Jupiter is home to some big storms.
Like the massive Great Red Spot,
which has been swirling on the gas giant
for centuries.
Why don’t we bring it to Earth
and see what happens?
The Great Red Spot is the largest storm
in our Solar System
and it's responsible for giving Jupiter
its iconic great red spot.
Spanning 16,000 km (10,000 mi) across,
this storm is nearly
1.5 times wider than Earth.
And it reaches towering heights
of 500 km (310 mi)
into Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Scientists have been able
to observe this storm for 200 years now.
Though it’s likely that the storm is much,
much older than that.
More recently, the Great Red Spot
appears to be changing shape
and shrinking.
But whether it’s getting smaller or not,
how would this great storm look on Earth?
Would our entire planet,
from surface to space,
be blanketed in a storm
that would rage on forever?
The Great Red Spot
isn’t the only storm on Jupiter.
But hauling over all
the gas giant’s storms would be
a little too devastating for our planet.
You'd see massive cyclones on
both the North and South poles if you did.
And those big bad cyclones would be
surrounded by several smaller cyclones.
Though smaller wouldn’t mean much
compared to you might be used to.
They would have wind speeds
that reach up to 350 km/h (220 mph)
and be about 1.5 times stronger
than a Category 5 hurricane.
The Great Red Spot on its own
would be more than Earth
could really handle anyway.
This storm is so tall
that it would reach
the International Space Station.
That's more than 400 km (248 mi)
straight up.
In total, this massive storm
would cover about 40%
of the Earth’s surface.
And given what we already know
about its existence,
it wouldn’t appear
to be going away anytime soon.
Scientists observed that on Jupiter,
the Great Red Spot usually hovers
at the same latitude.
That’s because it’s likely held in place
by two cloud bands
in the planet’s mostly hydrogen
and helium atmosphere.
If this happened here on Earth,
the unlucky countries
that fall along this line of latitude
would be plagued by this forever storm.
Imagine the Great Red Spot
perpetually orbiting around the equator.
If you lived somewhere like Brazil,
Uganda or Indonesia,
you’d have to be constantly on the move.
You’d need to stay
within the eye of the storm
Or else.
At least in there,
you'd be dealing with some relative calm
compared to what's going on around it.
On its outermost edges,
the winds of the Great Red Spot
would reach speeds
between 430-680 km/h (270-425 mph).
Even at the low end of that,
these winds would be twice as fast
as the strongest hurricanes on Earth.
But what a sight it would be
to gaze at this storm from a distance.
You’d see a tower of clouds
reaching all the way up to space.
Wherever it hovers,
it would block out sunlight,
potentially lowering temperatures
around the globe.
Not much within the storm’s path
would stand a chance of survival.
This goes beyond trees
and your home being swept away.
Skyscrapers and highrises are
the last places you're going to want to be.
It would release unprecedented
amounts of rain,
displace millions of people
and could result in a never-ending series
of devastating mudslides and floods.
It would be so powerful
that several smaller
but still devastating storms
could form around its edges,
creating even more chaos.
But could the Great Red Spot
really rage on forever and ever?
Well thankfully on Earth, it likely wouldn’t.
When large hurricanes
form over warm ocean water,
they pick up strength
until they make landfall.
At this point,
they lose their primary fuel source,
moisture.
On a gaseous planet like Jupiter,
the Great Red Spot doesn’t stop
because it doesn't have any continents
to collide with
to rain on its stormy parade.
And while you may know this storm
by its iconic red color,
it wouldn’t necessarily stay red on Earth.
Since our atmosphere
mostly consists of nitrogen,
oxygen and other trace elements,
it could appear blue or white-ish to you.
So maybe it would be best
to keep the Great Red Spot
right where it is.
You’ve already got enough to worry about
with all the destructive storms
right here on Earth.
Speaking of which,
I wonder what it would be like
if the mother of all hurricanes
made landfall in New York City.
Well, that’s a story for another WHAT IF.