While residents continue their clean-up efforts in the coastal region of Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintains it seaward vigil in grim anticipation of the next storm in what has become a very active hurricane season.

Visitors to NOAA’s National Hurricane Center Web site, developed in part with GIS technology, can find a wealth of information about past and present storms.  In addition, they can track the progress of new storms as they build in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

NOAA makes some of its data available for free download.  For example, when combining its storm trajectory data with census density data from the Geography Network, the potential impact of an approaching storm on population centers can be easily visualized, as indicated in the following map.