Portal:Tropical cyclones/Featured article/Tropical cyclone forecasting



Tropical cyclone forecasting is the science and art of forecasting where a tropical cyclone's center, and its effects, are expected to be at some point in the future. There are several elements to tropical cyclone forecasting: track forecasting, intensity forecasting, rainfall forecasting, storm surge, and tornado forecasting. The methods through which tropical cyclones are forecast have changed with the passage of time. The first known forecasts in the Western Hemisphere were made by Lt. Col. William Reed of the Corps of Royal Engineers at Barbados in 1847. Reed mostly utilized barometric pressure measurements as the basis of his forecasts. Benito Vines introduced a forecast and warning system based on cloud cover changes in Havana during the 1870s. Before the early 1900’s, though, most forecasts were done by direct observations at weather stations, which were then relayed to forecast centers via telegraph. It wasn’t until the advent of radio in the early twentieth century that observations from ships at sea were available to forecasters.

The 1930’s saw the usage of radiosondes in tropical cyclone forecasting. The next decade saw the advent of aircraft-based reconnaissance by the military, starting with the first dedicated flight into a hurricane in 1943, and the establishment of the Hurricane Hunters in 1944. In the 1950’s, coastal weather radars began to be used in the United States, and research reconnaissance flights by the precursor of the Hurricane Research Division began in 1954. With the launch of the first weather satellite, TIROS-I, in 1960, introduced new forecasting techniques that remain important to tropical cyclone forecasting to the present. In the 1970’s, buoys were introduced to improve the resolution of surface measurements, which until that point, were not available at all over sea surfaces.

Recently featured: Hurricane Ava (1973) – 2003 Atlantic hurricane season – Hurricane Gracie – List of North Carolina hurricanes (pre-1900) – 2007 Atlantic hurricane season – Hurricane Cleo Browse