New Hurricane Irma “spaghetti models” were just recently, projecting the path of this monstrous Category 5 storm. These models provide a bit of good news for most of Florida, but not so much for South Carolina and Georgia. Today’s spaghetti models shows that Irma on an eastward path, traveling up the east coast of Florida (and not running through the center) before reaching land once more in South Carolina. Georgia is also in danger of receiving Irma’s wrath, according some of the spaghetti maps from September 7.
Hurricanes can be very unpredictable. Therefore, these spaghetti models are only projections, and it’s possible for the hurricane to go off course and inflict greater unexpected damage. Both the Florida and South Carolina governors have declared a state of emergency in their respective states. Meanwhile, Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal had a declared a state of emergency in 30 counties.
So Many Hurricane Irma Spaghetti Models
We have the mother-load of Hurricane Irma spaghetti models. Let’s take a look at The South Florida Water Management District’s spaghetti model…
Here’s the September 6th spaghetti model from the South Florida Waste Management District. Quite a bit different than the one they released today.
Here’s more colorful spaghetti running up Florida…
Other organizations following Hurricane Irma have released their own spaghetti models. But since I can’t share it on this page, I’ll direct to the links. Click here for the Cyclocane hurricane tracker. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has also proved their own Hurricane Irma spaghetti models.
Spaghetti models don’t capture a storm’s incredible unpredictably.
Here’s the latest spaghetti model from News 19 WLTX:
This spaghetti model of Irma appears to be all over the place…
What Are Spaghetti Models?
Spaghetti Models (also referred to as spaghetti plots) is a nickname attached to computer models that project potential tropical cyclone paths. When the paths coverage, the model looks like multiple strings of spaghetti.
Explained The Washington Post: “Usually, each ‘strand of spaghetti’ is not representative of a unique model. Instead, the entire bowl of noodles is data churned out by the same weather model. Each noodle is called an ensemble member. When a weather model produces a forecast, it has to initialize the data, taking in current conditions to get an idea of what the atmosphere is already doing on a three-dimensional grid.”
Hurricane Irma Forecast Cone Model
Here is another model used to predict the trajectory of a storm. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a forecast cone on the morning of September 7, showing the predicted path of Hurricane Irma:
Here’s a forecast cone model of Irma from the NHC Atlantic Ops: