During a storm, the National Hurricane Center puts out a whole family of products — advisories, discussions, graphics, probabilities. Each answers a different question. Knowing which is which means you spend less time confused and more time prepared.
The core text products
- Public Advisory — the plain-language headline: where the storm is, how strong, where it's headed, and the watches and warnings in effect. Start here. Full advisories come out every 6 hours, with intermediate updates every 3 hours once coastal watches or warnings are in effect (plus a brief Tropical Cyclone Update whenever the situation changes suddenly between advisories).
- Forecast Advisory — the same forecast in technical form (coordinates, wind radii) for mariners and emergency managers. Precise, but not light reading.
- Forecast Discussion — the forecaster's reasoning in plain words: why they expect this track and intensity, and how confident they are. The best way to understand the uncertainty behind the forecast.
- Key Messages — a short, bulleted summary of the biggest hazards and what to do. Built to be shared.
The graphics you'll see
- The cone (track forecast) — the probable path of the storm's center. Not a map of who gets hit; hazards reach well outside it.
- Watches and warnings — color-coded coastal (and, as of 2026, inland) areas under tropical-storm or hurricane watches and warnings.
- Arrival of winds & wind-speed probabilities — when tropical-storm-force winds could reach you, and the odds that they will.
- Storm Surge Watch/Warning & the Potential Storm Surge Flooding map — where life-threatening inundation is possible, and how high it could get.
- Rainfall and flood outlooks — expected rain totals and the resulting flood risk, often the deadliest inland threat.
The Tropical Weather Outlook (before there's a storm)
When no named storm exists yet, NHC issues the Tropical Weather Outlook — a survey of areas being watched for development over the next 2 and 7 days, each with a formation chance (low, medium, or high). It's how you learn something might be coming before it has a name.
How to use them together
Read the Public Advisory or Key Messages for the bottom line, glance at the Discussion if you want the “why,” then go straight to the hazard-specific graphics — surge, wind, rain — for what the storm means at your location. And remember: the cone shows the center's path, not your risk.