Predicting Hurricane Irma’s path over the next few days will be harder, thanks to shifting, high-elevation weather patterns that will determine whether Florida takes a direct hit or is spared the full wrath of the monster storm.
With satellites, radar, jet aircraft and high-speed computers at hand, forecasters still rely on old-fashioned weather balloons to determine where Irma will wreak the most havoc, Bloomberg reports.
National Weather Service offices across the U.S. have doubled the number of data-gathering balloons launched daily to try to unlock the secrets of systems that could mean the difference between salvation and devastation.
Hurricanes don’t move under their own power, so predicting what they will do requires knowing what larger, constantly moving high-pressure ridges and low-pressure troughs are up to.
Bloomberg has the full story. See video of Irma—which appears unlikely to have its sights set on Louisiana—sweeping across the island of St. Marten.
