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Battling the elements

From the Frequently Asked Questions page of the U.S. government’s Hurricane Research Division website.

Why don’t we try to destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them?

During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms. Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the trade winds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea.

In addition, an explosive, even a nuclear explosive, produces a shock wave, or pulse of high pressure, that propagates away from the site of the explosion somewhat faster than the speed of sound. But such an event doesn’t raise the barometric pressure after the shock has passed.

Attacking weak tropical waves or depressions before they have a chance to grow into hurricanes isn’t promising either. About eighty of these disturbances form every year in the Atlantic Basin, but only about five become hurricanes in a typical year. There is no way to tell in advance which ones will develop.

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SEE ALSO: Tactical nuclear weapons

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