. And the faster currents lead to more terrifying hurricanes.

It appears that this all occurs in an oscillating kind of way.

Meaning that we are in a heavy hurricane period ---- now. But the 1970s through the early 1990s saw lower temps and fewer monster 'canes. Before that, from about the mid-1920s to the late 1960s, it was warmer and nasty hurricanes were more numerous. As far back as we've recorded, heavy hurricane decades appear to come and go.

Bottom line for the moment: We are probably in a time of higher hurricane numbers, and they may be bad for some years to come.

So how can any of this hurricane stuff be good? How is it we "can't live without them"?

Few of us have thought through what it would be like if conditions were not ripe for hurricanes.

For example, what if the world were spinning even faster? What if our day were just a few hours long rather than the 24 hours it is now?

Early on in the history of our planet, we probably had five-to-10-hour days. The earth spun quicktime to say the least. Spinning this fast meant that we had winds, severe winds, all the time. And I ain't talking the wimpy Santa Ana type or even the slightly-less-winpy Katrina kind.

An astrophysicist friend of mine calculates that in those early days the winds swept over at hundreds of miles an hour ---- if not over a thousand ---- all the time.

We see tremendous wind speeds like this on the "gas giants" in the outer solar system. Those planets out there, all of them, spin fast. Neptune's winds average over 2000 miles per hour.

Now, you can fly one mean kite under these conditions, but you will not enjoy life on a planet with winds that can tear your hair off your head.

And the weather patterns on those planets are confined to narrow bands across the face of the planet. This is hardly the lazy ebb and flow of high pressure and low pressure systems we see the local weather guy trying to explain on the 6 o'clock news.

If our spin rate were slower, if our planet took 30 to 40 hours or more to slooooowly spin around, things don't get better.

We may avoid ideal hurricane conditions of today, but there would be other, much more severe, things to worry about.

Imagine having the sun up for more than 20 hours at a time, heating the equator and mid-latitudes to a fare-thee-well.

Just as bad, the sun would be gone for about the same amount of time, our stored heat now flowing out into space with nothing to replace it, thus cooling us way, way, down.

Each "day" we would experience extreme temperature fluctuations.

Right now our spin rate allows us a blessed midway between the extremes. Our planet spins just fast enough that weather systems can sweep nicely across the face of continents, delivering alternating times of life-giving rain and sunshine for much of the planet.

Not too fast a spin, not too slow ---- but just right for a tremendous amount of ideal living space.

And, let's be honest, hurricanes hardly pop up at random spots over the globe. The real estate they claim for themselves is pretty well established. We know their favorite haunts and, thanks to modern technology, we can track them as they meander across the Gulf. This, ideally, gives people who choose to live in such vulnerable areas ample time to prepare or evacuate.

And lest you think I'm harshly judging the people of the south for choosing to live in a veritable parking lot for hurricanes, I myself have chosen, with full knowledge, and under no duress, to live in a part of the country ripe for earthquakes.

Even though hurricanes seem like natural evils ---- and to be sure they can bring much pain ---- I might argue here that they are a relatively minor price to pay in comparison to what "might be."

A hurricane is, for me, another awesome and terrifying reminder that this planet we live on, this rock we call our home that literally bursts with abundant life, is an amazing work of just-right art.

Mark Ritter teaches astronomy at Temecula Valley High School and can be reached at mritter@firstlightastro.com.