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The Skinny Black Line May Be Gone This Hurricane Season

By AP, Miami

Story Created: Jun 1, 2009 at 3:43 PM EST

Story Updated: Jun 1, 2009 at 3:43 PM EST

The "skinny black line," long a staple of
forecasts showing a hurricane's projected path, could be a casualty
of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season.
While urging preparedness on the first day of the season the
director of the nation's hurricane center also said he's on a
subtle crusade against the line, which forecasters have long called
misleading. Bill Read said Monday that this year people who go to
the hurricane center's Web site to track an approaching storm will
be met with a graphic that shows only the cone representing the
projected path of its center.
Read said that over the last year he realized just how many
people mistakenly use the line to determine how they'll respond to
the storm - like whether to evacuate or make other preparations.
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