Hurricanes are unstoppable and unforgiving to tropical regions, wreaking havoc wherever they land. That is why it is typical to think that the farther the hurricanes of the tropics are, the stronger they could be.
However, a bizarre natural phenomenon is causing one of nature's violent creations to avoid the equator. Since no hurricanes cross over this region, it is considered to be one of the safest places on Earth. But how is it possible?
Why Are There No Hurricanes in the Equator? Mystery Force That Prevents It From Crossing This Safe Zone Explained
Coriolis Effect Creates Hurricane-free Equatorial Zone
According to IFL Science, the terms hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same phenomenon. They only differ depending on which part of the world they are occurring in. For example, hurricanes occur in the North Atlantic and northeast Pacific, typhoons are in the West Pacific, and cyclones happen in the Indian Ocean.
Whatever its name may be, the fact that it does not cross the equator is still a mystery. It even went viral on Twitter after Hank Green, a science commentator, retweeted a map by user @Bonecondor that shows the routes and severity of hurricanes around the world.
Very cool! And also, why is the Southern Hemisphere so bad at hurricanes? https://t.co/a7xoa2LFXx
— Hank Green. (@hankgreen) March 19, 2023
As per National Geographic, the equator is a hurricane-free zone due to a force known as the Coriolis effect. This force acts on the atmosphere due to the fast rotation of Earth at the equator than the poles. That means hurricanes tend to move to the right in the northern hemisphere and head to the left in the southern hemisphere depending on the airspeed and size of the storm system.
Physical scientist Chris Slocum from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explained to Newsweek that the influence of the Coriolis effect does not cross the equator but impacts storms in a few ways.
Professor Matthew Barlow from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell also told the news outlet that the Coriolis effect is essentially zero at the equator. In history, the closest formation recorded was about 100 miles away from the region, but they were being affected by winds that steer them away from the equator.
More so, the Coriolis effect pushes storms away from the equator to the north and west in the Northern Hemisphere due to the beta drift. But the tropics do not have a counteract to this motion so it pushes a tropical cyclone across the equator.
READ ALSO: Will Hurricanes and Typhoons Get Stronger in the Near Future? [Explainer]
Can Storms Form at the Equator?
Before, scientists thought hurricanes cannot form within 5 degrees latitude of the equator. But research shows that to be quite untrue. As per Newsweek, it is possible for a storm to cross the equator if it is the perfect storm.
For tropical cyclones to develop, warm ocean water is needed as an energy source, and low vertical wind shear plus some background spin are necessary. Oceans at the equator are balmy and shear, but they lack the background spin. This is where the Coriolis effect enters as it provides some of this background spin, allowing waves to potentially develop into tropical cyclones.
Furthermore, satellite coverage shows that tropical cyclones do occur close to the equator. They are known as near-equator storms that tend to be small and disorganized due to not having access to background spin from the Coriolis effect. Nonetheless, that still means hurricanes can cross the equator.
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