If you live and work in a coastal area, then you are likely very familiar with the potential impact of hurricanes.

Hurricane season, which began on June 1 and which lasts until the end of November, is always an intensified time for property management companies, as if a storm forms in the Atlantic, you need to have a plan in place for your properties, your staff, and your own family.

But every season brings new technologies and tools to help coastal residents literally weather the storm.

From National Hurricane Center (NHC) advancements, to tools offered by LSI to strengthen your response, there’s lots of assistance available to help with all aspects of hurricane preparation.

So what’s new, and available, for the 2018 hurricane season?

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced changes to its suite of forecasting products for 2018, which are the online tools that forecasters, officials, and the public use to track and gauge the intensity of incoming tropical cyclones.

Here are the major highlights from the list of changes that was announced earlier in 2018, and a complete list of updates can be found online at https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/NHC_new_products_and_services_2018_FINAL.pdf

The “Cone of Uncertainty” is smaller

One of the most notable updates is that the tropical cyclone forecast cone, (also known as the “Cone of Uncertainty”), is smaller this year. The cone represents the probable track of a storm over the course of three or five days, and is adjusted every year, based on forecast errors in the past. Frequent NHC website visitors will recognize the cone as a collection of concentric circles that indicate where a tropical cyclone may move in the next few hours and days. In 2018, the swath of area that is covered by the cone will be smaller, as the NHC utilizes the average track error for the 2013-2017 seasons.

This is a bit of a trend, as track errors have been going down for a decade. As such, since 2008, the size of the “Cone of Uncertainty” has shrunk by 35% for the five-day forecast.

The NHC “Arrival Time of Tropical-Storm-Force Winds” graphics are no longer in trial mode

First introduced in 2017, the Arrival Time of Tropical-Storm-Force Winds was a new experimental tool that displayed when sustained tropical-storm-force winds would likely arrive in a given area. It was developed to provide guidance on when people should consider having their preparations completed before a storm.

These trial graphics have become operational in 2018, and will be a permanent product going forward. The graphics display both the earliest reasonable arrival time of sustained tropical winds, as well as the most likely time of arrival.

The NHC Public Advisory now discusses forecast information beyond 48 hours.

The NHC Public Advisory is a text product that contains a list of all current coastal watches and warnings, and which gives pertinent storm information, including general forecast and hazard info (like storm surge, wind, rainfall, tornadoes, and surf.) The forecast information contained within the advisory will now include information beyond 48 hours.

Previously, these advisories were limited to a discussion of a tropical cyclone’s track and intensity forecast through 48 hours. This change will allow public advisories to discuss the track and intensity forecast routinely through 72 hours, and will also provide flexibility to discuss the forecast through 5 days when conditions warrant.

NHC is now issuing 48-hour hurricane-force-wind radii forecasts.

NHC is issuing hurricane-force-wind radii forecasts at the 48-hour forecast time. These wind radii will be provided in the Tropical Cyclone Forecast/Advisory Message (TCM).

Previously, the NHC provided hurricane-force wind radii forecasts out to 36 hours. The NHC Forecast/Advisory will now include a forecast of tropical-storm-force wind radii out to 72 hours and hurricane-force-wind radii out to 48 hours.

These radii forecasts provide the predicted maximum extent of these winds in each quadrant of the storm. The addition of hurricane-force-wind radii at 48 hours will improve the deterministic and probabilistic guidance for areas at risk from hurricane-force winds, and can help forecasters facilitate the issuance and placement of a hurricane watch.

One More Thing…

If you haven’t trained your team on the Disaster Recovery Tool yet, a free tool offered by LSI to all of our clients, now is the time.

The Disaster Recovery Tool allows you to track preparations to your properties, identify problems after the storm, and easily conduct inspections – all in one place. Used by a number of coastal clients, this tool is a time-tested way to monitor your storm response from start to finish.

Want to learn more? Then contact our team at LSI for a demo, or to arrange training for your staff. We’re always standing by to ensure that if the unexpected hurricane arrives, you are as prepared as possible to tackle the storm.