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Name:  honest abe
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999
Question:
Do hurricanes always move from east to west?

Replies:
Hurricanes develop in the tropics. They are powered by heat from the sea. They generally form in the easterly trade wind belt which is from the equator to about 30 degrees north latitude. If hurricanes form far enough north or drift northward they can get caught in the westerlies and move west to east. Hurricanes that affect the United States may form in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic as far away as off the coast of Africa. Storms that approach the U.S. southeast coast from the east tend to curve north then move northeast along or just of the coast. Hurricanes can maintain their strength of the east coast because of the warm ocean currents there. However hurricanes will weaken rapidly over colder waters or over land where they lose their source of energy - warm ocean water.

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