The dirrection storms travel?

Question

i thought that storms move from west to the northeast. why is it lately it looks like they move from the west to the southeast. or is it just me and i am really wrong. thanks for any answers

Answer 1

Storms can travel in any which direction. It all depends on the jet stream or trade winds for larger storms, and if they are scatted strorms, they either travel along a frontal boundry, or the direction of the wind in the upper atmosphere, which can point in any which direction.

What you are thinking of that usually has a west to east movement are weather fronts. But, like I said, storms can go in any which way. Today, I saw one storm that was moving from south to north, and another one that was moving from west to east.

Answer 2

Storms can travel in any direction.  They usually always move from west to east in the northern hemisphere, but the progression to the northeast, or southeast varies.  It all depends on the setups.

Answer 3

Just as these other fellas stated, in the northern hemisphere the general flow is from west to east, although the microscale movement is dependent more on the 700mb windflow, what is most often called the steering flow, and local topographical features such as bodies of water and mountains.

Answer 4

I assume we are discussing the Northern Hemisphere and will limit my remarks to North America which is where I am.  In the U.S. the weather fronts predominantly flow from West to East.  But not all air masses do.  There is a phenomenon known as the Trade Winds.  Due to the effects of the rotation of the Earth among other forces, the Trade Winds flow counter clockwise from Northern Europe toward the equator, then west toward North America and then up along the East Coast of America before completing the circle back East to Northern Europe.

Low pressure areas from Africa follow the Trade Winds.  (Low pressure areas also rotate counter clockwise).  They follow along the warm waters near the equator until they encounter the colder high pressure systems sweeping down from Canada.  Their rotation then makes them tend to head more Northerly.  

The recent Hurricane "Dolly" did not encounter any cold front so it did not gain much strength nor did it vary its course very much.  

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