Dear Tom,
Presumably all the water being sucked into the atmosphere from the ocean by a hurricane is salt water which is later deposited as fresh water rain. What is occurring in the meanwhile to make this change, salt to fresh?
Bruce
Dear Bruce,
Your question has surfaced frequently in recent weeks. It is true that ocean water is salty, about 35,000 parts salt per million parts water, but the salt is merely dissolved in the water and not chemically bound to it.
When water evaporates from the ocean surface, only water molecules escape into the air. Molecules of salt (as well as other substances in the water) remain behind in the ocean. Rain that hurricanes (and all weather systems) produce originates with water–pure water –evaporated (and not “sucked”) from the sea surface.
———-
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.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
