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Tropical Cyclones Could Potentially Collide In The Atlantic Ocean
Two tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean could potentially collide and interact with each other.
Although meteorologists say it’s an unlikely outcome, in the event the two storms do collide, a rare phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara Effect, it could potentially cause havoc on the Eastern coast.
Hurricane Humberto, the eighth named storm of this year’s hurricane season, is just north of the Caribbean and expected to strengthen into a major hurricane.
There is another system developing in the Caribbean that could become a tropical depression and possibly Tropical Storm Imelda.
Two tropical cyclones could collide into monster storm — triggering rare Fujiwhara Effect and threatening East Coast https://t.co/eOguhuf4PN pic.twitter.com/HAMxeRIgJI
— New York Post (@nypost) September 25, 2025
More from the New York Post:
The wild weather anomaly — named after Japanese meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara in 1921 — sparks when two cyclones come within 900 miles of each other and begin spinning around a shared center in what meteorologists liken to an erratic dance.
“The Fujiwhara Effect is when storms close together, interact, and rotate around each other,” Diamond told The Post Thursday.
“Or simply, they dance around each other. For tropical systems, the two must be within 900 miles of each other. For ‘ordinary,’ non-tropical storms, they need to be within 1,200 miles of each other.”
What happens next depends on each system’s size and strength — but in rare cases, they can smash together and create one giant superstorm, according to the National Weather Service.
However, if the storms are evenly matched, they’ll whirl around a shared point before breaking apart and fading — just like Pacific Hurricanes Hilary and Irwin in 2017.
“Typically when one system is stronger than the other, the smaller and weaker system will get overrun by the larger, stronger one and completely eliminate it,” CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said.
“Very rarely has a larger system absorbed a smaller one and become larger or stronger, but it is scientifically possible,” Nolan added.
Fujiwhara?? When two hurricanes interact, they can sometimes pivot around one another. Next week there will likely be 2 tropical cyclones (perhaps 2 hurricanes) offshore. If they are strong enough, and are close enough, a #Fujiwhara may happen. Here’s how it works. Between the 2… pic.twitter.com/9PcEPQ5y8T
— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) September 24, 2025
CBS News provided further info:
Humberto grew into a tropical storm Wednesday night while traveling over open waters in the central tropical Atlantic, and then gained hurricane status early Friday morning. Forecasters expect it to move northwest over the next few days and strengthen along the way, the National Hurricane Center said. It’s one of two systems in the region that could potentially impact parts of the southeastern United States, including coastal areas from Florida to North Carolina, according to Michael Brennan, director of the hurricane center.
Officials at the center said Wednesday that they were monitoring a second storm churning near Humberto over the northeastern Caribbean, which would likely become a tropical depression later in the week and a tropical storm, named Imelda, over the weekend. That system is expected to strengthen as it tracks toward the Bahamas — driving up the chances of storm surge, wind and rainfall striking coastal parts of the southeastern U.S.
“With the two tropical troubles currently north of the Caribbean, these two may interact under the Fujiwhara effect in the days ahead,” said Nolan. However, because the developing system “appears to be much weaker than Humberto and several miles away from it,” an interaction between the two — if one even takes place at all — may not result in a tangled gravitational “dance.”
In the event Humberto and the second system do collide, it’s possible the paths they’re expected to travel will change, Nolan added, but only slightly.