Recurvature of a hurricane's track usually...

🔍 Key Concepts

• Recurvature of a tropical cyclone (how a storm’s track changes from mostly westward to turning poleward and then eastward) • How a hurricane’s forward speed is affected by the larger-scale steering winds it is embedded in • Typical differences between steering currents in the tropics vs. the mid-latitude westerlies

💭 Think About

• When a hurricane recurves, into what general belt of winds is it usually moving, and how fast are those winds compared to the trade winds? • Think about typical hurricane tracks in the North Atlantic: are they usually moving faster or slower after they turn poleward and then northeast? • Does entering higher latitudes with strong west-to-east flow tend to speed a storm up, slow it down, or leave its speed unchanged?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be clear on what “recurvature of a hurricane’s track” means in terms of direction of motion over the Earth’s surface. • Compare the typical forward speed of hurricanes moving westward in the low-latitude trades with their speed after they turn into the mid-latitude westerlies. • Eliminate any option that would imply the storm’s speed is mostly controlled by time of day rather than large-scale steering currents (day–night variation is not the main driver here).

Recurvature of a hurricane's track usually results in the forward speed __________.

increasing

remaining the same

varying during the day

decreasing

🔍 Key Concepts

💭 Think About

✅ Before You Answer