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After a relatively slow start to hurricane season, the Atlantic Ocean has now produced a sequence of vigorous storms. Following Hurricane Fiona’s destructive path through Puerto Rico, leaving the entire island without power, Hurricane Ian is now threatening Florida. While these storms are endlessly disconcerting to many Americans, especially coastal residents, recent changes and technology upgrades at the National Weather Service (NWS) have positioned it to serve Americans effectively this hurricane season and beyond.
On Friday, when now Ian was a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasted a landfall on Wednesday evening between Tampa and Fort Myers, Florida, as a major hurricane. On Tuesday morning, the forecast was nearly identical. Floridians are prepared.
A well-funded and efficiently organized NWS is essential for public safety, allowing Americans to plan their days around the weather, and enabling commerce without undue interruption to transportation and construction projects. Maintaining the quality of weather services requires multi-year planning and annual on-time appropriations that allow the NWS to accomplish its namesake objective: service to the American people.
The NWS, with over 120 field offices across the country, still provides warnings and forecasts through their web site, weather.gov. Now, however, the NWS is building relationships with state and local governments and emergency managers to achieve seamless two-way communication before, during, and after significant weather events and establish trust with the communities the NWS serves.
Beyond perfecting the temperature, precipitation and wind forecast, the NWS is now specifically informing Americans about the hazards associated with threatening storms like Hurricane Ian. NWS meteorologists are now routinely working with local stakeholders to predict, for example, the low-lying and coastal areas likely to encounter flooding and storm surge instead of focusing only on rainfall totals and maximum wind speeds.
This information is helping people understand the risks where they live, not just their community but their neighborhood, assisting citizens in making the best decision for their individual circumstances.
