FLHurricane.com: General Hurricane Question

Hi,

This has been my favorite hurricane site for several years, but I've never registered until now. Just made use of all the great information. Now I've got hurricane question that's bugging me enough to want to ask an expert.

Hurricane Nate a few weeks ago got me thinking about something I picked up in the past. According to NOAA, when winds are cited, they already include the forward motion of the storm. ( NOAA Page by Chris Landsea himself! ) First off, when the Weather Dude on TV says to add the forward motion to the winds, you don't need to - they already did.

Second - that means that when you look at a storm like Nate, with 85 mph winds and a forward motion of 20, the only place where hurricane winds exist is on the right side of the eye, probably only in the eyewall. On the west side of the storm, the winds were 45, because vectors. On the north and south sides of the eye, the winds are 65. It almost seems that Nate shouldn't be called a hurricane because the only thing making it a hurricane is the forward speed. If Nate were stationary, it would have been a 65 mph tropical storm.

How long have winds been stated this way? It seems to me it wasn't this way years ago.

One of my earliest memories in life was Hurricane Donna in Miami. Living in Miami, then up the east coast of Florida all my life, I've been through a bunch of storms. There has always been a bunch of hype about the storms, but it just seems to be increasing.

Bob
Melbourne

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Retired engineer who still has more hobbies and interests than time.

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