CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — What happens when two tropical systems meet? We're about to see firsthand in the Atlantic Basin.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is currently predicting that newly formed Tropical Storm Jose will be absorbed by Hurricane Franklin, a stronger tropical cyclone approaching from the west. This is not something commonly seen in the Atlantic, but according to research (Prieto et al, 2003), this happens on average 1-2 times a year in the Western Pacific Ocean.
The term Fujiwhara Effect was first coined by Dr. Sakuhei Fujiwhara, a Japanese meteorologist. The American Meteorological Society Glossary defines the event as: "The tendency of two nearby tropical cyclones to rotate cyclonically about each other as a result of their circulations' mutual advection. This occurs with some frequency in the northwestern Pacific basin, where it presents a significant forecast challenge, but happens more rarely in other ocean basins."
As for whether Jose and Franklin do a little dance or Jose just dissipates as its path converges with Franklin— we'll have to see. As of Thursday morning, the storms were about 500 miles apart.