National Hurricane Center Product and Service Updates for 2025

Meteorology Matters summarizes the key updates to products and services that the National Hurricane Center (NHC) will implement for the 2025 hurricane season, as outlined in the provided document. These updates aim to improve public communication of hurricane risks, enhance forecast accuracy, and provide more detailed information on potential impacts.

Main Themes:

• Enhanced Communication of Inland Wind and Rip Current Risks: The NHC is focusing on improving the communication of hurricane-related risks beyond the immediate coastline, specifically addressing inland wind threats and dangerous rip currents.
• Earlier Issuance of Advisories for Potential Tropical Cyclones: Recognizing the need for timely warnings, the NHC will now issue advisory products for potential tropical cyclones earlier in their development.
• Increased Detail and Lead Time in Wind and Wave Forecasts: Forecast information regarding hurricane-force winds will be extended, and the representation of sea state in forecasts will be updated to better align with user preferences.
• Introduction of Probabilistic Storm Surge Guidance for Hawaii: For the first time, the Hawaiian Islands will receive probabilistic storm surge forecasts, providing a more nuanced understanding of potential inundation.
• Continued Improvement in Track Forecast Accuracy: The NHC's track forecast error cone will be reduced in size for both the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins, reflecting ongoing improvements in forecasting.
• Leveraging Social Media for Real-time Updates and Outreach: The NHC continues to utilize various social media platforms to provide timely information, engage with the public, and enhance outreach efforts.

Most Important Ideas and Facts:

1. Experimental Cone Graphic with Inland Watches and Warnings:

• Change: The NHC will continue to issue an experimental version of the hurricane cone graphic that includes a depiction of inland tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings for the continental United States.
• Rationale: This is based on feedback from the 2024 season and social science research suggesting it will "help communicate wind risk during tropical cyclone events while not overcomplicating the current version of the graphic."
• New Feature: The experimental cone legend will now include symbology for areas under simultaneous hurricane watch and tropical storm warning (diagonal pink and blue lines).
• Availability: It will be available on hurricanes.gov for full and intermediate advisories, generally within 30 minutes of the advisory release, though potential technical issues could affect timeliness.
• Operational Graphic: The current operational cone graphic, which only depicts coastal watches/warnings, will remain available without changes.
• Feedback: There will be an opportunity to provide comments on the experimental graphic.