This is why Hurricane Dorian is stalled over the Bahamas

Satellite imagery showing Hurricane Dorian.
(Image credit: NOAA via Getty Images)

Since hitting the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm on Sunday, Hurricane Dorian has unleashed torrential rain and winds of up to 155 mph, and while it weakened to a Category 4 on Monday, it hasn't moved on, crawling toward the United States at just 1 mph.

Jeff Masters, the meteorology director at Weather Underground, told The Associated Press the steering currents at 18,000 feet above ground are too calm, and not pushing the hurricane in any direction. There is a high pressure system in Bermuda that is keeping Dorian from heading north, as well as a low pressure trough going east that is attempting to push Dorian to the north. These two systems are "fighting it out and neither is winning," Masters said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.