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Home » Consumer Information » Hurricanes » Assessment

Movement

It is very difficult to predict the movements of a hurricane. They can move in erratic and hard to follow patterns. Since they are formed at sea, there are no weather stations nearby to help track and record the movements of a storm.

Standard tracking tools

The movement of a hurricane is most often tracked by radar, satellites and remote controlled aircraft. The radars and satellites provide data and digital pictures from afar, and the aircraft are flown directly into the middle a hurricane to collect information from inside. These tools are extremely useful, but do not allow for a hurricane to be monitored at all times.

Advanced tracking systems

Owing to the difficulty in tracking hurricane movements, the scientific community and members of NASA have become involved in the process. An advanced tracking system known as Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) was created specifically for this purpose. These satellites enable scientists to monitor the path of a hurricane every half an hour, and to record pertinent data such as temperature, wind pressure and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere around a hurricane. NASA is involved in the design and launch of the satellites, and the study and data collection is handled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Measuring hurricane movement

The primary method scientists use to predict the path of a hurricane is by monitoring the wind levels that surround the storm. While this is still not completely accurate, it allows for the best predictions of where a hurricane may be moving.

Effect of wind

Wind levels are an important factor because it is the direction and speed of the winds that actually move the hurricane. A hurricane that is being pushed by winds that are moving in one particular direction are the easiest to track, because they will follow the path of the wind. They are called steering winds, because they literally steer the tropical storm in the direction they are blowing.

Most hurricanes originate in the Atlantic Sea, and the wind blows to the east in that area. Since most hurricanes occur in the Atlantic, they will typically be driven towards the east. This is the reason that the eastern coast of the US is expected to endure at least one major hurricane every year.

Hurricanes hitting land

Hurricanes generally remain at sea, but when they do move inland they will begin to dissipate and die out. Tropical storms are fueled by a continual intake of warm water, so when the water supply is cut off, the hurricane comes to an end.

Scientists continue to study the movements of hurricanes in the hopes of better understanding how they travel and interact with other atmospheric conditions. This helps them to more accurately predict when hurricanes may affect a nearby community, and give people advanced warnings of upcoming dangers from the storms.