The Ensemble of Tropical Cyclone Track Forecasting Models in the North Atlantic Basin (1976–2000)

Abstract

The suite of tropical cyclone track forecast models in the Atlantic basin from the 1976 to 2000 hurricane seasons are treated as a forecast ensemble. The 12?h ensemble mean forecast, adjusted for forecast difficulty, has improved at a rate of just under 1% per year, and the improvement rate increases to almost 2.4% per year for the 72?h forecasts. The average size of the 72?h (48?h) error in 1976 is less than the average size of the 48?h (36?h) error in 2000. The average 36?h forecast error in 2000 is comparable to the 24?h forecast error in 1976. The ensemble currently spans the true path of the tropical cyclone in the cross?track direction more than 90% of the time and in the alongtrack direction between 60% and 90% of the time depending on the forecast lead time. The ensemble spread is unable to provide estimates of individual forecast reliability, likely making probabilistic landfall forecasts from this ensemble unreliable. The reliability of the spread in the cross?track direction suggests the possibility of limiting hurricane watch and warning regions depending upon the ensemble spread at landfall.