Why No Hurricane Has Ever Crossed the Equator

Hurricanes are one of the most deadly and destructive forces on Earth, causing unfathomable damage, uprooting lives and trees alike, but for some strange reason, hurricanes almost never form near the equator and never cross it at all. What makes the area around 0 degrees latitude one of the safest places on Earth from these super violent tropical storms? How is it possible that hurricanes would not consistently form or cross this region? Let’s get to the bottom of this utterly bizarre phenomenon.

[geografisica]

The video omitted that Hurricanes also avoid touching Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guaiana. Venezuelan geographer here; most of my country has never been impacted directly by an Hurricane, except some overseas islands up north. The reason, besides the Coriolis effect is also the Orinoco River. It turns out that the river’s Delta discharges cooler water into the Atlantic Ocean and makes Hurricanes to move upward to the Island of Tobago and beyond, cooler waters are exactly what the Hurricanes are running away from.

[ahgjoidjhagpg]

I'm sure somebody has mentioned this already, but hurricane categories are NOT a measurement of "destructive potential" but merely a measure of wind speed. While stronger wind speeds are inherently more likely to be dangerous, most of the risk of damage and loss of life comes from storm surge and flooding, the severity of which is not determined only by wind speeds. If you are in the path of a tropical cyclone, it's extremely important to listen to reports from meteorologists and follow their recommendations for how to prepare for the storm - every cyclone is unique.

[builtontherockhomestead]

Already 14 minute in and the video title has not been answered. I didn't click on the video for a US history of Atlantic hurricanes. Very irritating.

[butterfly-video]

15:32 Why don't you find earthquakes at the equator? Nice video, interesting topic, gotta love planetary physics.

[allydr]

Just letting the viewers know that the hurricanes paths are wrong in this video. Some worse than others.

[ShonnMorris]

Did anyone else catch when he said "why don't earthquakes form at the equator?" Also, the path of some of these is not accurate. Andrew hit South Florida near Miami, not nothern Florida.

[flra]

Typhoon Haiyan was one of the exceptions when it formed and raced near or within the line you drew that would be uncommon for stoms to form. Not only its location was unusual, the time and intensity were, too

[michaellee]

Why are some of the hurricane paths SO wrong? Hurricane Andrew hit just south of Miami, yet the animation shows it hitting Jacksonville 350 miles north (14:29). Some of the other hurricane path animations are just as wrong. Not good for a channel called Map Pack.

[jamaalfridge]

Kudos for the editing and production value, but I won't necessarily have the patience to watch more of your videos if I know the question won't be answered in a reasonable timeframe. Context and history only help if they serve in answering the key question in the title or thumbnail. Anything else will often be seen as fluff.

[jonathonbrown]

A few came very close. There was one within 10 degrees of the equator in the 2000s, and Catarina the only known/recorded Hurricane in the South Atlantic hit Brazil fairly close to the equator

[jimmypockrus]

At 15:34, the narrator got off topic and asked, "So why don't earthquakes form on the Equator?" Should have been Hurricanes, not Earthquakes.

[naturallawman]

That path listed for Andrew is NOT its path. Andrew made landfall south of Miami, then curved up to Louisiana.

[nicholasharvey]

3:45 Names of notable hurricanes are retired just as jersey numbers of notable athletes are. There can be only one #9 for the New Orleans Saints... and there can be only one Katrina.

[robertmcdonnold]

You neglected to mention the effect the Sahara desert has on the formation of hurricanes.

[ThePsyko]

I've been in the eye of a hurricane before and that was a good description, I would just add that is extremely eerie.

[fmyoung]

So Hurricane Andrew lasted from August 16 to 28 1992. On August 21st that year we all woke up to snow up here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Mind you the temperature didn't go way down it stayed around freezing and by the afternoon a good bit of it was gone.

[jimmyboyer]

Its gonna rain get your hurricane glasses off today 20 percent off. Remember dont look directly into the center without you're hurricane glasses.thank you and have a nice day

[marlenefunk]

Yes he made a slight error. He meant hurricanes but said earthquakes. Living at The Equator, we know there are plenty of earthquakes here. BUT no hurricanes. A slight error no one caught, but a good video.

[cddelgado]

Just a note for people: The start of the video depicts hurricanes forming in the South Atlantic. They don't form near the equator at all in the South Atlantic, and very rarely form at all. The only ones which do end up doing so along the southern Brasil coast.

It is also worth noting that not everyone has 6-year name rotations.

s-AFF-er, not sa-FEAR.

The video overall is very North America-centric.

[PikaRaichupikapika]

They don't have a valid passport. Case closed.