Can someone please explain to me why hurricanes cannot form along the equator.?

Answer 1

I for one don't find any of these answers to be very right.

Just in a quick google search I found a more realistic answer: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/hurricanes.html

The basic answer is that the rotation of a storm comes from something called vorticity. The coriolis force, caused by the difference in rotation speeds at one latitude versus another, naturally supplies some continual help in getting storms to rotate clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. But Coriolis force is strongest at the poles and weakest near the equator... and is thus not that strong even where hurricanes do form.
Hurricanes could theoretically cross the equator.
But storms are directed naturally away from the equator (NW in the NH and SW in the SH) by the Coriolis force (the Beta gyre term this professor talks about), and there aren't much in the way of upper storm systems near the equator to push them against their natural inclination.

In theory, I don't see why a hurricane can't form at the equator either.
In theory, though.
Because the storm would need to become isolated so that the pressures can start to fall quickly and help the storm intensify. As long as there are just a broad cluster of storms, they don't organize and start to have winds increase. And right near the equator is the Intertropiocal Convergence Zone, large regions of cloudiness and showers all the way around the globe due to the convergence of winds from the northern and southern hemispheres. I think this is the real reason you don't ever see any major storms form near the equator. Occasionally you will see a storm form on the northern outskirts of the ITCZ, further from the equator. But closer to the center (and the equator), it is generally too widespread rainy and overcast to get anything to organize.
When the ITCZ moves into the summer hemisphere, you can also see that storms do not form as near the equator as usual. Same reason.

And as was said before, there's no background rotation to help organize that heat into one location (otherwise it just spreads out from the center and weakens). And as you've probably heard, latent heat release from the rains fuels the development of tropical cyclones. If the heat doesn't collect, you don't get a storm. And any storm entering the region loses its continual source of background rotation that helps maintain it, and friction begins to kill out the rotation. If it were to cross the equator, the natural rotation would actually be the opposite direction, and you'd really start to see the storm fall apart.

...

Well, I probably thoroughly confused you... but the reason IS a mixture of the ITCZ and the Coriolis force. Nearer the equator there is just no natural spin to help organize the heating from thunderstorms into one area and help it intensify. And that is why we have this large area of broad storms near the equator... which themselves are proof that and storms can't organize and further hinder them from doing so.
But in reality, the usage of the word CAN'T is flawed!

Check out http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/index.html and see how close some storms have come to crossing the equator! Within probably about 2 degrees!

Hope I helped you get a broader perspective of the reasons behind it and not just repeated the answer someone heard from someone else. :-)

Answer 2

Hurricanes and cyclones are low pressure systems. When they form you'd expect the surrounding higher pressure air to flow in radially. But minute forces, caused by the earth's rotation, make the wind flowing towards the low pressure rotate - anticlockwise northern hemisphere, clockwise southern. They're called Coriolis forces. Now imagine a low pressure forming in the southern hemisphere. The first tiny breezes trying to fill the low pressure are made to rotate in a clockwise direction. The low pressure deepens and what was a breeze is now a cyclone. If the cyclone now moves north across the equator the Coriolis forces - now anticlockwise - will try to reverse the rotation, but they're far too small to have any effect. The cyclone will continue to rotate in a clockwise direction.

The correct names for the topical storms in either hemispheres is Tropical Revolving Storms (TRS). Other names are usually local to an area eg. Hurricane, Spanish, hurakan, god of the storm, or typhoon from the Chinese dialect, tai fung or big wind. The earth's rotation, the geostrophic effect, determines the direction of rotation of the TRS and in the northern hemisphere it is anti-clock wise or left handed and in the southern hemisphere it is clock wise or right handed. The storms originate generally between 7 and 15 degrees latitude, south or north. They travel initially in a direction of between west to south-west in the southern hemisphere and west and north-west in the northern hemisphere. They generally recurve (change course about 90 degrees to their original course line) at 25 degrees latitude, may be lower in southern hemisphere, and take a direction of north-east in the northern hemisphere or south-east in the southern hemisphere. The formation of a TRS occurs over the ocean as a result of the differential heating between the air and the sea, this causes spiralling thermal currents which gather intensity resulting in a low pressure system. They always travel away from the equator and therefore never cross it.

hope it answers your question

Answer 3

My best guess at this question is.......The area around the equator is called the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. This is the area where the trade winds collide from the northern and southern hemispheres. This area is more or less in a constant state of thunderstorm activity. We all know that hurricanes form from clusters of thunderstorms that begin to "organize" themselves. So one would think that in an area of constant thunderstorms there would be a lot of hurricanes. However , due to the strong winds from the northern and southern hemispheres colliding here , the upper atmosphere is very chaotic and the clusters of thunderstorms cannot " organize" themselves into tropical systems. Upper level wind shear is not conducive to the development of tropical systems and the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone is loaded with upper level wind shear. So that why you dont see hurricanes forming there.

Answer 4

The gravitational pull effects the spin of air masses. North of the equator, hurricanes spin counterclockwise. South of the equator, it is the opposite. On the equator, there can be no spin. Kind of like Fox News.

Seriously though, the same is true about toilets. When you flush a toilet north of the equator, the water tumbles down in one direction and always in that direction. South of the equator is the opposite.

Answer 5

To elaborate on the no spin angle, the opposite spins above and below the equator tear themselves apart at the equator.

Answer 6

Ah Funny a hurricane in the Equator is called a Typhoon!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

Haven't thought about it

Answer 8

Thanks everyone for all the answers.