NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

Many people, including a large portion of those who live close to the Great Lakes, do not have a basic understanding of the individual characteristics of and the differences between the lakes. Since it is difficult to understand many of the Great Lakes issues, such as global climate change, pollution, and water use without a basic understanding of the lakes, this activity is designed to help visualize the differences in volume, shoreline length, human population distribution, and fish populations of the Great Lakes.

Explore hurricane aerial survey data from NOAA aircraft.

A hurricane, according to NOAA, is an active low-pressure system that forms over tropical or subtropical waters that rotates at more than 74 miles per hour. They are known for the destruction they cause due to wind, rain, and one particularly dangerous threat, storm surge. In Puerto Rico, we have witnessed the impacts of these storms, the most recent being Hurricanes Irma and María in 2017. These hurricanes were devastating, not only because of the loss of human life and damage to infrastructure, but also the amount of marine debris they left in their wake.

This page from the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic Meteorological Laboratory answers various questions regarding hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical cyclones including information on history, hurricane formation, hurricane forecasting and preparedness, Hurricane hunters, climatology, records, and more. While it is not intended to be a technical guide, references are given throughout the FAQ for those that would like additional, detailed information. Hopefully, this FAQ can help answer some of your questions about the characteristics of these catastrophic storms, how they are monitored and forecast, and what research is being carried out on them today. There is also an extensive history of hurricanes that provides information on hurricane records as far back as we have been able to record.

NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter P-3 Orion airplanes, known best for flying through tropical cyclones, can also take to the skies for a different research cause: The tracking of tornadoes in the southeastern United States. This short video shows what the pilots could see in the cockpit.

Browse a collection of over 100 aircraft videos from the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations. Most footage is of Hurricane Hunter flights, but some other flights are included.

Scientists at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center conducted a detailed post-storm analysis on all the data available for Hurricane Michael and have determined that the storm’s estimated intensity at landfall was 140 knots (160 mph). Michael is the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States as a category 5 since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and only the fourth on record.

Hurricane Resilience is a high school environmental science curriculum for use in coastal locations where hurricanes are common. The curriculum unit aims to empower high school students to have a voice in resilience planning and help them understand the relationship between the science of hurricanes and the local impacts of these storms on people and places.

The National Weather Service hurricane safety page includes information on general safety, watches and warnings, how to plan for a hurricane, and what to do during and after a hurricane.

Hurricanes are powerful storms that bring life-threatening hazards to people living in both coastal and inland communities. Though you may first think of wind when envisioning a hurricane, water hazards are historically the most deadly. This explainer reviews the three major hazards of hurricanes — storm surge, heavy rainfall, and strong wind — and give you actions you can take before, during, and after tropical weather to protect your life and property.