Why did Hurricane Imelda shift east so fast away from Florida, towards Hurricane Humberto?

Hurricane Imelda, Hurricane Humberto: Timeline, Florida impacts

FOX 35 meteorologist T.J. Springer has the latest on Hurricane Imelda and Hurricane Humberto in the Atlantic. Here is the latest on their track, paths, and potential impacts to Florida.

While days earlier, spaghetti models indicated the possibility of then-Tropical Storm Imelda inching closer to the United States' eastern coast, the track shifted and confidence rapidly showed Imelda would be pulled east towards Bermuda and the Atlantic Ocean.

What caused Imelda to turn away from Florida, US?

Imelda’s sudden right turn was driven by a combination of steering currents and a big assist from Hurricane Humberto.

Over the weekend, Humberto rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane, creating a stronger atmospheric pull that made nearby Imelda more likely to drift in its direction.

With the two storms only about 600 miles apart, a rare Fujiwhara interaction began—where tropical cyclones start orbiting around a shared "balance point" between them. In this case, Imelda lingered near the Bahamas while Humberto spun to the northeast. Their counter-clockwise rotation around that midpoint – roughly 300 miles northeast of Imelda and southwest of Humberto – forced Imelda into a sharp shift eastward.

Fujiwhara Effect: Why is it so rare in the Atlantic? 

Fujiwhara interactions are extremely rare in the Atlantic, and even computer models often struggle to capture how they might affect a storm’s track. They’re far more common in the Pacific.

The term comes from Japanese scientist Sakuhei Fujiwhara, who first described this "dance" between typhoons in the western Pacific.

The Atlantic’s geography is the main reason for the rarity: it’s a much smaller basin and doesn’t usually produce multiple tropical cyclones close enough to interact.

What is the Fujiwhara Effect? Why does it occur?

For a Fujiwhara to occur, you need two well-organized storms within about 800 miles of each other, lasting long enough for their circulations to tug.

In the Atlantic, storms are often spaced far apart—say, one off Africa and another in the Caribbean—or they’re disrupted quickly by land or jet stream troughs. In contrast, the Pacific’s vast warm waters regularly support storm clusters, so interactions are seen more often there.

That’s why a documented Fujiwhara in the Atlantic is almost a meteorological collector’s item.

In this case, we saw a rare "Hurricane Hoedown," as the two systems do-si-do’d their way out to sea.

Ultimately, Imelda will bring Humberto’s dance to an end by injecting dry air into its core, leading to Humberto’s demise. Once Humberto dissipates, Imelda will absorb the leftover tropical moisture and continue its trek across the Atlantic. This added moisture won’t make Imelda stronger, but it will give her circulation a little extra rain content.