Surface Wind Fields of Significant Landfalling Hurricanes in 2017

Carrying on a service that spans over two decades, RMS-HWind conducted over 240 analyses of tropical cyclone wind fields in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins during 2017. Storms within range of reconnaissance aircraft were monitored at a frequency consistent with the flight schedule and near landfall analyses were produced every three hours. These analyses result in an independent, objective, observation-based “snapshot” of the maximum sustained surface wind field. For the insurance and financial industries, the wind field data are used in decision support systems, and for estimating claims and loss accumulation. The wind information has also been provided to FEMA for use as input to the HAZUS model to evaluate economic impacts and recovery resource needs. Here we will describe details associated with the landfall of Harvey in southeast Texas, Irma and Maria’s wind fields during their Caribbean landfalls, followed by the landfall of Irma in Florida and Nate in Louisiana and Mississippi. In describing these storms we will compare measured intensity according to the observed maximum sustained wind, size by wind radii, and storm surge potential as depicted by the integrated kinetic energy metric. We will also highlight critical observing systems and reiterate the need for hardened U. S. Weather networks that will not be susceptible to power outages.

The 2017 landfall cases are available in the RMS enhanced archive and limited data is available to support scientific investigations through our academic research license.