http://slosh.nws.noaa.gov/sloshPub
To get the program on your PC, go to the URL above, read the disclaimers, go to the bottom of the web page and click the word "website", which is a link to a page where you put in your name and email so that they can email you a password for the download. It's free, they just want to know who's downloading it, I guess. Run the installation program to put the slosh display program on your PC. Just takes a minute. But you're not done yet. Once installed, you need to click the "Download" button atop the program to install all the MOM/MEOW and rex files. Without the MOM/MEOW files, you have a display program with no data to display. The rex files are animations of past storms.
Improvements in SLOSH version 1.60:
The biggest improvement is the toggle in the left menu to subtract land elevations. For the first time, you can display the projected storm surge as inundation depth vs. height above MSL.
You can toggle on/off many overlays now, from lat/lon to interstate highways, other highways, rivers, lakes, population centers.
Resolution is 4 times that of version 1.34.
I have heard that the new version would also include a toggle for storm size, but I do not see that toggle in the first release. I'll email Arthur and ask about it.
Running the program is fairly simple. It always starts with choosing a slosh basin (coastal region) from the top menu bar then choosing a storm (SS category, speed of movement, direction, high or average tide levels). You can zoom on in and add "probe flags" that read out water depth (or height above MSL) at your location (there's a lat/lon readout as you move the cursor).
I ran a couple samples for Houston to show the difference between the MSL and inundation depth displays
First, the "old" height above MSL graphic:
Now the new inundation depth graphic. Values on the flags represent actual water depth at that location now:
Here's a shot with Houston's population center added:
