A new map done up in glowing colors reveals the swirling paths hurricanes and tropical storms have tread across our planet since 1851.

If it looks a little odd at first, it's because this hurricane map offers a unique perspective of the Earth; Antarctica is smack in the middle, and the rest of the planet unfurls around it like the petals of a tulip.

The Americas are on the right, Asia is on the left; the storms plotted on the map grow brighter as their intensity increases.

The effect is not only informative — more than 150 years of hurricane data show that certain regions are consistently in the storms'