Summary: | One of the greatest challenges to tropical meteorologists focused on North America is seasonal or subseasonal prediction of the likelihood of Tropical Cyclones (TCs) formed in the Atlantic Ocean making landfall in the continental US. The location and extent of the North Atlantic Subtropical High (NASH), or Bermuda High, has widely been assumed to influence the path of hurricanes. Although there is general consensus among meteorologists that TC trajectories are dependent on the NASH, this connection has not widely been statistically demonstrated. By analyzing ship-based wind vector observations from the past seventy years, the location and extent of the NASH can be better pinpointed to determine if (and ideally how) it directly influences the path of landfalling hurricanes in the Atlantic. Furthermore, examining landfalling TCs from various regions of origin combined with sets of wind vector-based probabilistic standardized index values related to the position of the NASH are useful in determining the likelihood of a Southeastern US or Gulf Coast hurricane landfall. This is significant because the knowledge of when and where a TC may make landfall is helpful for determining the value of proactive actions in emergency management plans. Additionally, identifying the specific relationship between the location and extent of the Bermuda High and the trajectory of hurricanes could favorably impact seasonal and subseasonal forecasts for potential TC landfalls, which could be extremely useful for a wide range of applications sensitive to the risk of extreme winds. Bermuda High, North Atlantic Subtropical High, Wind indices, Hurricanes, Tropical cyclones NA17OAR4310153
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