re "hurricanes are known to strike on a somewhat regular basis" if they were 'regular', we'd know when and where they would occur, and could more easily avoid their consequences. I suggest that 'frequent' is a better description of their occurrence patterns.

Many years ago, in a Usenet discussion, I was musing on this topic. I pointed out that even mankind's most powerful tools, e.g. a nuclear explosion, were puny compared to the energy in a hurricane. (Of course some twit chastised me for suggesting we drop nuclear bombs on hurricanes). I suggested that rather than trying to overpower a hurricane, we might find a way to turn its energy against itself, rather like in some of the martial arts, where a small opponent overcomes a much larger one. But nobody suggested how that might be achieved. A few years ago I heard of another approach, which is to cover the ocean with a thin film of (biodegradable) oil, which would greatly reduce the evaporation of water vapour (& energy) from the surface. The suggested way to achieve this was to soak straw bales with the oil and drop them from aircraft. I have not heard whether this has been tried yet.