NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is constantly evolving the way the public receives warnings about impactful weather.
Whether the threat is a hurricane or dangerous rip currents, it’s important that the public is aware and understands the hazards.
One of the new products is a cone graphic with a depiction of INLAND tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings. The hope is it’ll be easier to spot storm risks, which should help local and state leaders, as well as families and communities who live away from the coastline.
This is what the watches and warnings map will look like on the NHC’s website:
The new watch/warning graphic was developed on the heels of Hurricane Helene.
On September 26, 2024, Helene made landfall near Perry, Florida as a powerful Category 4 hurricane. Even though this was the most powerful hurricane to hit the Big Bend in over a century, arguably, Helene was far more devastating hundreds of miles north.
A 4-day deluge soaked the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, especially western North Carolina. Entire towns were washed out, leaving a high death toll and damage in the billions.
Another new product by the NHC will be a rip current risk map for active tropical cyclones.
Many fatalities occur when swells from tropical cyclones cause dangerous surf and rip current conditions along the coast. To better highlight the hazardous conditions, the NHC will now show a national map of the rip current risk.
This is what the new U.S rip current risk map will look like:
We are only a month from the start of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season.
Forecasters anticipate an active season, so these new maps will be very useful to communicate any potential threat along the coast and far inland.
Source link
