Way do most hurricanes travel east to west most other weather systems travel west to east?
Zymurgist
Just a WAG, but is it latitude related? Don’t the trade winds blow different directions at different latitudes?
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
Yes, it is latitude-related.
The winds blow southeast-to-northwest from about the equator to 30 degrees north, southwest-to-northeast from 30-60 degrees, and SE-NW from 60-90 degrees.
That’s why tropical depressions/storms/hurricanes (TD/S/H) slow down their e-w movement and then go w-e. They’re hitting the latitude where the winds change directions.
Depending on variances in the pressure fronts that the TD/S/H runs into, its landfall varies from the Yucitan clear up to the Carolinas.
The worst case is when a TD/S/H gets close enough to Florida to make it rain, then turns NE and follows the Gulf Stream along the Eastern Seaboard, pulling energy and moisture all the way, then dumping the rain all the way up the coast. This is called a Nor’easter. And if there’s a cold front sitting inland, a whole s**tload of snow is produced.