Do tornadoes, hurricanes, and dust devils all rotate clockwise or counter, each different, or depends?

Answer 1

I agree with arasan and everything he says. I shall add a little to his answer, hopefully, to better explain it. In the Coriolis term, you will find that this apparent force has terms that are dependent on two things, the position and how much and how quickly the change. In the case of something that is moving slowly or not at all over the surface of the earth, then the movement is only due to the spin of the earth. Since this spin (change in angle) is rather slow (24 hours to complete 360 degrees) the apparent force becomes time dependent. In other words for the force to overcome much strong forces(such as pressure gradient, thermal, ...etc) it takes time. In the case of dust devils, which spin up in a matter of seconds, or tornadoes which at most may take an hour or two (usually much shorter that that) it then becomes a matter of micro scale meteorological parameters that determine the direction of rotation and since the other forces may have a balance one way or the other, dust devils and to some extent tornadoes can and do turn in either direction. But, in the case of tropical cyclones (hurricanes), which take days to develop, yes, the Coriolis force comes into play and causes the spin to be in the one direction only that it is dependent on which side of the equator it is on. Note, this is also why no tropical cyclone can develop on the equator. The Coriolis force is zero on the equator and increases as you move away from the equator. Due to that, no tropical cyclone has ever developed within 5 degrees of the equator.

Answer 2

Coriolis force does not affect small weather systems like tornadoes and dust devils which are free to rotate in any direction.So, sometimes, they rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.But they affect large systems like hurricanes and make them rotate anti-clockwise in the Nortrhern Hemisphers and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Answer 3

Large scale cyclonic systems (typhoons, hurricanes, et al) always rotate counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Smaller generally do the same but may occasionally rotate in the opposite direction.

Answer 4

Depends on the hemisphere the are in and the time of year.

Answer 5

depends on the hemisphere they're in, the coriolis effect from the earth spinning is what causes it to spin a certain direction

Answer 6

depends on hemisphere