Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Hurricane Watch M&A: Hurricanes Igor and Julia to Merge, Form Super-hurricane

From the National Hurricane Center:

Hurricane IGOR

















Loading Storm Graphics Loops

The combined entity is expected to dominate their market: 

Just kidding. 

The interactions can get pretty complex. One interesting possibility is the Fujiwara Effect where two storms move around a common pivot point:

Twin hurricanes Ione (left) and Kirsten (right) pinwheeling about the eastern Pacific during the 1974 Pacific hurricane season during a Fujiwara interaction

In all probability Igor will probably just absorb Julia.