Why don’t the hurricanes that form off the west coast of Africa hit the north part of South America?
Ed Jacobi, Palatine
Dear Ed,
On rare occasions hurricanes do impact the north coast of South America. Recently T.S. Joan (1988), T.S. Bret (1993), and Hurricane Cesar (1996) have skirted the north fringes of Colombia and Venezuela, but those storms are the exceptions. The vast majority of tropical cyclones are steered by the clockwise wind flow around the large high pressure system that dominates the North Atlantic. Most storms head west (in the easterly flow) as they move away from Africa, but then turn toward the northwest or north when they reach the west end of the high.
The western extent of this high often determines whether the storm makes a North American landfall or recurves over the ocean and heads back toward Europe.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
