Hurricanes or Typhoons in the Northern Hemisphere rotate counterclockwise due to the Coriolis force. Due to the same reason Hurricanes or Typhoons in the Southern Hemisphere rotate clockwise. Is it possible for a storm to travel from the Northern to Southern hemisphere, if so would the winds change direction, or would the storm be disrupted and disband.
2007-08-22 06:11:42 · 4 answers · asked by corbitr 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
Quote:
"Could a hurricane cross ? Yes, because a well developed storm has plenty of spin that would dominate the weak Coriolis force near there. If it crossed the Coriolis force would be working against the initial direction of the spin, but it would be dominated by what we call the relative vorticity of the storm. Have we seen this happen ? Hurricanes can move south and get close to the equator but I cannot find an example of one crossing in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific. In the Indian Ocean some come closer to pulling off this trick. Why don't they cross ? The variation in Coriolis with latitude - called the Beta effect - actually will move a hurricane to the NW in the northern hemisphere even if there is no large scale wind pushing the storm along ! So, Coriolis not onlyseems to be a necessary ingredient to make a storm, but it may also pull them away from the equator making the crossing event a tough one to pull off."
2007-08-22 07:13:12 · answer #1 · answered by dsw_s 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
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RE:
Does wind direction change on a hurricane if it moves from the northern to southern hemisphere?
Hurricanes or Typhoons in the Northern Hemisphere rotate counterclockwise due to the Coriolis force. Due to the same reason Hurricanes or Typhoons in the Southern Hemisphere rotate clockwise. Is it possible for a storm to travel from the Northern to Southern hemisphere, if so would the winds change...
2015-08-13 01:06:34 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A hurricane, however strong it may be, will get weakened once it comes near the Equator and vanish completely when it is over the equator.At the most it may remain a weather disturbance without any organised wind pattern.Because,the coriolis force which introduces the whirling motion to any revolving storm is zero at the equator.So there is no question of any hurricane crossing the equator.No such thing has so far happened.
No revolving storm has formed so far within 5 degrees latitude on both sides of the equator.
2007-08-22 07:05:12 · answer #3 · answered by Arasan 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The answer from the professor at the University of Hawaii is correct. This question brought back memories of an assignment a group of us meteorology students were given as to that possibility. There were a lot of arguments, almost fist fights, but our final paper (which if I remember right we got an "A "on) was similar to his answer. Except we had to provide the mathematical
calculations showing the forces and energy involved. That was many, many years ago. Very good question. And it still hasn't happened that I know of.
2007-08-22 09:53:14 · answer #4 · answered by Water 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, once spin is established, that is it's direction. Even if it crosses the equator.
2007-08-22 06:17:16 · answer #5 · answered by muddypuppyuk 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋