It probably went to the North because there were many large CBs to the South along the usual route.
Not that day, we were in the air at the time it happened, operating in the area just a bit further north.
I disagree. Our data shows that the most frequent route for MH17, used on around 50 flights this year, would have taken the aircraft through CBs that reached approx. FL360. The northerly path that MH17 took on this day (used by 3 other MH17 flights this year) avoided this and several other CBs.