National Hurricane Center posts best-ever storm prediction accuracy

By Ken Kaye

Sun Sentinel

(MCT)

The National Hurricane Center again broke accuracy records while predicting the tracks of 16 tropical systems in 2008, according to a report released Thursday.

The center reduced the mean track error to 55 miles when storms are 24 hours from landfall compared with a long-term error of 67 miles.

In the past 15 years, the center has improved track predictions by about 50 percent largely because models continue to be more sophisticated, said James Franklin, author of the report and team leader over the center's hurricane specialists.

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