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Subject: G16) What is the average forward speed of a hurricane?"
Contributed by Neal Dorst
The forward speed of hurricanes is very latitude dependent.
Typically, Atlantic hurricanes track along the
western side of the subtropical ridge in the western Atlantic.
As they recurve (turn more northerly) from their westward track
they usually slow down. If they reach the midlatitudes, they can
interact with upper-level troughs and pick up speed.
In the table below, the forward speed of hurricanes in the HURDAT
database have been averaged in 5 degree latitude bins :
Forward speed of Atlantic hurricanes
averaged by 5 degree latitude bins
Latitude bin
| Speed
| No. Cases
| km/hr
| knt
| mph
| 0°- 5°N | 25.5 | 13.7 | 15.8 | 100
| 5°-10°N | 21.8 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 3282
| 10°-15°N | 19.6 | 10.6 | 12.2 | 5808
| 15°-20°N | 17.7 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 6086
| 20°-25°N | 17.7 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 6817
| 25°-30°N | 20.1 | 10.9 | 12.5 | 5321
| 30°-35°N | 27.6 | 14.9 | 17.2 | 2835
| 35°-40°N | 38.5 | 20.8 | 23.9 | 1026
| 40°-45°N | 46.7 | 25.2 | 29.0 | 263
| 45°-50°N | 51.4 | 27.7 | 32.0 | 36
| 50°-55°N | 51.4 | 27.8 | 32.0 | 15
| 55°-60°N | 55.8 | 30.1 | 34.7 | 1
|
While there are many cases where the forward speed over the 6 hour interval
in the hurricane database is zero, such as Mitch in 1998, the highest speed
in the database is for unnamed Tropical Storm #6 in 1961. As it got caught
up by a midlatitude trough over the midatlantic states, it went speeding off
northeastward over Maine and New Brunswick at a maximum speed of 112.25 km/hr
(60.57 knt or 69.75 mph). The fastest hurricane in the record was Emily in
1987, whose maximum speed reached 110.48 km/hr (59.61knt or 68.65 mph) as it
raced over the North Atlantic, before it turned extratropical.
Last updated January 16, 2007
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