<p>I noticed that Paulette (2020) is still a named storm and is now approaching northern Africa and Spain.  It is forecast to begin moving west again in the coming week.  Has a hurricane / tropical storm ever came back after making the trip back to the eastern Atlantic?</p>

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2020-10-07T18:27:35.000Z
I don't think there are any that made it all the way to the eastern Atlantic and came back.  It's likely not impossible, but there are big factors against it... Generally the northern/northeastern Atlantic waters are too cold to support tropical cyclones for long periods of life.  And when moving into the north, the systems will most often wind up merging with extratropical systems such that it's impossible to consider them the original storm.  So it'd be hard to get it that far east then back around south again while maintaining its identity.
JeopardyTempest
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2020-10-07T18:27:42.983Z
[This Weather Channel article](https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2018-08-09-longest-hurricane-tracks) shows a few Atlantic storms with some of the larger loopbacks.  [Hurricane Ivan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ivan) made quite a large loop before redeveloping (but whether it was Ivan still at that point was heavily questioned).
JeopardyTempest
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2020-10-07T18:42:16.770Z
Storms often complete 75% of the loop, from near Africa, to near North America, and back up to near Europe.  It's the last part of the return that's so difficult... note the [real dearth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_hurricane#/media/File:Global_tropical_cyclone_tracks-edit2.jpg) of storms between Portugal and West Africa (and similar in other basins) due to the cold water.
JeopardyTempest
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2020-10-07T18:47:58.790Z
It'd be a bit more feasible for a storm to survive a loop back to the central Atlantic, but the larger the loop, the less likely, as the [Beta Effect](https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/the-beta-effect.html) heavily predisposes storms to a northward component of motion.  And synoptic setups that give large southeasterly background winds generally aren't very supportive to tropical cyclone subsistence.
JeopardyTempest
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2021-09-22T17:10:11.517Z
@JeopardyTempest This could be turned into an answer
rtaft
<meteorology><weather-forecasting><severe-weather><extreme-weather>
Has a hurricane ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than once?
rtaft
# Has a hurricane ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than once?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-09-22)

I noticed that Paulette (2020) is still a named storm and is now approaching northern Africa and Spain. It is forecast to begin moving west again in the coming week. Has a hurricane / tropical storm ever came back after making the trip back to the eastern Atlantic?

**Tags:** meteorology, weather-forecasting, severe-weather, extreme-weather

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I don't think there are any that made it all the way to the eastern Atlantic and came back.  It's likely not impossible, but there are big factors against it... Generally the northern/northeastern Atlantic waters are too cold to support tropical cyclones for long periods of life.  And when moving into the north, the systems will most often wind up merging with extratropical systems such that it's impossible to consider them the original storm.  So it'd be hard to get it that far east then back around south again while maintaining its identity.  
> **username_1**: [This Weather Channel article](https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2018-08-09-longest-hurricane-tracks) shows a few Atlantic storms with some of the larger loopbacks.  [Hurricane Ivan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ivan) made quite a large loop before redeveloping (but whether it was Ivan still at that point was heavily questioned).  
> **username_1**: Storms often complete 75% of the loop, from near Africa, to near North America, and back up to near Europe.  It's the last part of the return that's so difficult... note the [real dearth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_hurricane#/media/File:Global_tropical_cyclone_tracks-edit2.jpg) of storms between Portugal and West Africa (and similar in other basins) due to the cold water.  
> **username_1**: It'd be a bit more feasible for a storm to survive a loop back to the central Atlantic, but the larger the loop, the less likely, as the [Beta Effect](https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/the-beta-effect.html) heavily predisposes storms to a northward component of motion.  And synoptic setups that give large southeasterly background winds generally aren't very supportive to tropical cyclone subsistence.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 This could be turned into an answer  

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## 0 answers

