New NOAA system ushers in next generation of hurricane modeling, forecasting

Hurricane Hunter Milton. Credit: NOAA

Accurate forecasts and early warnings from NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) — a division of NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) — are vital to safeguarding communities that are in the paths of hurricanes and tropical storms.

As we kick off the new year, now is the perfect time to look back on how NOAA’s newest hurricane model, the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS), advanced the accuracy of hurricane forecasts and supported community preparedness actions during the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.

HAFS was jointly created by NOAA’s National Weather Service Environmental Modeling Center, NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory and NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Marine & Atmospheric Studies.