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New Tool Could Help Gauge Strength of Hurricanes There are times when a weak storm strikes land and explodes into a hurricane of massive force, leaving emergency officials little time to raise the alarm and prepare for a monster storm. Will a new radar tool change all that? The OrlandoSentinel’s Maya Bell says researchers unveiled the tool, known as VORTRAC (Vortex Objective Radar Tracking and Circulation), last week. The tool uses the “existing network of 21 coastal Doppler radars, including six in Florida, to create a detailed three-dimensional map of a storm’s swirling winds and central barometric pressure, the key indicator of strength,” Bell says. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Naval Research Laboratory developed the tool as a way to give forecasters quicker warnings of a storm’s sudden intensification or weakening as it nears the coast. “This is a watchdog that sets off alarms,” Colin McAdie, a radar expert at the National Hurricane Center west of Miami, told Bell. “When the central pressure starts dropping, that is not a good thing because that means the winds will strengthen. So the sooner we know the better.” “Had VORTRAC been in use the morning of Aug. 13, 2004, forecasters might have had about an extra 90 minutes notice that Hurricane Charley was exploding from a Category 2 storm to a Category 4 shortly before pummeling Punta Gorda in Charlotte County,” Bell says. To read the full article, click here:
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