Hurricane watchers hit their mark [hurricane forecasting]

This paper reports how near-term hurricane forecasting has improved enormously over the last few years. Hurricane Katrina provided a vivid example of today's more skillful hurricane predicting. It was because of the weather service's accurate forecasts that the decision was made to evacuate New Orleans and adjacent areas. Without the forecasts, the human toll from the storm would have been far greater. Providing as much as 24-hours of advanced warning, the Katrina forecasts would not have been possible without the major advances in weather satellite technology along with better atmospheric models and much faster supercomputers.