National Hurricane Center (NHC)

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is a division of the NOAA National Weather Service and it is also part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) located at Florida International University in Miami. The NHC mission is “to save lives, mitigate property loss, and improve economic efficiency by issuing the best watches, warnings, forecasts, and analyses of hazardous tropical weather and by increasing understanding of these hazards.” (www.nhc.noaa.gov - 15.03.2010)

In order to accomplish its activities, the Centre is divided in the following six units:

The Hurricane Specialists Unit (HSU)
The Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) 
The Technical Support Branch (TSB)
The Storm Surge Unit
The Chief, Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination, All Hurricanes (CARCAH) Unit
The Hurricane Liaison Team