Graphical Tropical Weather Outlooks in 2007 season?

[cycloneye]

http://ratfish.nhc.noaa.gov/testing/new ... _atl.shtml

NHC is testing this to see if they add it to the Tropical Weather Outlooks. It would be great to see graphics added to the text of the Tropical Weather Outlooks.

[JonathanBelles]

I like that.

[senorpepr]

That'll be nice.

[wxman57]

This is something that the private forecast companies have been doing since at least 1980 (hand drawn map) when I began my career. When the Internet became popular, we switched to online color maps and email. I note that the outlook is only for 48 hours (basically today and tomorrow). Our clients need to know of any possible development within the next 7-10 days, so we actually have to make a 7-day track forecast of any disturbance which has the potential to devleop into a TC, identifying the point at which TS formation is possible. It's a real challenge. Let's say a major offshore operator is installing a "riser" (flow line} between the well at the bottom of the ocean over a mile below the surface and a platform. This can be a 7-day operation. At some point during the laying of the very large pipe they reach a point of no return where they cannot safely release the pipe and lay it down on the bottom without damaging the platform or other pipes in the area. Before they even start such an expensive operation, they need assurance that a developing TS will not impact them before they're done (7 days later).

But the NHC's main goal is public safety, not helping private industry with long-range forecasts. They generally do an excellent job of keeping the public warned. A graphic is always helpful in identifying just where a particular disturbance is located. I thought that they were also experimenting with a streaming video a year or two ago. I saw some test examples.

[hurricanetrack]

It would be great, in my opinion, if they had video updates like some of the private weather companies. That would be awesome. They could record them and place them online in WMV format and let people watch at their leisure. It would be quite bandwidth intensive, especially since they get many millions of visitors a year, but it would be cool to see.

[cycloneye]

It would be great, in my opinion, if they had video updates like some of the private weather companies. That would be awesome. They could record them and place them online in WMV format and let people watch at their leisure. It would be quite bandwidth intensive, especially since they get many millions of visitors a year, but it would be cool to see.

Agree Mark with the Video.It would be awesome.

[Brent]

I like it.

[MississippiHurricane]

oooooohhhhhhhhh. Me likey!!!!!!!

[HURAKAN]

An image will be excellent, but a video will be out of this planet. Both are great ideas.

[RattleMan]

I get a 403. Did someone get a picture of it?

[Coredesat]

Looks pretty spiffy, although the satellite image is clearly not of August 8, 2006 :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ ... caltwo.jpg

[O Town]

Looks pretty spiffy, although the satellite image is clearly not of August 8, 2006 :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ ... caltwo.jpg

Thanks! That looks awesome, what a great improvement that would be.

[P.K.]

Interesting, looks a little similar to the BoM and Nadi forecasts in terms of developing storms and the chance of formation.

Link doesn't work here either, but then that page hasn't worked for me since 2005.