Updated Storm Surge Modeling for North Carolina

Emergency managers in North Carolina now have access to an updated SLOSH basin in HURREVAC. The associated high-resolution MEOWs are available in the Storm Surge (SLOSH) Explorer to help users understand their storm surge risk for both planning and operational decision-making. The North Carolina basin, identified as nc1, was updated by the National Hurricane Center Storm Surge Unit and released by the National Hurricane Program in May 2024.

The nc1 update includes improvements to both resolution and geographic extent, and is intended for use between the South Carolina-North Carolina border and the North Carolina-Virginia border. This new data replaces the previous Wilmington (il3) and Cape Hatteras/Pamlico Sound (ht3) basins.

Questions pertaining to nc1 data should be directed to [email protected] at the National Hurricane Center. General questions about storm surge tools in HURREVAC should be directed to [email protected].

Other recent updates

The River Gages layers in the Conditions tab now link users to NOAA’s NWPS, which recently replaced the AHPS system. The interface and symbology in HURREVAC are unchanged.

The Potential Track Area (Error Cone) rates for 2024 have been incorporated for all basins. As a reminder, when using an archived storm, HURREVAC now uses the error statistics from its year of occurrence to show the cone as it would have appeared at the time (more information is in the January announcement). HURREVAC always plots exercise storms and simulated storms with the current season’s error cone definitions, regardless of when it was created or the date of the scenario.

The HURREVAC team is currently working on improvements to the display of active storms and the Tropical Weather Outlook, and will have more to share about that project and other planned changes for this season during our annual training webinar series (June 10-14).