ORLANDO, Fla. – A lot of people have been asking will Tropical Storms Jerry and Karen meet in the Atlantic for the intense Fujiwhara effect.
The answer to that is no. They won't come close enough.
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The reason is the steering currents. A cold front that will move toward the eastern seaboard will pull Tropical Storm Jerry to the north and then the east-northeast over the next few days.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Karen will be steered by a ridge of high pressure that could move the system west to southwest over the next four to five days. These steering currents will prevent the two systems from getting close enough for the Fujiwhara dance to happen.
So what is the Fujiwhara effect?
According to the National Weather Service, it's when two hurricanes spinning in the same direction pass close enough to each other, they begin a dance around the common center.
Two storms of relative same strength can move toward one another and when they come within roughly 400 nautical miles of each other, they will spin about in a counter clockwise direction. Eventually, the systems part on separate paths.
If one system is bigger than the other, the smaller storm will circle and eventually become absorbed by the larger one.
If two smaller storms collide, they become one massive storm.
This is more commonly found to happen in the Pacific Basin, it doesn't happen as often in other basins.
The name Fujiwhara effect was coined in 1921 after Japanese meteorologist Dr. Sakuhei Fujiwhara discovered and researched the phenomena.