WHY HURRICANES MOVE WEST?

Joseph Stanovsky PhD

2012 by J Stanovsky Abstract How earth slides out from under a rotating cloud mass. Cloud motion surrounding an area of low barometric pressure. Radar weather maps are displayed in magazines, newspapers and on television news programs. Today, however, instead of ground radar sources most weather maps are actually photographs from space stations. Meteorologists use these weather maps to show the distribution and motion of clouds that contain mixtures of rain, sleet, snow and wind. When weather maps are viewed, clouds in the Northern hemisphere that surround an area of low barometric pressure tend to rotate counterclockwise (viewed from above). This direction is identical to the radial component of the angular velocity vector and can be predicted by using the right hand rule. With the thumb of the right hand pointing parallel to the positive radial direction, the curl of the fingers define the corresponding direction of rotation. For clouds in the Southern hemisphere surrounding an area of low barometric pressure, the same procedure can be used. In this case, however, the thumb of the right hand must point from the surface of Earth toward the center of Earth. And as before, the curl of the fingers indicate the angular rotation of the clouds. However, the equivalent results can be determined by using the left hand rule. In this case the thumb of the left hand points from center of Earth to the surface of Earth and the curl of the fingers on the left hand correctly define the rotational tendency of low pressure related storm clouds.

Northern hemisphere
Cos = Sin Sin 0 equator = latitude Arctic equator Cos

Antarctic

= Sin +Sin 0 Southern hemisphere

Figure 1: Both figures represent the Earth. Latitude is positive (0 < < 90) in both the Northern and n s Southern hemisphere sketches. Note that = 0, indicating the vectors are orthogonal. Compare the solution in Fig 1 with a Figure on Page 5 (in wikipedia.org/Wiki/Low-pressure_area) to consider traditional air flow conditions around a low-pressure area in the Northern hemisphere. Note that the term "Coriolis effect" used there has no significant meaning. HURRICANE MOTION The characteristic shape of a hurricane cloud mass may be compared to a plate of mashed potatoes piled high in plate center and tapering toward plate rim. But unlike a small plate of potatoes the radius of an actual hurricane may be a thousand miles or more in diameter and only approximately circular. Tropical storms, those that eventually become hurricanes in the Northern hemisphere, can form in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes also occur in the Bering Sea, a place where sea temperature is very cold. In the western Pacific Ocean near Indonesia, China, the Phillipines, Japan and Korea hurricanes are identified as typhoons.

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WHY HURRICANES MOVE WEST?

Hurricanes begin after the onset of a storm. These are cyclonic storms that churn the surface of the water below the cloud mass and the volume of air between the sea surface and storm cloud. When a storm system in the Northern hemisphere is viewed from space, the cloud rotate counterclockwise. This rotational motion is the same direction as the curl of fingers show when the thumb of the right hand points parallel to the angular velocity of earth for the coordinate of the storm (at latitude ). A rotating storm becomes a hurricane when the speed of the winds around the center (eye) reach 75 miles per hour (or 110 feet per second). What is unusual about the motion of a hurricane in The South Atlantic is that it moves from its birth site near Africa toward the West (to the continental US) (The gentle trade winds do not affect storm motion). The westward movement of hurricane mass is contrary to the eastward rotational motion of Earth. The wind motion around the hurricane eye is counterclockwise and since both storm and hurricane are spinning masses of moisture laden clouds with rain between the storm cloud system, the system rotates. The cloud system tends to resist the Earths movement to the East. It is the angular momentum of the mass of earth that overpowers a storm to defines the westward motion of a hurricane. Note first, that the rotating storm clouds are not connected to the surface of Earth and second, that the surface of Earth moves to the East but the cloud mass does not move eastward at the same rate as does the surface of Earth. Thus, Earth slides out from under the storm cloud mass. It is in this way that a hurricane cloud appears to move to the West. As the latitude of hurricane clouds get larger (>25), the angular velocity of earth may become large enough ( Sin ) for a hurricane cloud system to move both North and East. Hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean that begin near the coast of North or South America also move toward the west (some of them may affect Hawaii and other island nations). Hence, pacific coast hurricanes that increase in magnitude tend to die at sea far from the continental mass. SIMPLE (Opinion) Happy men dont volunteer! ABOUT The symbol defines the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. By the end of the 4th Century (i.c.e.) Chinese mathematicians used the ratio 355/113 to define . The difference between and 355/113 is about 0.000000267.

MAY I CORRECT YOU MUM? [Lagniappe] In 1961, Moderator Burleigh presided at a 400 year anniversary. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were welcomed by the citizens of Edinburgh and later by delegates of the Church of Scotland . The Queen addressed the assembled delegates and after her speech received the loving accolades of all. However, after the sounds of the ovation subsided, Moderator Burleigh turns to face the Queen. He bows gracefully, and when he again stands tall he says to the Queen: Mum! He may have been King James the Sixth of England, but he was King James the First of Scotland! The Moderator of the Church of Scotland ended with another bow, but stood tall quickly because of the noise and foot stomping applause that came in response to his correction of the Queen. That enthusiastic response included shouting, laughter, whistling and yelling. This noisy response to a very short speech essentially ended the session. There was no attempt to quiet the delegates, or to reconvene the session in order to close the session or to thank the Queen for attending an important celebration. The thank you had to be the flags and bunting that had decorated Edinburgh, and the cannon sounds that punctuated the day-long celebration. It was just as well, too, because it was time for lunch. Today, citizens of Scotland govern themselves. Today, Scotland has its own parliament. Cheers WW! Slaandjivaa! Auf Schottland! Gan bei! Oogg wawa! Na Zdrav ! und Gezondheid!

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