Hurricane forecasters are just about as good at predicting the precipitation and storm surges that come with a storm as they are at predicting the storm’s wind intensity. But last year, when the rain from Hurricane Irene inundated the East Coast of
Hurricane forecasters are just about as good at predicting the precipitation and storm surges that come with a storm as they are at predicting the storm’s wind intensity. But last year, when the rain from Hurricane Irene inundated the East Coast of the United States, it didn’t seem like that. The massive flooding that came with what was, in hurricane terms, a fairly mild storm, seemed to take the public by surprise.
The problem, says Frank Marks, Director of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, was that while most people look to the National Hurricane Center for information on a coming storm, the rain impact comes from another organization, the National Weather Service Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. And storm surge prediction is a joint effort between the National Ocean Service and the National Hurricane Center. Unlike the detailed track and intensity maps on the National Hurricane Center’s websites, this information has been hard for the average storm Googler to track down. Not even the media knew to look to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center for information.
So, while researchers have been flying into