Hurricane Season | Names and Changes for 2017

Hurricane season is still almost 3 months away but we Storm Spotters are already looking ahead at the 2017 season. This year there will be some changes to the products that are delivered by the NHC. This year the storm surge maps that have been experimental will go live. This tool will be a lifesaver for sure. It will give you up to the minute information of what areas will be affected by deadly storm surge. Remember that most hurricane deaths are not caused by winds but rather from drowning in waters created by the hurricanes storm surge.

Another change will be the size of the cone of error. The cone will be smaller this year then in past years and that will give any given area a better idea of what locations will be affected by tropical storm force or higher winds. Also, the NHC will offer softer colors on the stock graphics that they use on their website. For those of you that are familiar with our website, we use both the official NHC graphics along with our own graphics that we create ourselves. We also offer all the official forecasts along with our own thoughts regarding the model outputs.

The list of 2017 names has been released and they are as follows:

2017 Arlene ar-LEEN, Bret bret, Cindy SIN-dee, Don dahn, Emily EH-mih-lee, Franklin FRANK-lin, Gert gert, Harvey HAR-vee, Irma ER-mah, Jose ho-ZAY, Katia KAH-tyah, Lee lee, Maria ma-REE-ah, Nate nait, Ophelia o-FEEL-ya, Philippe fee-LEEP, Rina REE-nuh, Sean shawn, Tammy TAM-ee, Vince vinss and Whitney WHIT-nee.

Note that the NHC now includes the pronunciation of the names as well.

There is one other big change in the way watches and warnings will be issued this year. In 2017, watches and warnings will be able to be issued when a storm is not yet developed but could pose a threat within 48 hours. So a system that is in the development stages could trigger a tropical storm watch or warning even though it is not yet a tropical storm.

This year, we will also have the added accuracy of GOES 16 satellite images. This new state of the art satellite will help in forecasting and also in estimating intensity of tropical systems. This will be the first year it is in full operation for the tropical season.

With all this new technology we can only hope that any systems that form behave as expected as they get close to populated areas along the coast. As with any hurricane season, be ready on June 1 no matter what the hurricane forecast is calling for!

Tropical Atlantic Weather Forecasts and Information….

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