tornados...counterclockwise...huh?

[herpguy]

It recently came to my attention that all hurricanes north of the equator rotate counterclockwise, and all hurricanes below the equator rotate clockwise. A quick question, Why does this happen?

 

Anyway, yesterday, I went to the Detroit Science Center and they had an artificial tornado, it was rotating counterclockwise. So I started thinking, is the rotation of tornados above the equator always counterclockwise, and the rotation of tornados below the equator always clockwise, just like hurricanes?

 

Please reply. Thanks.

[swansont]

It recently came to my attention that all hurricanes north of the equator rotate counterclockwise' date=' and all hurricanes below the equator rotate clockwise. [i']A quick question, Why does this happen?[/i]

 

Anyway, yesterday, I went to the Detroit Science Center and they had an artificial tornado, it was rotating counterclockwise. So I started thinking, is the rotation of tornados above the equator always counterclockwise, and the rotation of tornados below the equator always clockwise, just like hurricanes?

 

Please reply. Thanks.

 

For hurricanes and typhoons it's due to the Coriolis force — the angular momentum is derived from the rotation of the earth. Low pressure systems in general rotate in the same sense. Tornadoes, AFAIK, tend to do the same, but they are more complicated. The rotation is not always the same, with a few percent spinning the opposite direction, because of other interactions. more and wiki