North Atlantic Hurricanes 1977–99: Surface Hurricane-Force Wind Radii

Abstract

The Hurricane Research Division (NOAA/AMOL/HRD) flight-level data archive of 1977?99 North Atlantic hurricanes is used to create radial profiles of earth-relative surface wind speeds. Radii of hurricane-force winds are determined directly from these generated profiles. The distributions of hurricane-force wind radii stratified by minimum central pressure and quadrant, relative to the direction of storm motion, indicate marked variability among storms. However, a model which uses storm parameters to predict the radius of hurricane-force winds in a given quadrant of a hurricane does seem feasible. Roughly three-quarters of the variance in the hurricane- force wind radii of minimal hurricanes and about one-half of the variance in the hurricane-force wind radii of major hurricanes is explained by parameters of the storm, enough to make a predictive model of significant value. In addition, cumulative two-dimensional probability distributions of hurricane-force wind radii may have some utility for hurricane loss modelers.