TreasureIslandFLGal wrote:Another thing... with a big mass like Dean has, momentum means something as well. If his forward momentum is moving in one direction, it wants to keep moving in that direction. -this also points to less likely of any scenario depicting abrupt changes in direction.
This is a common misconception. Hurricanes do not behave like solid objects in this manner. They are essentially large vorticies embedded in a larger-scale flow, and the dynamics of such flows are such that the vortex can and will change direction sharply, depending on the large-scale flow. There is no "momentum" in the classic sense. Think of it this way, at any given moment, the amount of mass that Dean has is large, but that mass is continually being processed through the storm, so that the air and water in the storm at one time is not the same air and water that is in the storm several hours later. In actuality, since hurricane's are warm-core low-pressure systems (low pressure at warmer temperatures = lower density), the amount of mass that a hurricane contains may actually be less (although the water will make up for this) than a similar volume of surrounding air.
