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According to this site and others, in the Northern hemisphere (where Florida is), they spin clockwise and in the Southern hemisphere they spin counter clockwise.
I spent alot of time watching since I have moved here AND we had one just the other day here off the East coast of Florida, it was spinning clockwise.
The earth's rotation sets up an apparent force (called the Coriolis force) that pulls the winds to the right in the Northern Hemisphere (and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere). When a low pressure system starts to form north of the equator, the surface winds will flow inward trying to fill in the low and will be deflected to the right and a counter-clockwise rotation will be initiated. The opposite (a deflection to the left and a clockwise rotation) will occur south of the equator.
Hurricanes rotate in a counterclockwise direction around an "eye." A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when winds reach 74 mph. There are on average six Atlantic hurricanes each year; over a three-year period, approximately five hurricanes strike the United States coastline from Texas to Maine. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and ends November 30. The East Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through November 30, with peak activity occurring during July through September.
From Francis we learned that the WALLS of our houses would allow water to come through them...Francis blew rain sideways through the walls, they realized (DUH) that maybe they should seal the walls. This of course went on all day...I had water blow in vents in my roof...I had water blow in through my glass block window over my garden tub.
Lisa: I have never heard what type walls had water go through them. Were they concrete block w/stucco or stucco over frame? I would guess that the water that came thru your window was because of the mortar being unsealed (?). Fortunately, we only lost shingles, but we also missed the brunt of the storm.
Hurricanes that hit Florida spin counter clockwise. The difference between and east coast landfall and a west coast landfall is that when a hurricane hits the east coast, it comes from the east and the counter clockwise rotation piles the water up on the north side. On the west coast, hurricanes have to make a hook toward the east in order to make landfall, this impact from the opposite direction causes the water to build up on the south side of the storm. Also, Charley had no storm surge here in SW FL. It all depends on wind speed, speed the storm is moving, location, and sometimes its just left to random circumstance. Every storm is unique almost as if they had their own personality.
You are right- In September 2004 (when we had 3 consecutive- ) we had the news on all week until power was lost for 2 weeks and we had no water. They kept reporting it was not headed toward West Palm, then an hour before that it headed toward Port Saint Lucie. Watching the news is a waste of time because there are so many factors of nature it cannot be predicted. A neighbor of mine from Silicon Valley likened it to earthquake prediction- they know its coming- just not how bad----
I think the consensus is counter-clockwise rotation,.....which makes sense.
Thanks to all who have added a thread with information and links. I have some quality reading ahead of me I'm sure that my generate some more questions.
According to this site and others, in the Northern hemisphere (where Florida is), they spin clockwise and in the Southern hemisphere they spin counter clockwise.
I spent alot of time watching since I have moved here AND we had one just the other day here off the East coast of Florida, it was spinning clockwise.
In our hemisphere, all hurricanes spin counter-clockwise. They are cyclonic storms, and cyclonic=counter-clockwise. In the South Atlantic, a storm would spin clockwise. Tornados spin counter-clockwise as well. (There are accounts of tornados that had a clockwise rotation - but it's very rare.)
Regarding storm surge - this is a problem on the east coast as well as the gulf. However, there are a couple of areas off the east coast that may lessen it - a bit. This was the case with Andrew. Although the storm had a surge, the height of the surge would have been even worse had a similar storm struck the gulf coast. The shelf off of the coast there causes surge to pile up higher.
But if you live on the water, you must be prepared for storm surge.
Being inland doesn't always guarantee safety from tropical systems. Charlie made a mess in central FL - there were blue tarps on roofs even there. Look at Floyd in inland NC - was much worse than Floyd's damage in FL. It was horrific.
A lot depends on the hurricane - its track, speed, and also how much rain it's dumping. A rainy system that stalls can cause awful flooding (Allison in TX). Flooding is usually the worst problem (but with Andrew, the FL damage was all wind).
The best way to understand hurricanes is to read about them. There are excellent preparation tips on this board (Sunrico has a great post on this). And there are plenty of books - two excellent ones are: Florida's Hurricane History by Jay Barnes, and Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones by David Longshore.
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