UW-Madison scientists project Isabel’s path

As the Carolinas brace for Hurricane Isabel, scientists at UW–Madison’s Space Science and Engineering Center are analyzing the projected path of the storm.

Data provided by SSEC’s Tropical Cyclone Research Group using geostationary and polar orbiting satellites is helping the National Hurricane Center analyze and predict the hurricane’s landfall along the eastern U.S. coast. More than 75,000 people have already been urged to evacuate vulnerable areas of the North Carolina coast and the Outer Banks islands in anticipation of the Thursday landfall.

“Isabel has decreased in intensity during the last 24 hours, but there is a good chance it might reorganize itself and still pack a powerful punch when it makes landfall on the East Coast,” according to Christopher Velden, head of the group, which is a part of UW–Madison’s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. Velden and his team provide current data and satellite imagery products for use by the National Hurricane Center and other organizations tracking the storm.

The latest map projecting Isabel’s path and satellite imagery of the storm can be found on the web at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/