A tree fell on my house in 2003 during Hurricane Isabel, here in Norfolk, Virginia, and ever since then, I have had an increased interest in Hurricanes and cyclones around the world.
One of the more reliable (nonsensational) sites from which to get information is the NOAA webpage,
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ .
The Weather Channel's webpage is also good, but often sensationalized and glutted with hits, such that download is difficult.
NOAA now proposes to remove their maps of disturbances in the ocean, which they are calling "offshore waters" :
Proposed Changes to NWS Web Page Display of Marine Warnings Over Offshore Waters
The National Weather Service proposes removing offshore waters warnings and forecasts from NWS home page maps. This proposal would remove Gale, Storm, Tropical Storm, Hurricane, and Hurricane Force Wind Warnings over the offshore waters from national and local Weather Forecast Office Web page map displays. There has been expressed concern these warnings highlight the entire zone, not just the actual event within that zone, and create unwarranted anxiety of the potential for danger in neighboring coastal waters and land areas.
The proposed changes will have no effect of weather watches/warnings/advisories currently displayed over coastal waters and land areas. Offshore waters zones will no longer be clickable nor linked to text forecasts. Access to the offshore forecast text products will continue to be available at Marine Forecasts and other webpages
http://www.weather.gov/offshore/
If I understand this proposal correctly, this means they will remove their maps of tracking of the hurricanes. So if Hurricane Hypothetical is starting up in the middle of the Atlantic, we will not get to see its path visually until it comes into coastal waters.
The rationale for this reminds me of criticism and commentary around the great Indian Ocean Tsunami, wherein Thailand could have received a warning, but powers-that-be abstained from getting the information out, lest the tourists be disturbed. Lest money be lost. Not that much evacuation could have been accomplished with so little notice, but with hurricanes, we have the advantage of knowing well ahead of time. And the visual of these maps really drives it home! The maps are excellent information!
I myself have offered "comment" to the NOAA site, which they have invited, and I hope others will too.
A disturbing thing happened Saturday/Sunday here informationally. The Weather Channel was running a red warning bar along the bottom of the screen for this area on Saturday night-- a High Wind Warning, wherein this area was going to experience 24-48 hours of sustained winds of 35-45 mph, with gusts to 55-65mph. That's the kind of weather that will bring more tree damage, so I was interested in the story! As I was trying to read the entire advisory running along the bottom, it got yanked from the screen. So naturally, I assumed that the warning had either downgraded or had somehow changed. When I got out and about on Sunday, it was clear that the event had not changed or downgraded, so I looked it up on the Internet when I got back. Sure enough, the Warning was still on. I had to dig for it, though. So I am speculating that the Weather Channel has also been requested to stop "worrying us" so.
I believe that this limitation of information is all part of the "Global Warming" whitewash we are now seeing from this administration. I am not a journalist, and I'm in no position to prove it, but I'm hoping that someone will take the ball and run with it.
Now on another level, which is a whole other can of worms, those of us who work with hurricanes in visualization very much need the visual of the maps provided by the satellites. But no matter --- that's too other-worldly to consider. I think it's reasonable in normal consensual reality to not deprive the people of this information. I for one have made decisions about changing flight-times based on seeing the trajectory of a given hurricane on these maps, days in advance. I've hit the stores early for supplies. This kind of information could only be a good thing, for everyone.
What sort of world has it become, wherein information is shielded so as to not upset us? Hahah, I know, welcome to the real world. But doing it with the weather too --- it's just too much. Too much, and potentially more dangerous in the withholding than whatever "stress" it may bring.
Sincerely,
V Lambert