Hurricane Zyklos
Hurricane Zyklos was a strong tropical storm that formed off of the Euran Coast in late 1680 AN. The storm was first classified by the Southern Meteorological Service, and was incorporated into a test of that service's weather manipulation technology. SMS personnel and equipment were airlifted to Porto Vormouna near one of the storm's projected paths, and were subsequently loaded onto the CSS Eagle, an aircraft carrier, to get closer to the storm and provide the aircraft which would be used against the storm with a closer runway. The SMS began monitoring the storm from the carrier, but said that no direct action to affect the storm would be taken until the storm was classified as a hurricane, which the SMS believed to be inevitable at the time. They were proven right when, on 3.IX.1680 AN, Zyklos was reclassified as a category 1 hurricane. Anti-hurricane measures were immediately initiated, beginning with seeding the eye wall in an attempt to cause the storm to collapse.
Timeline
- 24.VIII.1680 AN: SMS issues a warning citing a new tropical depression in the sea near Eura. Early predictions showed it would likely become stronger.
- 1.IX.1680 AN: SMS recategorises the depression as a tropical storm, and names it Zyklos.
- 2.IX.1680 AN:
- 11:00 - SMS airlifts personnel and equipment to Porto Vormouna to study Zyklos.
- 16:00 - SMS takes CSS Eagle out near the storm.
- 3.IX.1680 AN:
- 7:00 - Zyklos is recategorised as a category 1 hurricane.
- 9:00 - CSS Eagle begins moving with the storm; contingent of propeller planes begin flying into the eye and seeding the eyewall with silver iodide.
- 4.IX.1680 AN:
- 10:00 - Zyklos strengthens into a category 2 hurricane.
- 12:00 - SMS personnel send three expert pilots into the hurricane with high-power lasers to cause lightning discharges to lower the storm's negativity.
- 13:00 - Radar and satellite imagery show that the hurricane's eye has become unstable.
- 15:00 - Zyklos strengthens into a category 3 hurricane.
- 5.IX.1680 AN:
- 3:00 - SMS personnel revise their path predictions, with the most likely path now having the hurricane sweep down the eastern Euran coast toward Hatkrou, Porto Vormouna, and Port Ulje.
- 4:00 - Zyklos strengthens into a category 4 hurricane.
- 5:00 - With the hurricane only 75 kilometres from the Euran coast, SMS personnel begin seeding even more. Rain falls into the ocean in extraordinary amounts.
- 17:00 - Radar reports massive instability in the eyewall, as the storm's negativity and rain are being discharged rapidly.
- 6.IX.1680 AN:
- 5:00 - SMS begins dumping a biodegradable, highly absorbant polymer into the storm.
- 11:00 - Eyewall suddenly collapses, resulting in the storm rapidly slowing down and being recategorised as a tropical depression.
- 16:00 - Zyklos almost completely dissipates over the ocean, transforming into merely a moderate-strength front of thunderstorms.
- 18:00 - The SMS personnel are credited with a victory against nature by the Union Australis.
- 7.IX.1680 AN:
- 11:00 - The remnants of Zyklos wash over Hatkrou, Porto Vormouna, and Port Ulje as a mere thunderstorm of moderate strength, with the hurricane-force winds successfully dissipated.
