With one hurricane churning in the Atlantic and another potential named storm likely to form nearby, weather observers are watching for the possibility that the Fujiwhara effect may occur.
The Fujiwhara effect is a semi-rare process that happens when two storms that are relatively close in geography orbit around a shared center point. Sometimes, if the storms are of equal strength, they can spin around each other and then release, going their separate ways. Sometimes they will merge and create a stronger storm.
Think of it less like Pac-Man eating a ghost and more like a sponge absorbing water.
It was named for a Japanese meteorologist, Sakuhei Fujiwhara, who first described the interaction between whirling masses of fluid or air in 1921. The effect is much more common with cyclones in the west Pacific but it does happen in the Atlantic, as it did in September 2023 when Tropical Storm Jose was absorbed by Franklin, an extra-tropical cyclone.
With the two systems in play this weekend — Hurricane Humberto and a cluster of storms that may become Tropical Storm Imelda — the process could influence the direction or strength, or both, of each of the storms. There was still great uncertainty among meteorologists about if the two storms this weekend will even interact and what path or strength they might have.
But their distance apart will be key.
If they stay far enough away, they may have little influence on each other. However, if they come closer together, it could be like Hurricane Marco and Hurricane Laura in the Gulf of Mexico in 2020. Laura completely stole the energy from Marco before making landfall in Louisiana.
Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times who forecasts and covers extreme weather.
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