Why the right side of a tropical cyclone is the most dangerous.

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The “dirty side” of a hurricane refers to the part of the storm that usually brings the highest impacts: the greatest winds, greatest tornado risk, and greatest storm surge and flooding. In the case of Atlantic hurricanes, which rotate counterclockwise, the “dirty side” is on the right — where the winds are moving in the same direction as the storm, combining their speeds. This is why the greatest risk of storm surge during a hurricane is at the center of the storm, in the “eyewall,” and to the right of it, where the forwardmoving winds push water onto shore.

Because the center of the storm is the strongest, forecasters tend to focus on tracking it, using a popular tool called the “forecast cone,” which shows the potential path of the center of a storm, but leaves out the wider impact areas. So many viewers of hurricane forecasts don’t realize a storm’s impacts reach far beyond the cone, and in particular on the righthand side of the storm.

Sources and further reading:

NOAA explanation of the “dirty side” of a tropical cyclone:
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrdfaq/#tc...

Why Hurricane Helene is a wakeup call, by Lavanya Ramanathan and Umair Irfan for Vox:
https://www.vox.com/naturaldisaster/...

Why the 'dirty side' of a hurricane can be 50% stronger than its 'clean side,' by Lucy Sherriff for BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20...

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