Thursday, August 27, 2020

Hurricane Laura Interactive Map



This image shows Hurricane Laura making landfall in Louisana. The screenshot was captured from Windfinder, an interactive animated map which shows wind speed and wind direction in real-time and also provides a 5 day forecast.

To view Laura's forecast path you can select to view different hours on the Windfinder timeline. Windy, another real-time animated wind map, actually includes a play button which allows you to watch the forecast movement of Hurricane Laura animated on the map.

Hurricane Laura has intensified rapidly in the last 24 hours, quickly developing from a category three to a category four storm and gaining over 70% in power.



NASA's Deep Learning-based Hurricane Intensity Estimator uses artificial intelligence to assess the wind speed intensity of tropical storms. You can use the map at the moment to follow the progress of Hurricane Laura and to view the intensity assessments that the model has made for this huge tropical storm.

The model used by the map to assess the intensity of hurricanes is based on the Dvorak technique. The Dvorak technique looks at patterns in infrared satellite imagery to determine the intensity of tropical cyclones. When these patterns are assessed by humans the intensity estimate is based on a subjective judgement. By using deep-learning to recognize the patterns in infrared satellite imagery NASA hopes to develop a more objective way to measure the intensity of tropical storms.

If you click on Hurricane Laura on the interactive map you can view the latest intensity estimate of the storm. You can also view and download the deep learning predictions made by the model since Hurricane Laura began.



You can view Hurricane Laura's forecast cone and predicted track on NOAA's Hurricane Laura page. As well as the interactive map of Laura's forecast path NOAA includes the latest storm surge warnings, hurricane force wind warnings and flash flooding warnings for Hurricane Laura.

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