National Hurricane Center

The National Hurricane Center (NHC ) is a division of the National Weather Service of the United States affiliated Tropical Prediction Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA) assumed. The seat is in Miami, Florida.

Function and history

The foundation dates back to a statement made ​​by U.S. President William McKinley on 5 December 1898 at which the National Weather Service was commissioned to build an early warning network for protection against tropical cyclones. With the advancement in communication and prediction technique, the skills were finally summarized in Miami and received in 1967 the NHC, the responsibility for the entire North Atlantic.

Your task is to monitor and predict the likely behavior of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, east of the 140th degree of longitude west of Greenwich. Although it is a U.S. government agency, the NHC due to the decision by the World Meteorological Organization, the central point of information for the area, regardless of whether a storm the territory of the United States threatened or not. In 1988 the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center in San Francisco dissolved and the area to the NHC slammed in Miami.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the WSR -57 weather radar and wind measurement equipment from the roof of the building in which was the seat of the NHC then. The weather radar was replaced by NEXRAD, and in 1995 the agency moved into a new hurricane -proof facility to on the site of Florida International University.

The former director of the National Hurricane Center, Bob Simpson is co-author of the five -step Saffir- Simpson scale, according to which the strength of hurricanes is estimated.

When a tropical storm or hurricane is expected within the next 36 hours, the NHC makes known warnings via the news media and NOAA Weather Radio. The Hurricanspezialisten the NHC work from early May until the end of November in rotating eight-hour shifts and watching the weather development in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific. ( The situation in the Pacific west of the 140th degree of longitude is monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. ) As soon as an area of ​​low pressure developed, they give out warnings every six hours. When the storm threatens land, the warnings are announced frequently. They work together in the States concerned with responsible agencies. Every message will be signed by the predictive hurricane specialist with his last name, sometimes common forecasts are made with other NHC staff.

Organisation and staff

Directors of the National Hurricane Center

  • Robert Simpson (1967-1973)
  • Neil Frank (1973-1987)
  • Bob Sheets (1987-1995)
  • Bob Burpee (1996-1997)
  • Jerry Jarrell (1998-2000)
  • Britt Max Mayfield (2000-2007)
  • Xavier William Proenza (2007)
  • Edward N. Rappaport (2007-2008)
  • Bill Read (current)

Current senior hurricane specialist

  • Lixion Avila, since 1987
  • Jack Beven, 1999
  • James Franklin, since 1999
  • Richard Knabb, since 2005
  • Richard Pasch, 1989
  • Stacy Stewart, since 1999
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