Tag Archives | hazard identification

National Hurricane Center Announces Changes

Straight from the National Hurricane Center press-release: Product Changes for the 2010 Hurricane Season’s Effective May 15, the National Hurricane Center will implement important changes in some of its text and graphical products. It will also make some additions to its Web site and experimental products. This is part of a continuing effort at the […]

NOAA Improves Forecasts for Coastal Flood Impacts

The National Weather Service has created a new way to help coastal decision makers better project damage from coastal flooding through an experimental forecast technique they’re calling the “Coastal Flood Nomogram”. Unlike some other models which rely solely on predicted damage from still water, the Coastal Flood Nomogram considers the combined effects of storm tides […]

Hurricane Center Takes Storm Surge Out of Intensity Categories

NOAA’s National Weather Service has just announced that it will use a new hurricane scale this season called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The new scale keeps the same wind speed ranges as the original Saffir-Simpson Scale for each of the five hurricane categories, but no longer ties specific storm surge and flooding effects to […]

National Hurricane Center to Provide Greater Lead Time in Watches and Warnings

A quick word from the NOAA National Hurricane Center: NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami will issue watches and warnings for tropical storms and hurricanes along threatened coastal areas 12 hours earlier than in previous years. According to NHC experts, advancements in track forecasts are making it possible for forecasters to provide greater lead time. […]

GIS Training (Mobile, January 5th)

This from the fine folks at the Coastal States Organization: “On January 5 there will be a GIS training for coastal resource professionals in Mobile, Alabama on the Habitat Priority Planner.  The tool is a geographic information system (GIS)-based tool used to make decisions about land use, conservation, and restoration. Different scenarios can be quickly […]

Need Good Elevation Data? (Funding Opportunity)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has announced a competitive grant opportunity to fund the collection and processing of high resolution elevation data and orthoimagery. Priorities for The National Map: Imagery and Elevation Maps under ARRA (CFDA 15.817) include collecting elevation data over coastal areas most susceptible to storm and hurricane flooding, earthquake damage, and coastal […]

Handy Guide to Coastal Inundation Mapping

NOAA has released a very useful and concise (26-page) guide explaining, step-by-step, how to get the best coastal inundation data for your community, and what you can do with it. From the introduction: Mapping can be a very important part of understanding inundation issues and preparing for the assessment process. Inundation mapping can be viewed […]