Watch/Warning Breakpoints

Watches and warnings for approaching hurricanes, in addition to being marked in the cone of uncertainty, are issued in the public advisory and forecast advisory text products. Hurricane watch/warning advisories refer to specific geographical locations or "breakpoints" to denote the endpoints of a hurricane or tropical storm watch or warning area.

The breakpoints are selected from a list of pre-designated locations along the coast used for this purpose. The pre-determined list is such that the available breakpoints are spaced at close intervals in order to accomodate whatever length of warned coastline might be appropriate for the particular storm at hand. The tropical cyclone breakpoints currently in use for the Gulf Coast are reflected in the map (below). There are similar maps that cover other hurricane-prone regions in the Atlantic basin. The text versions of the regional breakpoints lists also specify the latitude/longitude coordinates of each breakpoint available to forecasters for the issuance of hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings.

The breakpoints are explicitly named in the forecast advisory and public advisory text products to identify the beginning and end of the warned segments of coastline. These same areas are marked in a color-coded format on the cone of uncertainty issued with the advisory containing the watches and warnings (as in the two examples on the previous page).

The text (below) is excerpted from a forecast advisory issued during Hurricane Rita in 2005. The advisory indicated a hurricane warning in effect for one stretch of coastline (marked in red) and a tropical storm warning for the two outer segments surrounding it (marked in blue). The watch and warning areas are overlaid here onto an excerpt of the "best track" map for Hurricane Rita, in which the black line represents the track the hurricane was later determined to have taken.

Map with actual track of
Hurricane Rita but with the breakpoints marked, and delineations how
the watches and warnings were placed inbetween them

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