Lobstah
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2011
- Messages
- 242
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- T/T Whistful
- Vessel Make
- Boat US 12' Inflatable
I am still trying to figure out why this storm is so different?
For a few different reasons.
1) Dramatic shift in the storm track in a very short period of time.
2) Dramatic RI (rapid intensification). People who have been watching these for years have never seen a storm go from a tropical depression to a Cat 4 Hurricane in less than 48hrs.
As for where the updates come from...one major source is live feeds from the hurricane hunters, speaking of which, another one is now wheels-up at MacDill AFB, AF303 Mission #9 into MATTHEW wheels up.
This allows folks that are really set up for it to monitor live data from the datasondes as they're being dropped.
That's why people know there are Cat 4 winds in the storm before there are official updates via NHC.
Also, the NHC itself says that intensity forecasts are very poor, while track forecasts have improved over the past 10-20yrs.