Exactly what does "landfall"mean....

[decgirl66]

Does that mean when the outter bands start hitting land, or is that when the eye itself hits land?

Thank you in advance...Valerie

[btsgmdad]

It's when the eye itself hits land.

[decgirl66]

Thank you!! Everyone at work seems to be depending on me for updates because I check this board on every break!!

Valerie

[donsutherland1]

Valerie,

Landfall is when a hurricane's eye crosses land.

A "direct hit" covers an area on the left of the storm, the length of the radius of maximum winds (distance from the center to the circle of its strongest winds). It also covers an area on the right of the storm, the length of 2 times the radius of maximum winds. This sounds somewhat complicated, so an example follows:

In the example, if a storm's radius of maximum winds is 10 miles, then a "direct hit" would include areas within 10 miles of the left of the storm's center and those within 20 miles of the right of the storm's center.

Using 2004, Hurricane Alex did not make landfall. It did make a direct hit on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Hurricane Charley made landfall as its eye crossed land.

Also, the following is a good link for you to bookmark, if you have not already done so:

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html