The Backward Hurricane

XanaduRanch

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Sep 15, 2002
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Hurricane Catalina

This is a link to a story about Hurricane Catalina which hit Brazil last week. Just click on the photo above to go to the story.

The photo is courtesy of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, Alpha. The hurricane is unique because it is the first ever known to develop in the South Atlantic. Look closele at the picture. You can see that it is spinning in reverse. No, it is not being driven by a Dominican.

I have heard people comment that this event portends bad news for the 2004 hurricane season here which begins in 2004. I do not believe this has any bearing on our tropical forecast as the conditions needed to produce such a storm are quite unique.

Still, it's a great photo!

Tom aka XR I had an ant farm but couldn't find tractors small enough to fit.
 

toby

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Dec 8, 2003
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Fantastic ! The image and information was spectacular. Thank you for sharing. (Plan to have my daughter's class view it as an example of "shared information" from the net/for an upcoming talk invovling the use and misuse of net information/proper referencing etc)
The hurricane image is also very frightening and as to its rotation....strange things can happen when Mother Nature is angry!
Toby

P.s. XR you should be a teacher, your Weather and Beyond thread is a great source of information and of great interest. Keep up the good work!
 

Joah

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Feb 15, 2004
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Conchman said:
Don't all hurricanes (and cyclones/taiphoons) in the Southern Hemisphere rotate this way?

Yes. So does water going down the sink drain.

I always wondered what way it would go if you lived on the equator?

Joah
 

andy a

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Feb 23, 2002
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I guess time moves backwards in the southern hemisphere too, since it reached landfall on Mar 27 and became a hurricane on Mar 28, according to the link.

I recall a newscast at that time questioning whether it was in fact a hurricane at all. It said that the wind velocity may have been overstated by as much as 20 mph so as to claim hurricane status.
 

Keith R

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Jan 1, 2002
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andy a said:
I guess time moves backwards in the southern hemisphere too, since it reached landfall on Mar 27 and became a hurricane on Mar 28, according to the link.

I recall a newscast at that time questioning whether it was in fact a hurricane at all. It said that the wind velocity may have been overstated by as much as 20 mph so as to claim hurricane status.
Andy, I was in Brazil at the time it hit, not more than 200 miles from its landfall, and saw the local TV broadcasts of the aftermath. If this was not a hurricane, it was a damn good imitation of one. :disappoin
 

XanaduRanch

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Sep 15, 2002
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I'll Let You in on a Secret

Joah said:
So does water going down the sink drain. I always wondered what way it would go if you lived on the equator?
There's an old gimmick the tour guides in some parts of Africa I've visited use. They take you to a spot they say is right on the equator. To prove it, the take a bucket of water and put it down on the north side and let you look inside and see that the water is spining one way, then put it down on the other side and let you see that it is indeed spinning in the opposite direction.

It's a fake. Water doesn't spin differently in toilets from hemisphere to hemisphere. It spins based on the momentum it's given. If the jet entry into the toilet bowl were pointed in the other direction the water wouldn't magically reverse.

The secret of the tour guides is that they use a square bucket. As they pick up the water bucket they turn first one way to put it down, then lift it and turn the other way to put it down. The corners in the square bucket turn with their bodies, imparting a spin into the water which otherwise would have remained at rest.

Just like the toilet bowls.

Tom aka XR No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
 

XanaduRanch

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Sep 15, 2002
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andy a said:
I guess time moves backwards in the southern hemisphere too, since it reached landfall on Mar 27 and became a hurricane on Mar 28, according to the link. I recall a newscast at that time questioning whether it was in fact a hurricane at all. It said that the wind velocity may have been overstated by as much as 20 mph so as to claim hurricane status.
The Braizillian government meteorologists tried hard to claim that it was not a hurricane before landfall. U.S. forecasters were puzzled. It definitely was a hurricane. Seems to have been a political move because the government wasn't really prepared for such an event and wanted to downplay any potential for damage so as to assuage people's fears.

Tom aka XR I put hardwood floors on top of my wall-to-wall carpet.