why is ivan forecast to wobble around??

[eastncweather]

Okay I will preface this by saying I am new to this whole weather watching thing and have really enjoyed this site and the info contained within. There are definately some intelligent people using this forum and to these I post my question. What will cause Ivan to do the awkward east and then southwest motion it is forecasted to do. Most hurricanes I can remember come in and then scoot north rather quickly. Is there some weird weather thing going on that is making this one do different. Just a question from a rookie.

[ColdFront77]

High pressure system behind the next frontal system causing, at this point, a northeast to southwest steering pattern across the Carolinas into Georgia.

[smerby]

Hi eastncwx,

The upper trough that helped to steer Ivan to the north has outrun Ivan and it is quickly moving across southeast Canada and New England. This will cause Ivan to take a more northeast to eastward track over the next 24-48 hours. Meanwhile, high pressure aloft will build across the northern Plains in the wake of this upper trough and ahead of a developing storm center now approaching the pacific northwest. The upper ridge of high pressure will intensify and shift east across the Great Lakes and into the Northeast later in the weekend as the storm deepens over the western US. As Coldfront77 pointed out the upper flow or steering pattern will shift from northeast to southwest across the mid-Atlantic states into the Southeast in response to the intensifying upper ridge of high pressure over the Great Lakes and the Northeast, and this will send the remnant circulation of Ivan to the south and eventually southwest later in the weekend and early next week. At least this is what the models are suggesting, whether it works this easily or not remains to be seen.

Smerby
http://www.accuweather.com

[CajunMama]

Me thinks the model makers had a few too many martinis! (Just adding a little humor...please don't be upset.)