Ever hear of a hurricane travelling in the wrong direction?

Question

Several years ago, I 'm sure I heard a news report about a hurricane that was travelling in a westerly direction. I remember this because hurricanes always travel west to east, and this was a rare anomaly, but I cannot seem to find any news stories or scientific articles on it. Does anyone remember what year this occurred, or the name of the storm? Just looking for some specific details.

Answer 1

Hurricanes travel east to west NOT west to east(although they will change directions to the east in the gulf). Most US hurricanes start from large storms from west africa and move west into the carribean or out to sea toward the north thet back east creating storms in europe. Major movement is always east to west with them often changing direction once they get large and near land. I know a few have actually gone from one side of florida and back across....in the end they curl to the NE tho and out to sea and on to europe.

Answer 2

Most hurricanes generally move west to east at the lower latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere because that's the way the prevailing winds generally blow. Once they reach the higher latitudes, they usually curve back to the north and east due to being caught up in the westerly winds common at those latitudes.

Occasionally, unusual weather conditions will cause a storm to follow an unusual path. I believe that Hurricane Jeanne that hit Florida a couple years ago was one like that. I also remember Diana in 1984 doing a loop off the NC coast. In 2000, Alberto did a loop in the middle of the Atlantic. It's not really all that rare.

Here's a site that will show you the tracks of many past hurricanes: http://maps.csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/index.htm

And here's one that shows the tracks of all hurricanes for a particular year: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastall.shtml

Answer 3

rainerhood got it right........to quote from " A Cruisers Guide to Hurricane Survival", 3rd Edition:


" The best you can do in speaking about hurricane tracks, both historically and predictably, is to speak about averages and trends. There are any number of web sites (www.stormvi.com and the National Hurricane Center’s www.nhc.noaa.com are two of my favorites) that have records of hurricane tracks. If you have a moment, go look at those sites. If you don’t have web access, a summation could be: while storms typically track west in lower latitudes and then west-nor’west, northwest, then north, and finally northeast by the time they get towards the mid-Atlantic states, this is only an average and not a hard and fast truth. The cliché ‘It looks like a plate of spaghetti’ actually applies in this case. The truth is, storms, like the proverbial 600-pound gorilla, can go any damn place they want.

They can be influenced by landmasses, cold fronts 600 miles away, interaction with other lows, the Bermuda High and demonic possession. Klaus and Lenny went east across the Caribbean in November, a time and direction unprecedented in recorded history. "

Answer 4

It was probably hurricane Lenny which formed in 1999 in October in the western Caribbean and moved eastward and impacted the northern leeward islands as a Category 4. This was somewhat unusual in that hurricanes usually move from east to west. However there movement is controlled by upper level winds. If the upper level winds blow from west to east the storm is forced eastward. Hurricanes getting forced to move eastward is really not unheard of it just depends on the atmospheric conditions around it. They are very erratic and unpredictable. I hope that this answers your question. The National Hurricane Center has a great website with tons of information. www.nhc.noaa.gov

Answer 5

You mean starting in the west? I know many hurricanes that start in the east, go west, then turn around in the Carribbean and go east again.

The link below has a bunch of interesting weather facts. ^_^

Answer 6

I dont know about hurricanes but cyclones (which are similar to hurricanes) can travel from west to east or east to west. i have seen many cyclones do that before.

Answer 7

no i never heard of a hurricane traveling in the wrong direction
also you spelled traveling wrong(extra l's)