Mar 21 2025
Off

Register for the 2025 HURREVAC webinar series

By HURREVAC Support

Registration is open for the National Hurricane Program’s free annual HURREVAC webinar series. Government emergency managers are invited to join us each day from May 19 to May 22, 2025. New HURREVAC users who have not yet had an opportunity to get comprehensive training are strongly encouraged to attend. Returning HURREVAC users are also welcome to use this opportunity to refresh their skills and get the latest information about NOAA’s forecast products and services ahead of the 2025 season. The four sessions will focus on these themes: You must register for each day you plan to attend. What to expect All sessions will go live at 2 PM EDT and run for approximately 2 hours. If you are familiar with how the HURREVAC webinars were structured in the past, please be aware of a few new changes based in part on attendee feedback. Instead of five 90-minute sessions in June, we have rearranged the instruction into four 2-hour sessions in May. The exercises that were previously presented on Friday (Day 5) are spread throughout the week instead. The first half of each session will be devoted to an expert presentation of hurricane-related concepts and walk-through of related tools in HURREVAC. After a short break, the second half of each session will be devoted to more applied demonstrations and exercises. Follow the links in the list above to find more details about the topics that will be covered each day. This arrangement is intended to build concepts gradually through the course of the week, while mixing in opportunities to practice skills and ask questions. FAQ Please plan to join the webinars on a device with a stable internet connection and a screen that is large enough to resolve details of the HURREVAC workspace. We strongly recommend using a laptop or office workstation instead of a phone screen. You may simply watch the webinar, or follow along with the demos in your own HURREVAC account if you have a second screen. For those who are unable to attend the webinars (partially or entirely), or would like to review the material at a later time, recordings of each session will also be posted to the HURREVAC YouTube channel prior to the start of the next day’s session.

Nov 19 2024
Off

New Toolbox Behavior and other Updates

By HURREVAC Support

HURREVAC now highlights active selections in the Toolbox, which is located in the lower left corner of the workspace. For example, this behavior indicates whenever the Tropical Weather Outlook is turned on by default when the program loads. Other tools like Text Advisories, Evacuation Timing and Training are also highlighted when clicked and their respective windows are open. Tools that open from the right side panel – Reports, Storm Surge (SLOSH) Explorer, and Storm Simulator – are also highlighted in the same way when you click on them. The right side panel now has a slightly different look, which removes the tabs at the top and only shows one tool at a time. It is still possible to switch between these three panel-based features using the toolbox. Other recent program changes Tropical Weather Outlook: storm icons are shown for all systems except the one that is actively selected (the ‘working’ storm). The TWO is beneficial for situational awareness, but we also recommend turning off the TWO layer when focused on tracking a particular storm unless you want to show its track in relation to other areas of potential development. Wind watches and warnings: improved caching now lets new information populate on the map without needing to restart the browser. This layer is often published shortly after the other advisory text products, so there can be a period of a few to several minutes where the HURREVAC map does not yet show a wind watch/warning line to match the text. Deterministic winds for JTWC areas of responsibility: added an exception to the recent program changes to show the 64kt (typhoon or cyclone) winds on the map throughout the 5 day period when applicable, as that threshold is explicitly forecast in JTWC advisories. The deterministic wind timing report still limits specific results for the 64-kt threshold to 3 days in all areas. Note to users in South Carolina: the state’s latest Hurricane Evacuation Study (HES) data has been implemented in the program during recent weeks and months. This includes new Evacuation Zones and clearance times in the Evacuation Timing window. New HES documents for the Resources tab are coming soon.  

Nov 04 2024
Off

Time change reminder for HURREVAC users

By HURREVAC Support

The recent change from daylight saving time to standard time means that products from the National Hurricane Center and other forecast agencies are available one hour earlier. These changes are automatically reflected in HURREVAC, but users tracking late-season tropical activity should be aware of the following times. Regular (complete) advisories are now issued at 4 a.m., 10 a.m., 4 p.m., and 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. (In Central Standard Time: 3 a.m., 9 a.m., 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.) Intermediate advisories are issued at 1 a.m., 7 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. EST while watches and warnings are in effect. (In CST: Midnight, 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m.) Tropical Weather Outlooks are issued around 1 a.m., 7 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. EST. By default, HURREVAC’s time display matches the system setting of your computer or device. There is no need to change any HURREVAC settings to account for the end of daylight saving time unless you manually set a custom time zone (UTC offset) in User Preferences.

Sep 23 2024
Off

New Self-guided Training Resources

By HURREVAC Support

We invite HURREVAC users to take advantage of two new ways to learn how to use the program or brush up on skills: YouTube videos and in-app training modules. Quick Guide to HURREVAC on YouTube New to the program and short on time? We’ve condensed all the basics into a five-part YouTube video series. To watch, use the embedded viewer below to start the playlist, visit our YouTube page, or pick a particular topic from the list below. In-app Training Modules When logged into HURREVAC, click Training in the toolbox in the lower left portion of the workspace. That opens a window with a list of the training topics. These are self-paced, step-by-step, interactive modules that gradually build up the concepts you’ll need to know to get the most out of the program. Though you can interact with HURREVAC on a touch device, we recommend using a laptop/desktop screen and mouse for the best experience because the training module covers up some parts of the interface. If you are new to the program or have never taken any training classes before, we recommend starting with Introduction to HURREVAC, Customizing the Workspace and Finding Key Storm Information before proceeding to the others. You’re welcome to complete the rest, or select a topic that is relevant to your needs. Other ways to learn HURREVAC For printable at-a-glance reference guides in PDF format, go to our User Guides and Tutorials page to find the Quick Reference Guide and Workspace Handout. For in-depth video training with longer demonstrations and expert descriptions of hurricane forecast products, watch the recordings of our annual webinar series. For the most detailed documentation, use our searchable in-app User Guide (login required).

Aug 23 2024
Off

Deterministic wind data available up to 5 days

By HURREVAC Support

Starting with the 2024 season, the National Hurricane Center extended tropical-storm-force wind radii forecasts out to days four and five. Previously, this forecast information only went out to day three.HURREVAC now incorporates this extended forecast data, which lets users gather more information about when tropical-storm-force winds could arrive. This change is reflected in several areas of the program: Forecast Wind Field (Wind Rings) used to advance no further than 69 hours, and can now be animated along the full length of the forecast. Wind Swath: Forecast – Deterministic and Forecast – Probabilistic were both extended from three days to five days. Wind Timing Report for a Location has a longer period of deterministic timing information for the 34-kt and 50-kt thresholds. Deterministic Wind Timing Report: refer to the updated report description for details. One change of note: a cell now lists “No Data” when the deterministic forecast does not reach that threshold. Previously, this was listed as “n/a.” NOTE: As in previous seasons, hurricane-force winds are still forecast to day two by the NHC, but extrapolated to day three in HURREVAC when applicable. Hurricane winds are not depicted beyond three days in HURREVAC. Therefore, even if the track forecast indicates a hurricane four or five days into the future, the hurricane-force wind fields and swaths are not plotted beyond three days, and reports do not show timing of hurricane winds beyond 69 hours. Users are encouraged to refer to Text Advisories and probabilistic products to fully assess a storm’s intensity, hazards, and uncertainty. This change does not affect the Error Cone plus Fringe Winds which still shows a hatched area for the next three days of the forecast.