A comparison of favourable and unfavourable hurricane-trough interactions

Hurricane Bertha (1996) is an example of a trough interaction which resulted in the unexpected intensification of the hurricane prior to making landfall along the east coast of the United States. Hurricane Edouard (1996) is a case in which the trough interaction resulted in weakening of the hurricane. These two cases are representative of the composites created by Hanley (1999) and will be presented to illustrate some of the different characteristics between troughs which interact favourably and unfavourably with tropical cyclones.