Highstorms in Northern hemisphere

[ajotatxe he/him]

Should they go from East to West or the other way around? What happens at the poles?

Edited May 14, 2023 by ajotatxe

[Argenti he/him]

16 minutes ago, ajotatxe said:

Should they go from East to West or the other way around? What happens at the poles?

Still east to west, as for the poles? no idea, depends on the nature of the highstorms

[alder24]

51 minutes ago, ajotatxe said:

Should they go from East to West or the other way around? What happens at the poles?

We don't know. There've been some discussions about the Highstorm cycle, how wide they are, do they reach poles etc, but there was no conclusion on that - and that was here on the forum, based more or less on speculations. From Brandon it's a RAFO for now. We just don't know how Highstorms behave outside of the continent - but from another WOB, they are more like a Jupiter red spot than a ring around the planet.

Spoiler

StarburstWrapperTie

What is it like at the poles of Roshar, where the highstorms are circling around?

Brandon Sanderson

We've thought about this a lot, and I'm going to RAFO this for now. Because I need some meteorological help on some of these things. And so I'm not gonna speak until I'm sure that I know... Like, the meteorology of Roshar is bizarre anyway, the storms are magical, they're dropping crem. So it doesn't mean we have to keep to it exactly. But this is one that I don't quite want to answer yet.

San Diego Comic-Con@Home 2020 (July 23, 2020)

 

Spoiler

Higgy Baby

Do the highstorms and Everstorm orbit Roshar like rings?

Brandon Sanderson

Rings is the wrong term. There's not another highstorm on the other side of the world. There is one highstorm blowing around. They were sort of mini-based on the Spot of Jupiter. But they move around; it's a massive hurricane that moves around the planet.

It goes around the planet, but if what you're asking is: "Is there a ring of highstorm? And so when it's on one side, it's on the other side?" That is not the case. There is a highstorm that's going around, an Everstorm that's going the other direction around the planet; and they are very wide, enormous storms. But imagine a storm of Jupiter moving around the planet, rather than staying where it is.

Forbidden Planet Interview (Nov. 18, 2020)

 

[ajotatxe he/him]

A bit of speculation.

So there is a single Highstorm travelling around Roshar rather erratically. During the Weeping it must be somewhere in the ocean, stopped.

The wiki, based on WoR 86, says that the time between highstorms in a given location depends on the speed of the Highstorm. (I capitalize it for the single Highstorm, and "highstorm" is for the arrival of the Highstorm to some given place). But this should imply that after a long time without highstorms, the next one should last longer because it is moving slower. Is that the case?

There seems to be no evident clue about the shape of the Highstorm. Perhaps it is like a 'moving meridian', since it reaches Herdaz and Thaylen equally. If it is the case poles would be under it eternally.

The Highstorm is somehow 'rechaged' at some place between Aimia and the East of the continent, they call it 'the Origin'). (Perhaps the Dawnshard is involved?)

[alder24]

13 hours ago, ajotatxe said:

A bit of speculation.

So there is a single Highstorm travelling around Roshar rather erratically. During the Weeping it must be somewhere in the ocean, stopped.

The wiki, based on WoR 86, says that the time between highstorms in a given location depends on the speed of the Highstorm. (I capitalize it for the single Highstorm, and "highstorm" is for the arrival of the Highstorm to some given place). But this should imply that after a long time without highstorms, the next one should last longer because it is moving slower. Is that the case?

There seems to be no evident clue about the shape of the Highstorm. Perhaps it is like a 'moving meridian', since it reaches Herdaz and Thaylen equally. If it is the case poles would be under it eternally.

The Highstorm is somehow 'rechaged' at some place between Aimia and the East of the continent, they call it 'the Origin'). (Perhaps the Dawnshard is involved?)

No idea. We're going back to speculations. If there is a single Highstorm - it might be, rechargeable at the Origin by Stormfather, who alone has full control over Highstorm and can send it even outside of the cycle just because he wanted to do this (WoR ending). He can likely stop Highstorms just like Odium can stop Everstorm, and thus control the cycle. 

I think it was said that winds in Highstorm reach around 370 mph and Highstorm travels across the Roshar continent at the same time every time (but I can be wrong here). And as a magical storm it can be limited in size and not reach poles at all, while still being a straight line from north to south.

And Dawnshards are not likely to be involved - Highstorm predates the Shattering, during which all 4 Dawnshards were used.

[cometaryorbit]

I doubt it is a pole to pole line.

Do we know how long a highstorm takes to cross a particular point?

I don't think it is as circular as a usual Earth hurricane, since Roshar continent covers about 60 degrees of latitude in our terms, which would be 1/6 of the planet's circumference or almost 6000 km / 3700 miles north-south ... and the highstorm must be wider, north-south, than that. That would suggest that a round highstorm would take over 10 hours to cross a point at 370 miles per hour.

It also doesn't really seem to have an eye like a usual hurricane; the centerbeat seems to be a Realmatic phenomenon that only a few people experience, not a regular part of the Physical storm. (I'm sure the calm of the centerbeat is inspired by the eye of a hurricane in writing terms, but I don't think it's actually the same thing at all in-universe.) Hurricane winds are highest on both sides of the eye, whereas the stormwall - the first part of the highstorm to hit - is worst.

So the highstorm may be more like a squall line than a hurricane.

But the Great Red Spot isn't really circular, it's distinctly oval, and doesn't really have a clear eye. So if we imagine a Great Red Spot with its long axis pointing north-south, it could fit well.