Hurricanes and the Coriolis effect?

AI Thread Summary
Hurricanes do not typically cross the equator due to the Coriolis effect, which influences their rotation. The Coriolis effect causes cyclones to spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. This chiral nature means that if a hurricane is strong in one hemisphere, it will be weaker in the other, preventing it from crossing the equatorial zone. There is a gradual reversal of water flow direction as one approaches the equator, but the angular momentum of the hurricane resists this change, further inhibiting crossing.
ben_orin
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Do hurricanes experience the Coriolis effect going down or up category after crossing the equator? The Coriolis effect is what makes water spin counter clockwise/clockwise down a drain on either side of the equator.
Is this the correct sub forum for this post?
 
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Welcome to PF.
ben_orin said:
Do hurricanes experience the Coriolis effect going down category after crossing the equator?
Which hurricane, or tropical cyclone, has ever crossed the equator?
 
Thanks! I just lost the key to my old acct, be back in a day on it when Greg gets to it. Sorry, kinda new to Earth Science. Is there a gradual reversal of the direction of water flow (cw/ccw) while approaching the equator due to the Coriolis effect that the angular momentum of the hurricane or tropical cyclone resists, keeping it from crossing over?
 
You're an Engineer? Sweet! What kind? Congrats on the award! @Baluncore
 
ben_orin said:
Is there a gradual reversal of the direction of water flow (cw/ccw) while approaching the equator that the angular momentum of the hurricane or tropical cyclone resists keeping it from crossing over?
Yes.
Hurricanes are chiral. If their hand is amplified in one hemisphere, they will be attenuated in the other. For that reason, they cannot cross the equatorial zone.

ben_orin said:
You're an Engineer? Sweet! What kind?
The old human kind.
 
Baluncore said:
The old human kind.
My favorite kind!!
 
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