Q&A - Technology’s role in the 2019 Hurricane Season
Today’s entry: Hi Brian, Great job on the airwaves. A note on this past Atlantic Hurricane season. NOAA has never had as good of storm detection ability as they do now. This hurricane season marks the best season thus far in detection due to updated satellite capability. A handful of storms identified deep in the Atlantic as hurricanes never would have been identified as such even just a few years back. So, the increase in storms goes along w the improvement in identifying storm technology. Very little correlation with the so called human induced global warming. Former TV Meteorologist here. Let’s do hope for that nice stretch of Florida quiet seasons!
Bottom Line: First, you’re a highly credible source on the subject given your scientific and professional background. Second, to your point, I was especially impressed by the near immediate detection of the system in the Tennessee Valley that became hurricane Barry. I’d never sent anything like that occur until this season. Your point is well taken that new technology produces a series of new situations and increased detection's of storms which create numerous “firsts”. Of course, it’s unlikely that they’re all “firsts” as much as they are results of new information. In the political age of climate science today – it's often spun to be the result of man-made factors – aside from the new technology.
A year or two ago I’d put together a story based on the changes in storm detection based on improvements with technology over time. Not surprisingly every time there was a leap in technology used by scientists, there’s been an increase in detection of storms. We’ve had official tracking of the Atlantic Hurricane season since 1851. Clearly, we didn’t have advanced radar technology or any radar technology back then.
The first hurricane hunter aircraft took flight in 1944. The first satellites were used to detect tropical cyclones in 1967 and has steadily improved with time. The result, not surprisingly, has been an increase in the number of detected storms with time. To your point, overlapping radar limitations of late 1960’s technology, eight of the named storms this year would have never been detected as they only reached tropical storm and/or hurricane strength when in reaches of the mid-Atlantic previously undetectable. Based on pre-1967 satellite technology it appears nine of the storms wouldn’t have been detected.
Context is key and literally half of this year’s hurricane season wouldn’t have even existed to us prior to 1967. But rather than attribute the increase in named storms to improved technology and detection – it's often characterized under man made climate change political interests. There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. These are the facts.