Summary
The National Hurricane Center is responsible for tracking tropical systems in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and providing watches and warnings when storms threaten land areas. Its ultimate mission is to save lives and help protect property. The hurricane center is located on the campus of Florida International University in western Miami-Dade County. Jurisdictionally speaking, it falls under the National Weather Service, which comes under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA, in turn, answers to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The center has 10 primary tropical meteorologists, who are called hurricane specialists. During the Atlantic hurricane season, from June 1 through Nov....
The National Hurricane Center is responsible for tracking tropical systems in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and providing watches and warnings when storms threaten land areas. Its ultimate mission is to save lives and help protect property. The hurricane center is located on the campus of Florida International University in western Miami-Dade County. Jurisdictionally speaking, it falls under the National Weather Service, which comes under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA, in turn, answers to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The center has 10 primary tropical meteorologists, who are called hurricane specialists. During the Atlantic hurricane season, from June 1 through Nov. 30, they write advisories any time a system strengthens into a tropical depression. Once a system develops sustained winds of 39 mph, it is designated a tropical storm and given a name. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane with sustained winds of 74 mph. Advisories, which provide a storm's strength, position and projected track, are written every six hours, released at 5 a.m. and 11 a.m., and at 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time. They are provided more often when a storm is approaching land. Hurricane specialists rely heavily on computer models for guidance on how to craft their advisories. The models, in turn, are fed atmospheric information derived from satellites, radar, ocean buoys and reconnaissance aircraft. Historically speaking, tracking tropical storms was originally the responsibility of the National Weather Service in Miami, Florida. As of 1965, the Miami weather office established the National Hurricane Center as part of its internal workings. In 1984, the hurricane center was broken out as its own entity. It had been housed in a building on the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables and later in a building across the street from the university before it moved into its current facility in 1995. In its history, the hurricane center has had nine directors: Gordon Dunn (1965-1967) Robert Simpson (1967-1973) Neil Frank (1973-1987) Bob Sheets (1987-1995) Bob Burpee (1996-1997) Jerry Jarrell (1998-2000) Max Mayfield (2000-2007) Bill Proenza (2007) In 2007, the center experienced internal tumult, shortly after Proenza was installed as director. Proenza angered his superiors when he publicly warned the inevitable demise of a weather satellite would cause hurricane forecasts to suffer. At the same time, he alienated many on his staff, who felt he had undermined public confidence in the center. Despite support from some members of Congress, Proenza was removed from the position after only seven months on the job. He was later returned to his previous job as head of the National Weather Service Southern Region in Fort Worth, Texas. Currently, NOAA is in the process of selecting a new director. Ed Rappaport, the center's deputy director, has been named acting director in the interim.
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Dolly hammers Texas, drops to tropical storm
The Associated PressHurricane Dolly slammed into the south Texas coast Wednesday with punishing rain and winds of 100 mph, blowing down signs, peeling off roofs and knocking out power to thousands before weakening over land. Local officials' greatest fear -- that the levees...Tags: Tropical Storms, Brownsville, Disasters, Academic Progress, Hurricane Preparedness
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Residents Get First Look at Dolly's Destruction
Associated PressBROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Residents and recovery teams began fanning out across south Texas Thursday and cars crept along roads with darkened stoplights as the region got its first look at the destruction left by Hurricane Dolly. Traffic picked up on local...Tags: Beach Vacations, Ohio, Hurricanes, Tropical Storms, Puerto Rico
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Hurricane Dolly bears down on Texas-Mexico coast
Associated Press WriterRain started to fall along the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Dolly closed in on towns straddling the Texas-Mexico border, packing 85 mph winds that could strengthen when it hits land later Wednesday. The Category 1 hurricane was expected to dump up to 15...Tags: Executive Branch, Ocean Tides, Rick Perry, Emergency Planning, Prisons
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Brownsville, Texas; Hurricane Dolly
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say Hurricane Dolly has strengthened to a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds near 100 mph. The storm center is about 30 miles east-northeast of Brownsville, Texas. The eye will cross the...Tags: Hurricanes, Texas, Brownsville, Natural Disasters, Tropical Weather
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Dolly now a Category 1 hurricane
The Associated PressDolly spun into a hurricane today, heading toward the U.S.-Mexico border and the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley, where officials feared heavy rains could cause massive flooding and levee breaks. Dolly was upgraded from a tropical storm Tuesday...Tags: Executive Branch, Rick Perry, Emergency Planning, Migration, Floods
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Tropical Storm Cristobal looms off Southeast coast
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Tropical Storm Cristobal, the first tropical storm to menace the Southeast seaboard this hurricane season, sent outer bands of intermittent rain lashing the eastern Carolinas yesterday as forecasters predicted it could dump several...Tags: Weather Reports, Tropical Storms, Virginia, Weather Warnings, Disasters
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Tropical storm forms off coast
CHARLESTON — Tropical Storm Cristobal churned off the southeastern seaboard after it formed Saturday, the first storm to threaten the U.S. this hurricane season, forecasters said. The storm strengthened from a tropical depression, generating...Tags: Hurricanes, Tropical Storms, Natural Disasters, Tropical Weather, Disasters
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Bertha loses tropical system characteristics
Associated PressTropical Storm Bertha, the longest-lived July tropical storm in history, has lost its tropical system characteristics and was expected to weaken during the next day or so, according to the National Hurricane Center. The center of Bertha was 850 miles...Tags: Moving and Storage, Hurricanes, Moving, Tropical Storms, New Jersey
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Dolly aims at Texas-Mexico line
The Associated PressResidents along the Texas-Mexico border kept a watchful eye on Tropical Storm Dolly on Monday, stocking up on plywood, generators and flashlights as forecasters predicted the storm would strengthen into a hurricane later this week and make landfall....Tags: Tropical Storms, Brownsville, Weather Warnings, Disasters, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida)
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Texas, Mexico prepare for Tropical Storm Dolly
Associated PressResidents along the Texas-Mexico border kept a watchful eye on Tropical Storm Dolly on Monday, stocking up on plywood, generators and flashlights as forecasters predicted the storm would strengthen into a hurricane later this week and make landfall....Tags: Hurricanes, Tropical Storms, Natural Disasters, Disasters, Meteorological Disasters
Jul 24, 2008
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Jul 24, 2008
|Story| KTLA-TV
Jul 23, 2008
|Story| Associated Press
Jul 23, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jul 22, 2008
|Story| Associated Press
Jul 20, 2008
|Story| Newsday
Jul 20, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jul 20, 2008
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jul 22, 2008
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jul 21, 2008
|Story| Associated Press
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