STORM2K

wall_cloud wrote:Thunderstorms release latent heat of condensation. This causes thickness values to increase, resulting in high pressure aloft and low pressure at the surface (this is how hurricanes are maintained).

I found this quote in the convergence & convection thread. Since my question isn't directly related, I started a new topic.

I am curious whether the thunderstorms in the outer bands of a TS or hurricane, when they are over water and far from the center of the parent cyclone, have ever been known to spin up into a new TC, or interact with a tropical wave. Has that ever occurred, or is that simply not possible?

Sihara wrote:

wall_cloud wrote:Thunderstorms release latent heat of condensation. This causes thickness values to increase, resulting in high pressure aloft and low pressure at the surface (this is how hurricanes are maintained).

I found this quote in the convergence & convection thread. Since my question isn't directly related, I started a new topic.

I am curious whether the thunderstorms in the outer bands of a TS or hurricane, when they are over water and far from the center of the parent cyclone, have ever been known to spin up into a new TC, or interact with a tropical wave. Has that ever occurred, or is that simply not possible?

Usually once a storm becomes strong enough to be a TS or hurricane, it tends to keep other disturbances in the vicinity from developing likewise into another TC, due to the influence of the upper-level outflow shearing apart any nearby disturbances, and due to the dominating influence of the circulation. Tropical cyclones don't get along with each other! So, the short answer to your question is no, but there have been times when the same tropical wave gives rise to more than one TC within a short time period, if the wave axis becomes sufficiently elongated so that two parts of the wave are far enough away from each other to develop separate circulations. Alternatively, the left over convection from a dissipated TC could theoretically later develop into a new TC. This isn't common, however.

That was fascinating - thank you for the explanation, Wthrman13.