Experts updating storm surge modeling ahead of 2020 hurricane season

Experts at NOAA are updating the storm surge modeling system ahead of hurricane season in hopes of helping people who live along the coast.

DOLLARS.I’M NOELANI MATHEWS, FOX FOUR INYOUR CORNER."<(LOOK LIVE INTRO)HI EVERYONE, LAUREN PETRELLWE’RE LESS THAN ONE MONTH AWAYFROM HURRICANE SEASON.IT’S HARD TO EVEN IMAGINE WITHEVERYTHING GOING ON WITH THECORONAVIRUS.BUT THIS WEEK IS HURRICANEPREPAREDNESS WEEK SO I’LL BETALKING TO EXPERTS ABOUT THEUPCOMING SEASON TO HELP MAKESURE YOU’RE FULLY PREPARED.SO TODAY WE’RE TALKING ABOUT NEWSTORM SURGE TECHNOLOGY... THATWILL HELP SCIENTISTS BE MOREACCURATE... ULTIMATELY KEEP YOUSAFE.(LOOK LIVE PACKAGE)IT’S ALMOST THAT TIME OF THEYEAR AGAIN HURRICANE SEASON.EXPERTS AT THE NATIONAL OCEANICAND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATIONHAVE BEEN WORKING AROUND THECLOCK TO GET READY.(SOT)"I think we have some newinitiatives this year thatthink will help us better conveystorm surge."JAMIE RHOM━ A STORM SURGESPECIALIS━ SAYS THEY’VE BEENMAKING IMPROVEMENTS TO THEIRSYSTEMSTORM SURGE IS WHEN THE SEALEVEL RISES AND IT CAN BE THDEADLIEST PART OF A HURRICANE.HOWEVER, RHOME BELIEVES THEIRUPDATED MODELING SYSTEM WILL BEEXTREMELY BENEFICIAL DURING THISHURRICANE SEASON."Previously the model would tryto guess the hurricane size andhow big it was and now we’refeeding it direct data so it’sstarting at a better size."THESE CHANGES WILL HELP THEIRDATA BE MORE ACCURATE SHRINKINGTHE ZONES ALONG THE COASTLINEALLOWING THEM TO FOCUS ON THEAREAS THAT CAN POTENTIALLY BEHIT THE HARDEST.HURRICANE IRM━ A STORM THADEVASTATED SOUTHWEST FLORIDA IN201━ LEAD THEM TO MAKE THCHANGE.(SOT"Irma was a very complicatstructure in size and it wentthrough many transformations onland which had hugramifications and that reallmotivated us to try and nailthat downMANY HAVE WONDERED HOW THECONROVIRUS WILL IMPACT THEHURRICANE SEASOAFTER ALL, WE DEPEND ON TEAMS OFEXPERTS TO WORK TOGETHER ANDGATHER DATA, BUT WITH SOCIALDISTANCTING THAT COULD BEDIFFICULT.HOWEVER, RHOME SAYS THE VIRUSHAD THE OPPOSITE EFFECT ON HISTEAMS’ WORK.(SOT)"This new environment hasenabled be to dig into ourprojects and work really reallyclosely with my teams and we areahead on our meetings andprojects in terms ofmilestones."(LOOK LIVE TAG)RHOME SAYS THE BEST WAY TOPREPARE FOR STORM SURGE IS TOLOOK OVER THEIR MAPS... ANDTRUST WHEN EVACTAION ORDERS ARE