A hurricane-tracking map stretches along 15 feet of wall as a dozen meteorologists and emergency managers huddle, seeking consensus on where Bonnie is bound. But even the National Hurricane Center, a steel and concrete-enforced bunker of scientific talent and high technology, was being confounded Monday by the whims of nature. A lot of people think we should be able to accurately predict this thing several days out.
Hurricane forecasting is still an inexact science, and it often leaves a lot to be desired.
To arrive at even an imprecise conclusion of a storm's path requires an astounding amount of data and information to be received and processed. Reinforcing steel rods stretch for 45 miles. A steel catwalk runs across the center's roof, which houses what looks to drivers along Florida's turnpike like a forest of satellite dishes and high-powered antennae. Like a control tower to watch the traffic of storms at sea, the center's activity revolves around an octagon-shaped table. They contain updates on everything from ham radio reports to reconnaissance from aircraft to output from various computer models trying to predict the storm's path.