What Happens When Cyclones Collide?
Image: NASA​

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What Happens When Cyclones Collide?

Two cyclones lurking in the Indian Ocean nearly smashed into each other.

​"Dueling cyclones" aren't just the coolest pair of words—worthy of kicking off Destroyer's 2006 album "Rubies"—it's a phenomenon that makes for incredible photographs, like that one above.

That picture was just taken a few days ago, and spawned, in me, a dueling pair of reaction cyclones:

1. That's beautiful; have I ever seen that before?

2. are those cyclones going to collide and form a double-monster super cyclone?

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The answer to the second question, in this situation, is almost a definite "no." This pair of tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean are named Diamondra and Eunice. They're not very strong by NASA's estimation, "nor were they expected to make landfall or cause significant damage," which should be a great comfort for any Malagasy Motherboard readers (bonjour, btw).

The more westward of the two, Eunice, still has sustained 100 mile-per-hour winds, though, so you know, keep a radio nearby, just in case.

Diamondra and Eunice. Photo: NASA

I was surprised to learn that double-cyclones are actually a semi-regular occurrence, happening most years in the Pacific. It only happens every few years in the Atlantic, which is the ocean I live closest to, so my surprise is somewhat understandable, if not totally forgivable. And, it turns out, storms run into each other somewhat regularly as well.

If they get within 1,100 kilometers of each other, storms will start to rotate around a shared central point, which is called the Fujiwhara effect. If they are close enough, this dance of the cyclones can turn foul for the weaker of the partners, when the bigger storm absorbs the smaller.

The storm is never stronger for having danced, which is probably what Whitesnake meant when they penned the line "like a twister I was born to walk alone." Storms churn up the ocean water, leaving cold water in their wakes, and cutting off the storm that follows from the warm ocean water that it needs to feed on to stay strong. The outer winds of each storm are going opposite directions, and the end result is usually the larger one breaking up the smaller, and moving on, its trajectory changed somewhat.

The dueling cyclone, then, can be enjoyed for its aesthetic qualities, as well as a tidy metaphor for a mutually destructive romantic relationship, another reason, if you needed one, to avoid anyone who offers to rock you like a hurricane. Still a kick-ass album opener though.