Four Changes for the 2024 Hurricane Season
Each year we learn from previous hurricane seasons and apply those lessons to forecasting and communications for the next one. This year the National Hurricane Center is experimenting with a few new ways to communicate tropical risks. Here are four changes for 2024:
The NHC is expanding its suite of Spanish-language products from two to nine using A.I. technology to translate crucial forecast information. According to the National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jaime Rhome, the translation will help make the forecast and alert products "more accessible not only to our Spanish-speaking audience here in the United States" and for the 28 additional countries the NHC serves in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The "Cone" is getting an upgrade. This year, the NHC will experiment with adding inland tropical storm and hurricane alerts on the forecast cone to help stress widespread and inland wind impact.
The NHC will now be able to issue tropical storm and hurricane alerts at 3-hour intervals, instead of every 6. According to the director of the National Hurricane Center, Dr. Michael Brennan this will be "sort of a policy or procedural change. It'll give [NHC] more flexibility to issue watches and warnings on a little shorter time scale as conditions warrant this season."
Forecasts for hurricane-force and tropical-storm-force wind circles will now be available 5 days in advance. This is a change from last season when they were issued as 3 day forecasts.
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