Why storms move west to east

Naturally, being nature, hurricanes do not always follow this pattern. A hurricane's spin and the spin's direction is determined by a super-powerful phenomenon called the "Coriolis effect. A major factor that determines wind direction is air pressure.

Wind travels from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. Additionally, heat and pressure cause the wind to shift direction. Additional factors that affect wind direction are the Coriolis Effect and Topography.

The movement of weather patterns from west to east in the south of Australia is very constant. It relies on the rotation of the earth and the heating of the earth's surface by the sun. The movement of weather in the north of Australia is the opposite: with tropical weather patterns often moving from east to west! The reason that they most often move from west to east is due to the jet stream.

The jet stream is a narrow band of fast, flowing air currents located near the altitude of the tropopause that flow from west to east. Jet streams carry weather systems. Warmer tropical air blows toward the colder northern air. Tornadoes can appear from any direction. Most move from southwest to northeast, or west to east. This is because of an increased frequency of certain tornado-producing weather patterns say, hurricanes in south Texas, or northwest-flow weather systems in the upper Midwest.

The speed of isolated storms is typically about 20 km 12 miles per hour , but some storms move much faster. In extreme circumstances, a supercell storm may move 65 to 80 km about 40 to 50 miles per hour. Most storms continually evolve and have new cells developing while old ones dissipate. Thunderstorms that form at night occur in the absence of heating at the ground by the sun.

Consequently, the storms that form at night are usually "elevated," meaning that they form aloft above the cooler air near the ground, rather than near the ground, which only during the day can get warmer. Myth: Thunderstorms and tornadoes always move from west to east.

Tornadoes have been known to act erratic, and can change directions and speed very quickly. Never try to outrun a tornado in a vehicle.

Wind flowing east to west off of Africa will move any tropical system toward us. However, the Coriolis force is zero at the equator. As a result, tropical cyclones are virtually nonexistent between latitudes 5 degrees N and 5 degrees S.

National Weather Service records indicate that only one hurricane has ever crossed the equator. This warm water lies well within the belt of easterly winds, so almost all the storms that form there move away from the coast, toward the west. This is called cyclonic flow. Chilton explained generally, tornadoes follow the movement of the thunderstorms that produce them. The motion of a thunderstorm across the land is determined primarily by the interactions of its updrafts and downdrafts with steering winds in the middle layers of the atmosphere in which the storm develops.

The speed of isolated storms is typically about 20 km 12 miles per hour, but some storms move much faster. Be particularly aware of weather to the west, the direction from which most bad weather arrives. Watch for fog that creates problems in inlets and bays. Head toward the nearest shore if heavy rain, a thunderstorm, or a hurricane is approaching.

In the tropics, where hurricanes form, easterly winds called the trade winds steer a hurricane towards the west. The clockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere of air associated with high-pressure systems often cause hurricanes to stray from their initially east-to-west movement and curve northward. Wind is the movement of air, but wind is highly variable. This wind difference is quite common. In July, , Hurricane Bob crossed Florida from west to east, tracked north along the Florida coast, made landfall on the southern coast of South Carolina as a tropical storm, and finally traveled north through western Virginia.

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