This is why Hurricane Dorian isn't moving

The upper atmosphere is too calm

A message to Hurricane Dorian is spry painted on a covering over a window at the Coastal Angler Magazine office, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, in Cocoa Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

 Powerful Hurricane Dorian has been going nowhere because nothing high up is making it budge.

Usually the upper atmosphere's winds push and pull hurricanes north or west or at least somewhere. They're so powerful that they dictate where these big storms go.

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But meteorologists say the steering currents at 18,000 feet above ground have ground to a halt because high pressure and low pressure systems are canceling each other out. The steering currents aren't moving, so neither is Dorian.

After reaching record-tying wind speeds on landfall in the Bahamas, the storm just stalled. Its eyewall first hit Grand Bahama Island Sunday night, and 18 hours later part of the eye still lingered there.

While it's horrible for the Bahamas, meteorologists say it may help spare Florida a bit.