National Hurricane Center

A veteran weather forecaster was named the new director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, filling the void left when his predecessor was removed after his comments about an aging weather satellite angered staffers. They felt he was undermining public confidence in forecasts. Bill Read, the center's interim deputy director since August, said he would work to boost morale.

It's 3 feet long, weighs 8 pounds and looks a bit like a plastic airplane model. But by next year it will be flying into the eye of a hurricane, bucking incredibly violent winds and maneuvering within 100 feet of the ocean's surface. Its primary mission: to help the National Hurricane Center improve intensity predictions, an area where forecasters have lagged for decades. It also will help improve the accuracy of real-time storm predictions. Called GALE, the unmanned aircraft will be launched from the belly of a hurricane hunter turboprop, initially shot out of a tube as a cylinder.

Far out over the ocean, Hurricane Alberto--the first storm of the Atlantic season--is expected to take a turn to the north today, perhaps posing a danger only to ships at sea. But for Max Mayfield, who'd have plenty of explaining to do if a storm defied all expectations and barreled into the U.S., neither Alberto nor any other tropical system is to be trusted.

Exceptionally warm ocean waters and favorable atmospheric conditions are expected to bring an above-average number of tropical storms and hurricanes to the Atlantic and Caribbean, national weather forecasters predicted Thursday. The forecast comes as Florida braces for the remnants of Tropical Storm Emily, which has pounded the Caribbean in recent days with rain and winds above 50 mph. The storm weakened considerably Thursday, but is expected to bring some rain and winds to Florida over the weekend.

He's bald, 64 years old and has a face that even he says "is made for radio." But when a major hurricane threatens the East Coast, Jerry Jarrell is perhaps the most-watched man on television. As director of the National Hurricane Center, Jarrell is often in the eye of the television camera, explaining to anxious residents who want to know exactly where the storm will strike. And he often doesn't know. "It's taking an awful track," Jarrell said Tuesday in a voice ravaged by a cold and overuse.

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season is essentially over, even though it does not officially end until Nov. 30. So says William Gray, Colorado State University hurricane forecaster. Because El Niño has created strong wind shear over the tropics, "the odds of a storm are very, very small from this point on," said Gray, who closed the book on the 2009 season Thursday. However, according to the National Hurricane Center in Florida, it's possible that the wind shear could relax over the coming weeks, and the waters in the Caribbean are still warm enough to support storm formation.

Hurricane Earl moved toward the open Atlantic on Friday, and forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said there were no indications that it would strengthen or change course.

Tropical Storm Isidore has become Hurricane Isidore in the eastern Atlantic and increased in wind speed to 85 mph, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday. The storm remained several days from land.

The first tropical storm of the season in the eastern Pacific has been downgraded to a tropical depression and probably will dissipate within 24 hours, the National Hurricane Center said Monday. The storm, named Adolph, was centered Monday about 1,400 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.

The first tropical depression of the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season, packing sustained winds of 35 m.p.h., formed Monday about 225 miles south of Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center said. The system was moving west-northwest at 8 m.p.h. and was expected to maintain that motion through tonight, the center said.

When it comes to storm monikers, Fiona and Gaston don't exactly sound fierce, and neither do Hermine and Shary. Yet all of these were on the 2010 list of tropical storm names, and the National Hurricane Center in Miami used 19 of them during the hurricane season, which ends Tuesday. Storm names are frequently international in nature, and occasionally difficult to pronounce, because they are selected by the World Meteorological Organization, based in Geneva. The names may seem strange to some, but the organization has a method.

Hurricane Earl weakened Friday as it sped north toward New England, lashing coastal communities with heavy winds and rain while disrupting travel on the eve of a three-day weekend. By Friday afternoon, the eye of the storm was about 290 miles southwest of Nantucket, Mass., and veering to the north-northeast, a course expected to carry it farther out in the Atlantic Ocean. Maximum sustained winds dropped to 80 mph — 6 mph above hurricane force — and further weakening was expected, the National Hurricane Center said.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie weakened further on Saturday and it appeared less likely to gain strength as it moved through the U.S. oil patch in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. "We think that the system no longer has a threat of becoming a tropical storm again," said Lixion Avila, a senior forecaster at the Miami-based hurricane center. He said Bonnie, which was downgraded from a tropical storm to a depression on Friday as it weakened on its trek from the Caribbean, across Florida into the Gulf, could dissipate into a broad area of low pressure if its sustained winds fall another 5 miles (8 km)

Days before the start of what's predicted to be a busy hurricane season, federal and state officials meeting in Florida reviewed what's working and what isn't when it comes to storm forecasting, and urged emergency managers to rethink how they view the public in forming disaster plans. "We literally look at the public as a liability," Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Wednesday at the 24th annual Governor's Hurricane Conference at the Broward County Convention Center here.

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season is essentially over, even though it does not officially end until Nov. 30. So says William Gray, Colorado State University hurricane forecaster. Because El Niño has created strong wind shear over the tropics, "the odds of a storm are very, very small from this point on," said Gray, who closed the book on the 2009 season Thursday. However, according to the National Hurricane Center in Florida, it's possible that the wind shear could relax over the coming weeks, and the waters in the Caribbean are still warm enough to support storm formation.

Hurricane Rick, the strongest eastern North Pacific storm in more than a decade, raged across open seas, but forecasters said it could veer into resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula by midweek. The track of the Category 5 hurricane threatened to disrupt a major sport fishing tournament scheduled to start Wednesday in Los Cabos, where hundreds of fishermen -- mainly Americans -- were gathering. The hurricane's winds were 175 mph, down slightly from a peak of 180 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Powerful Hurricane Paloma slammed into southern Cuba as authorities scrambled to move hundreds of thousands of people to safer ground. It made landfall near Santa Cruz del Sur as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, but weakened into a Category 2 with 110-mph winds and torrential rains, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

A large wave fueled by Hurricane Bill swept a group of surf-watchers into the sea at a national park in Maine on Sunday, including a 7-year-old girl who died after the Coast Guard pulled her from the churning waters. The girl, her father and a 12-year-old girl who were all visiting Acadia National Park were plucked from the water by rescuers. The man and the 12-year-old were hospitalized. The three were part of an early afternoon crowd of thousands who lined the park's rocky shoreline to watch the high surf and crashing waves, which were "absolutely the effects of Hurricane Bill" coupled with the effect of high tide, said Sonya Berger, a park ranger.