Why do the outside edges of hurricanes in the northern hemisphere appear to spin clockwise, counter to what the storm as a whole is rotating?

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I’m looking at the GOES-East for the Gulf of Mexico and I began to noctice something that intruiged me. The outter edges of the storm appear to flair outward clockwise. I understand the coriolis effect but that explains the rotation of a hurricane in the northern hemisphere as a whole. My question is, why do the edges and tops of the hurricane appear to spin clockwise, agaist the storm, as if the storm is under a high pressure? TIA!

In: Planetary Science

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because a hurricane can not hold onto a “single cloud” indefinitely; bits are always being expelled from the main storm structure.

As things are expelled they have different momentum and can then appear to be moving opposite the storm; or in fact other winds or pressure move the cloud in opposite direction

We can see this on a normal day where lower clouds move in a different direction than higher clounds

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