A team of scientists from NOAA and the University of Oklahoma are heading to Florida this weekend to collect weather data during the landfall of Hurricane Dorian. The goal of the research team, led by Michael Biggerstaff from OU and Sean Waugh from NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), is to improve forecasts of damaging winds and deadly storm surge associated with landfalling hurricanes in addition to developing wind maps to inform new building codes.

“We want to help mitigate property damage by working with engineers and using our data to improve the building and construction codes needed to develop a more resilient national infrastructure in the future,” said Biggerstaff.

The researchers will use mobile weather radars and a Mobile Mesonet — a truck with weather instruments attached that will take wind measurements and launch weather balloons — to collect data.

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