Hurricane News via the Internet

Prepared by Martin Reff

We are in the middle of the hurrican season, so this appears to be a good time to put this on the Home Page. If you are a year-around Floridian, the local news media will keep you current on the hurricane threat. However, if you spend summers up North, hurricane news may be sparse. In either case, the following websites will provide up-to-the-minute info on the active hurricanes

The first is the tropical section of a site that I use for daily weather:

<http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/>

This site has improved tremendously over the past year and provides detailed information about waves way out in the Atlantic.

When you get to the tropical site, you have additional menu choices.

* Tracking Map
* Public Advisory
* Discussion
* Satellite
* Coordinates
* Computer Models

I first go to Computer Models. Five models are shown, created at different times. Then I go to the Discussion . It's there that I get a real sense of the what's happening.

The second site was recommended by Larry Larkin. Also very good.

<http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical>

The third is operated by NOAA - the US Government's site for oceans and weather:

<http://nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATWDAT+shtml/290627.shtml?>

You'll need to visit this site a number of times before you will get comfortable. Here are some definitions of some of the term used:

ATLC - Atlantic
KT Knots - a unit of speed (1 kt is about 1.15 mph, e.g. 30 kt is about 35 mph
EDT - Eastern Daylight Time
TSTMS - Thunderstorms
ITCZ - The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is an area of low pressure that forms where the Northeast Trade Winds meet the Southeast Trade Winds near the earth's equator.


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