How high pressure systems direct hurricanes for Houston

HOUSTON – Hurricane forecasts in recent decades have improved significantly, but did you know that good weather often determines where the worst storms are? Let’s go.

High pressure systems rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (where we live) and create flowing air. This air is compressed, which heats it! This is why we often get a big “summer high” in the summer that keeps us hot, hot, hot.

Not only does the sinking air keep us warm, it also keeps us dry. We need rising air to create storms. For this reason, high pressure systems could be considered “blockers” of storms. This is why we can see low pressure systems and storms forming outside of the anticyclone.

These peaks may be large synoptic-scale features that can influence weather conditions over thousands of kilometers. Often, the high pressure systems surrounding a hurricane determine where it will move and whether it can move. Let’s talk about two different scenarios with high pressure and tropical systems in Houston.

Summits can keep storms away from Houston:

The tropical system we are currently following in the Bay of Campeche is influenced by a strong anticyclone in the southeastern United States. You’ve probably heard of this high pressure system, because the East Coast is experiencing record heat because of it! Here in Houston, the storm is heading due west toward Mexico.

The peaks caused Hurricane Harvey to slow down:

Several summits influenced Harvey. Highs act as a blocking system and lows tend to follow the path of least resistance. During Harvey, several floods prevented the hurricane from moving, which is why we saw flooding over several days.