Predicting hurricanes . Hurricanes having such destructive habits, it's no surprise that scientists and emergency managers want better prediction techniques.
Trade winds blow hurricanes westward.
As they move north, some hurricanes are caught by westerly winds, and end up cycling back eastward. Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey . Scientists use some hair-raising technology to make hurricane predictions. They fly above storms and have begun parachuting miniature weather stations into the maelstrom to get data with unprecedented precision. They peer down from satellites to get the big picture.