ORLANDO, Fla. – The National Hurricane Center is introducing several updates this season, all aimed at making hurricane forecasts clearer and more useful.
These changes focus on improving how track and impact information is communicated, helping people better understand what to expect and where risks may extend.
Forecast cone includes inland alerts
One of the biggest updates involves the familiar forecast cone.
The cone will now include inland tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings, not just coastal alerts. This version was experimental during the 2025 season.
This is an important improvement because many life-threatening impacts, from tropical systems, often extend well inland, like strong winds and flooding. Adding these watches and warnings provides a more complete picture of where hazardous conditions are possible.
There is also an added visual for areas under both a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning, helping highlight overlapping risks more clearly, as seen in the example below.
Updated outlook symbols improve clarity
There is also an update to the tropical outlook maps that highlight areas of potential development within the next 2 to 7 days with a red area (+60%), orange (40-60%), or yellow (0-30%) marking on the map.
Previously, all systems with a low chance of development (in yellow) were shown the same way, even those with little to no chance of forming.
Now, the outlook will label them differently by showing a yellow “X” for a low chance and a gray “X” for areas with little to no chance.
This change is designed to reduce confusion while still highlighting systems that may bring impacts like heavy rain or flooding, even if development is unlikely.
These new upgrades to hurricane forecasts are important for helping people cut through information overload and better understand real risks as technology and social media spread weather updates more quickly than ever.
Stay tuned to News 6 as hurricane season officially begins June 1.