Distance from the storm got you perplexed? Here's a chart showing that 1 degree of longitude is less at higher latitudes.
One nautical mile equals one minute of arc, but <i>only at the equator</i> for longitude (east-west) distances, as the chart attempts to show.
So, you're near the equator and Hurricane Gotfried is 5 degrees east of you. That means it's 300 nautical miles (345 miles) away (60 minutes/nautical miles per degree x 5 degrees).
Farther north or south, the distance per degree decreases 'cause lines of longitude converge at the poles. So the distance between 80 and 85 West is greater in Cuba than in Canada (and flat maps make Greeland look huge).
The change in distance does not apply to degrees of latitude (north-south directions): 1 degree of latitude is always 60 nautical miles.
Of course, you could just use an online calculator like this one to get the exact distance between any coordinates.
Info tidbit: the velocity measurement <b>1 knot</b> equates to one nautical mile and 1 minute of arc per hour. So going 60 knots moves you across 1 degree of latitude (and longitude only at the equator) in one hour. At 21,600 knots, you could circle the earth at ground level in one hour. Watch out for walls! (Double-check the math: 60 minutes = 1 degree, so 60 * 360 degrees = 21,600 nautical miles, the same in knots to circle the earth in one hour).
(OK, the earth's not a perfect sphere, so there's a slight variation, but it's close enough for cocktail-napkin calculations. According to this page, The circumference at the equator is 24,901.55 miles and 24,859.82 miles through the poles.)
[edited to fix Cuba-Canada comparison]
Thanks.
