Is there any chance of Gustav joining with Hanna for a mega hurricane or will they fight each other?

Question

If you take a look at some of the charts, they seem very scary, getting closer, one on one side of Florida, the other on the Atlantic. I'm new at hurricane watching and very curious.

Answer 1

The two storms are thousands of miles apart and going in different directions.

Answer 2

Neither is possible.

Answer 3

gustav will hit land before hanna even gets in the gulf if shes does at all

Answer 4

Nope. I just watched a video at weather.com (Weather Channel's website) where the top meteorologist answered this very question.  

Answer 5

They may get close, but usually one will start to weaken the other if they get too close.  Hurricanes and other organized tropical systems will gain strength due to several factors, but none are related to two organized tropical system merging.  As far as I know, there has never been two hurricane strength tropical systems merging together.   I don't think it is possible since both system will be spinning in the same direction (counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere).

If you put two counter-clockwise spinning hurricanes next two one another, you will notice that where they meet, the outer winds will be going in the opposite direction between the two system.  Therefore, if two hurricanes get too close, one will weaken the other or both will weaken.