At least 31 tropical cyclones have affected Western Africa and its surrounding islands since records began in 1851. The majority of the storms affect West Africa and Cape Verde islands during the months of August and September which are the active months of a typical Atlantic hurricane season ., and deadliest storms.
Scientists have long known that hurricanes that lash the Atlantic coasts of North and Central America are born in storm systems off the west coast of northern Africa. In an ironic twist, these wettest of storms are driven by weather over one of Earth’s driest of places, the Sahara (the name means desert in Arabic).
One of the next things we asked ourselves was: why does tropical storms start in africa?
The interaction between the hot dry air of the Sahara and the cooler, more humid air from the Gulf of Guinea to its South forms what’s known as the African easterly jet, which blows from east to west across Africa. Within this jet, atmospheric disturbances or bands of thunderstorm activity known as tropical waves can form.
Do hurricanes hit Africa?
The only basin that regularly produces tropical storms or hurricanes affecting Africa is the southwest Indian Ocean, but locations further north can generate some of the strangest tropical systems on Earth.
Why do hurricanes start in Africa?
Why do hurricanes start in africa. Wind flowing east to west off of Africa will move any tropical system toward us. Our winds do fight back. “Our predominant winds are from west to east, and so it blows the storm back into the Atlantic Ocean,” said Mc, and neil. Traveling a long distance over warm water can strengthen a hurricane.31 aug. 2021.
You might think this sounds a little crazy because hurricanes are very wet and deserts are very dry, but if it weren’t for this huge, hot, dry region in North Africa, we would see far fewer hurricanes in the United States.
Why do storms form off the coast of Africa?
Many times, the tropical storms and hurricanes that affect us along the East Coast form off the coast of Africa. But why is this area so conducive for these storms ?
This of course begs the question “How do tropical storms form in the Sahara Desert?”
My answer is the role the Sahara Desert plays in hurricane development is related to the easterly winds (coming from the east) generated from the differences between the hot, dry desert in north Africa and the cooler, wetter, and forested coastal environment directly south and surrounding the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa.
This of course begs the query “Why do tropical storms form in the Atlantic Ocean?”
Tropical waves interact with the warm equatorial water of the Atlantic as they head west, triggering columns of warm moist air to rise from the ocean. That provides two of the three ingredients required for tropical storms to turn into full-blown hurricanes: moist air ; Earth’s rotation; and warm ocean temperatures.
What is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon?
Water from the ocean is absorbed by the storm and evaporates, condensing to form water droplets. Low pressure between the rising air causes a continuous rush of more air, and it becomes a hurricane or typhoon when winds measure in at 74 miles per hour. Typhoons are labeled “super” when they hit at least 150 miles per hour.