Early this morning, the tropical hurricanes Humberto and Imelda were simultaneously captured by the Chinese HY2-C wind scatterometer. The KNMI provided the wind speeds and directions over the sea associated with both hurricanes. It is rare for the wind fields of two hurricanes to be measured simultaneously by one instrument.
Two hurricanes that are so close to each other influence each other because their warm and moist inflow near the sea surface, and the outflow at the top of the hurricane, affect one another. The image shows the sea observations from the HY2-C wind scatterometer in blue and red colors and the short-term ECMWF forecast as green arrows (the short-term forecast is 12 hours ahead). Differences between these two types of arrows tell meteorologists where the forecast is inaccurate. This way, meteorologists can adjust their advice based on the observations, in this case, the meteorologists from the American National Hurricane Center, who also provide forecasts for the Dutch Caribbean islands.
