National Weather Service Upgrades Storm-Tracking Supercomputers 34
Nerval's Lobster writes "Just in time for hurricane season, the National Weather Service has finished upgrading the supercomputers it uses to track and model super-storms. 'These improvements are just the beginning and build on our previous success. They lay the foundation for further computing enhancements and more accurate forecast models that are within reach,' National Weather Service director Louis W. Uccellini wrote in a statement. The National Weather Service's 'Tide' supercomputer — along with its 'Gyre' backup — are capable of operating at a combined 213 teraflops. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which runs the Service, has asked for funding that would increase that supercomputing power even more, to 1,950 teraflops. The National Weather Service uses that hardware for projects such as the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) model, a complex bit of forecasting that allows the organization to more accurately predict storms' intensity and movement. The HWRF can leverage real-time data taken from Doppler radar installed in the NOAA's P3 hurricane hunter aircraft."
Re:Would such an upgrade have mitigated Katrina? (Score:2, Informative)
It did mitigate Katrina.
People in the path had time to get out of the way.
Those that remained were trapped, one way or another, and could not leave.
Without the predictions there would have been a HUGE number of additional fatalities (easily in the 10s of thousands, not just 1,833 ).
Where the incompetence showed up was government response to an emergency.
Don't expect any thing better either.