Looking at the tracks for Wilma and Alpha, they could possibly, though not likely, run into each other. Would such an interaction be positive, negative, or neutral in terms of the storm intensity?
Giant storms collide on Jupiter (October 2000)
Sure, storms can merge. “Smash” might not be the right term, but depending on how the interaction goes between weather systems, a storm can certainly be intensified. For example, the “perfect storm” of October 1991 was, if I’m reading this description correctly, was the result of a merger between a powerful low pressure system and the remnants of Hurricane Grace.. It doesn’t even have to be two low pressure areas. A lot of major blizzards on the East Coast are caused when a strong high pressure area blocks the passage of a low, bringing in cold air and blocking the low pressure area from moving offshore.
As someone who was on hand for the “perfect storm” and therefore watched the local weather forecasts at the time with, shall we say, great interest, this is exactly what was going on. In his book, Sebastian Junger even shows a map where the combined storms actually briefly form a massive, though unnamed hurricane. Whether he extrapolated this idea himself, or this was the analysis of the many meteorological professionals he spoke to, I don’t recall.
Of course, reading Finagle’s link first mighta helped answer my uncertainty… :smack:
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric guys expect that Tropical Depression Alpha is going to get absorbed by Hurricane Wilma on Tuesday. If you look at the 3-day and 5-day tracks for Alpha, neither of them go past tomorrow.
The radio was also saying that the Wilma-Alpha hurricane might meet up with a nor’easter forming in the NYC area. :eek: