Living in a hurricane state can be stressful. Hurricane season takes up the larger portion of a year and can be pretty active. The major hurricanes that have hit landfall have been catastrophic like Hugo (learn more on hurricane hugo’s path and formation), Charlie, Andrew, Wilma, and Katrina. During an active hurricane season when the waters become really warm it is not uncommon for several different depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes to be forming at the same time and by world standards not very far off from each other. Knowing first hand the brutal force that a hurricane can be, it is impossible to imagine what would happen if two of these storms decided to join forces. As frightening as that thought is it is a real occurrence. Scientists have dubbed the phenomenon the Fujiwara effect.
The Fujiwara effect is named after Dr. Sakuhei Fujiwara. He was a Japanese meteorologist and the first noted with describing two storms coming together. It was published in a paper he from 1921 in which he wrote about the motion of vortexes in open waters. He explained that when two cyclones, of at least tropical storm wind speeds, come within 900 miles of each other there is a strange effect on their centers. The eyes will attract each other and begin to orbit together at a specific point between the two systems. This attraction will eventually lead to the storms merging and forming a storm of catastrophic proportions. If the storms are of unequal size, the larger one is the more dominant leaving the smaller vortex to orbit around it. Sometimes the storms will stay together, or their interaction may be brief. The final merging of the two storms is rare, but entirely possible.
In history there have been examples of this effect pinpointed by other meteorologists. Humberto and Iris in 1995 came together briefly in a Fujiwara effect. Then Iris split off and began a similar interaction with Tropical Storm Karen. The two merged and resulted in a massive Category 4 hurricane making landfall in South America, devastating Belize. During the typhoon season in the Pacific Ocean, Typhoons Pat and Ruth came together in 1994. They orbited each other completely and also merged. Sometimes such interactions can effect where a storm will make landfall. In 1997 Typhoons Ivan and Joan had an interaction that steered Ivan to the west of its expected track and Joan to the north. The most recent Fujiwara effects happened in 2005 when Alpha was absorbed by Wilma in the Atlantic, and Max took on Lidia in the Pacific. There were also occurrences in 2006 and 2007, both of which were set in the Pacific during typhoon season.
Each year the weather has become more severe and has wreaked havoc on all parts of the world. It will be especially interesting to see if the Fujiwara Effect becomes more common, or if the final merging becomes a greater statistic. Although nothing like it has ever happened, it could be possible to have two strong hurricanes combine to make a monster hurricane that destroys an entire coast. For now, though, it will suffice to simply remain educated and watch reports if in an area affected by hurricanes. For one eye is enough to cause months of turmoil and millions in damage, adding to that intensity, size, and power cannot be good. In this case, two heads are never better.
