HURRICANES (MOTION) -- T. P. James of New Orleans, LA asked "why do hurricanes move east to west when our weather generally comes from the west and north?" -- 9/16/99

In low latitudes (from the Equator to around 30 degrees North), prevailing winds are FROM the east. These are the so-called "trade winds". Tropical storms and hurricanes embedded in this general east to west wind flow tend to move along with it (similar to a log moving with the current of a river). By the time the tropical storms / hurricanes get to the latitude of, say Georgia, they reach the "westerlies". Here they "recurve" and start to move more FROM the west. As a result, storms follow a track much like Floyd did in September 1999 (in a large curving arch from east to west at low latitudes and from the west to east in middle latitudes).

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