Short · Weather
Why do hurricanes spin?
Air rushing into a hurricane curves the same way on every side, because Earth is turning. Move the storm across the equator and the spin flips; right at the equator, it stops.
Try it yourself
Opens Storm Spin. Change the same thing yourself.
Transcript
Why do hurricanes spin? Air rushes in toward low pressure, from every side. But Earth is turning, and ground near the equator moves east faster than ground near the poles. So air heading north drifts right. Air heading south drifts right too. Every stream curves the same way, and the storm turns. Now drag the storm south of the equator. Everything flips. And right at the equator? No turn, so hurricanes almost never form there. Try it yourself at Explainer Tools dot com.