ORLANDO, Fla. – Two tropical waves sit in close proximity in the Central Atlantic. A common question floating around is “can the storms combine to form a stronger storm?”
The short answer is not exactly.
The most common outcome is the Fujiwara effect.
When two storms similar in strength get close enough together, their circulations interact.
The two storms then spin around the common center. This is known as the Fujiwara effect.
During this phenomenon the storms could rotate around each other, repel each other or merge.
One of the storms could absorb the other, resulting in a larger storm, but not necessarily stronger.
After the merger, the overall environment, water temperature, wind shear and moisture content will determine if the storm strengthens and not the merger itself.
Any intensification of the storm will depend on the environment rather than the combined strength of the storms.
The two storms could also weaken one another. The interaction of the two storms can actually disrupt the storms’ structures.
Tropical systems like a relatively calm environment, and the outflow or exhaust of the storms can induce wind shear on each other, weakening one or both storms.