Why do hurricanes spin counter clockwise and cyclones spin clockwise?

Answer 1

"The direction of a tropical cyclone’s spin depends on whether it forms in the top half of Earth or the bottom half. All tropical cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

What’s the difference? Earth’s rotation is responsible for what is called the Coriolis force, which tends to pull winds to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. So when a low pressure center forms north of the equator, winds are pulled to the right as they blow into the center of the low and the wind flow is counter-clockwise. South of the equator, winds toward the low’s center are deflected to the left, so the rotation is clockwise."

Answer 2

Go here to see a movie on how this works:
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/fw/crls.rxml

>Cyclones can spin counter clockwise or clockwise and is the name for a Hurricane on the other side of the world.
>Hurricanes can spin counter clockwise or clockwise and these are what we call them on this side of the world.

>The ones that spin counter clockwise are the ones in the Northern Hemispere whether it be a Cyclone or a Hurricane.
>The ones that spin clockwise are the ones in the Southern Hemispere whether it be a Cyclone or a Hurricane.




Coriolis Force
an artifact of the earth's rotation

Once air has been set in motion by the pressure gradient force, it undergoes an apparent deflection from its path, as seen by an observer on the earth. This apparent deflection is called the "Coriolis force" and is a result of the earth's rotation.

As air moves from high to low pressure in the northern hemisphere, it is deflected to the right by the Coriolis force. In the southern hemisphere, air moving from high to low pressure is deflected to the left by the Coriolis force.

The amount of deflection the air makes is directly related to both the speed at which the air is moving and its latitude. Therefore, slowly blowing winds will be deflected only a small amount, while stronger winds will be deflected more. Likewise, winds blowing closer to the poles will be deflected more than winds at the same speed closer to the equator. The Coriolis force is zero right at the equator.

Answer 3

The first thing to know is that a hurricane is a cyclone, exept it's called a hurricane when the storm is in the Atlantic ocean and cyclone when it's in the Pacific ocean. Their rotational direction depends entirely whether the storm is in the Northern or Southern hemisphere (above or below the equator). In the Northern H., rotation is always counter-clockwise, clockwise in the Southern H. The direction of water flowing down a drain differs the same way as the rotation of a storm, depending upon which hemisphere you're in. Next time you flush the toilet, notice that the water is draining counter-clockwise. In the Southern H. it's the exact opposite.

Answer 4

I assume you're either Asian or Australian, so I know what you're asking.

In Oz and the Indian ocean, they call hurricanes "cyclones" (Although I wish they would come up for a less ambiguous term for those storms). The reason why cyclones rotate clockwise is because of the Coriolis force. Despite some myths, your toilet doesn't flush one way in one hemisphere and another way in another hemisphere. The Coriolis effect is too week to affect small vortexes. It depends on water placement.

Answer 5

Hurricanes *are* a type of cyclone (cyclonic rotation, anyway)... Unless you mean something else by the word "cyclone." Cyclones (which could technically include hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes) spin counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

Answer 6

Cyclone Spin

Answer 7

Google "coriolis force". Wind and water spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. It's gravitational. watch the water in your toilet. If you are north of the equator, it'll flush spinning counter-clockwise, if you're in Australia, it'll be clockwise.

Answer 8

Wow I didn't know that!
Guess it's got 2 do with the Direction of opposing winds.
Creating cyclones/hurricanes.
Why do they name Hurricanes & not Cyclones?
Or do they?
Oppps that's not really answering UR question is it?
I think I should say, I don't know, sorry.

Answer 9

Because of which hemisphere it is in a toilet will do the same thing in one hemisphere it will flush the water clockwise and counter in the other hemisphere.weird aint it

Answer 10

Coriolis Force.