| I like the idea of earlier outlooks, which will start on May 15th starting this year. I guess the only issue I would have with actually moving the season up is that there is a bigger gap between reminding people to prepare when the season starts and the time we usually see more significant impacts. However, sometimes the more significant impacts occur months after June 1st anyway so being an extra few weeks earlier isn't much of a difference in that regard. Most people probably don't prepare when the season starts anyway, so moving up the season by 15 days won't impact them. And I don't suppose people would become less prepared if there was a wider gap between the official start and when the more significant impacts usually occur. Although around here they often have hurricane specials on TV around that first week so I suppose if some people did watch them they might forget some of it a little more easily if they didn't do some of the stuff then. Maybe some might not even watch them if they aired in the middle of May. (but they could air them again later) I wonder if we would see newscasts have tropical updates for those two weeks too. Some stations might make a big deal about that kind of thing, as some stations do about weather for ratings, and if they don't have as much activity during that time some people might think the season seems to be not that active, when it's really still early. For seasonal forecasts, I wonder if they would be released even earlier. I forget when some of those come out. But then again, it does make sense meteorologically and that's the basis I like to go by. Even though we don't have many hurricanes that early, while we do call it hurricane season, it's really tropical cyclone season. It includes tropical storms too. I assume a lot of people know we can get tropical storms, and even hurricanes, at any time in the year. The "official" hurricane season is something that does technically have a start and end date, but they can happen at anytime, they just happen most often during that period. I don't see any significant reasons why it shouldn't be moved to be earlier to match the East Pacific season. I guess it is something that needs to be discussed though, such as how funding would change for the NHC and maybe the hurricane hunters. Air Force and NOAA hurricane hunters have missions into other things throughout the year, even when it's not hurricane season, and I don't know if they have any special readiness during the official hurricane season that would cost more money. NHC of course has people throughout the year as they have a lot of products they create, such as for mariners. I don't know if their shifts are different during the official hurricane season. I forget, but I think they might have a minimum number of forecasters there at all times, 24/7. If they do have that kind of requirement during the season, they might not have that at other times, even though they do put out products all the time. Some of the things like the hurricane awareness week and the tour the hurricane hunters do in a select number of cities would also be moved up. NOUS41 KNHC 021258 PNSNHC Public Information Statement NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL 800 AM EST Tue Mar 2 2021 To: NWS Partners, Users, and Employees From: Michael J. Brennan Branch Chief, Hurricane Specialist Unit National Hurricane Center Subject: Routine issuance of the Atlantic basin Tropical Weather Outlook beginning on May 15, 2021 In order to provide more frequent information on the potential for tropical cyclone formation as the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season approaches, the National Hurricane Center will begin routine issuance of the Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook (TWO) and the Graphical TWO at 800 AM EDT (1200 UTC) May 15, 2021. Given recent increased tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic basin in late May, routine issuance of the Atlantic TWO starting on May 15 offers a service improvement over unscheduled Special TWOs that are issued to discuss the possibility of tropical cyclone formation prior to the official start of hurricane season on June 1. The Atlantic TWO can be found under AWIPS header MIATWOAT and WMO header ABNT20 KNHC. The TWO and Graphical TWO can also be found online at hurricanes.gov. Any questions or comments on this change should be directed to: Michael J. Brennan Branch Chief, Hurricane Specialist Unit Michael.J.Brennan@noaa.gov |