A storm or a hurricane seems such a wild, uncontrolled thing that it’s hard to believe it is following a definite path. Yet, as we know, when the hurricane season starts, the hurricanes are given names and their courses are often predicted very accurately!

In most parts of the world, most storms do move in definite directions. In the United States, for example, most big storms are vast circular whirls of air that rotate counterclockwise about a central point of low atmospheric pressure. The reason they rotate counterclockwise in the United States is that, as winds flow in toward the center of low pressure, the earth’s rotation deflects them toward the right (in the Northern Hemisphere).

Now, what about hurricanes? First of all, did you know that hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are practically the same? In the United States they are called cyclones, in the East Indies and in the China Sea they are called typhoons, and in the West Indies and in the Gulf of Mexico they are known as hurricanes.

North of the equator, typhoons and hurricanes commonly originate in late summer or fall over warm tropical waters. They move westward and northwestward through the trade-wind zone in a path curved to the right.

In subtropical latitudes, such storms curve strongly to the east as they enter the zone of westerly winds. In the Southern Hemisphere, a similar curved course is followed, except that the storm track curves to the left.

Even though the path of a hurricane can be carefully plotted and all kinds of warnings given to people and ships at sea, a tremendous amount of damage is done by them. A hurricane may move forward at a speed of up to 125 miles per hour!