With hurricane season in full swing, NOAA's new resource for identifying historical hurricane tracks may be a useful tool. The Web site [2] allows you to find the path of any tropical storm or hurricane that has hit a US coastal area in the past 150 years. You can search by criteria such as location (including county or city name, zip code, or latitude and longitude), date, or storm name (release [3]).

In some cases, the historical patterns may provide some perspective on a looming hurricane. For instance, if a storm has a similar track and intensity as one 20 years ago, that could offer clues to help your audience prepare (though recent coastal development patterns and practices may mean that vulnerability is much different now). Alternatively, long-term disaster preparations may benefit from knowledge of the past (though a search of Miami's track record over the past 150 years indicates that the area has been hit from every point of the compass).

In addition, the site provides information on population changes in coastal areas over the past century, and links to more detailed information on storms since 1958.