GREENSBORO, N.C. — VERIFY QUESTION
You ask; we VERIFY. This weather Wednesday, Mavis Anderson asked, "What happens if two hurricanes meet, or can that happen?"
VERIFY SOURCE
- Good Morning Show meteorologists Eric Chilton and Terran Kirksey
VERIFY PROCESS
First, we had to VERIFY whether hurricanes can occur in winter. Chilton confirmed, in looking at records dating back to the 1850s, they can. In fact, he learned there has been at least one recorded hurricane in all 12 months of the year.
In recorded history, there have been 22 hurricanes in the months of December (17), January (four) and February (one), despite cold water making it more difficult for hurricanes to gain traction. The hurricane of February 1952 was a close call for North Carolina, though it never made landfall. It was called the "Groundhog Day Storm," since the formal naming of storms hadn't started yet.
Back to Mavis's question -- can hurricanes collide? They do, particularly in the Pacific Ocean. There is something called the Fujiwhara effect, in which two low pressure systems form and can absorb into each other. Earlier this week, there were two low pressure systems spinning off the Carolina coast.
VERIFY CONCLUSION
Yes, two low pressure systems can merge, creating a hurricane at any time of the year.
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