I see Milton getting compared to hurricanes that formed in the Gulf of Mexico and hit the Tampa Bay area as far back as 1854. What type of meteorological data did they have back then?
In: Planetary Science
Every ship would keep a log of their position, the pressure, windspeed, wind direction, wave height, and general weather condition. When the ship got to port their logs would be copied and kept in various archives for future reference. Even in case of a shipwreck the logs would often be taken onboard the lifeboats and the crew would continue to make observations in them. Most of the ships logs from the thousands of ships sailing the Gulf of Mexico at any time is still available today. We can plot out the observations from each ship on their positions at any point in time and have a pretty accurate picture of the weather systems. It is not as accurate as the methods we have today, and you can only do it after the hurricane have already passed, too late to warn people.
Latest Answers