Research
As a stormchaser, Josh Morgerman’s most consequential work is collecting data in the field—high-resolution, quality-controlled data from inside the jaws of the mightiest hurricanes on earth.
His data collection is especially valuable in storms striking remote regions of developing nations—places that sometimes don’t have measuring stations. In such places, Morgerman’s data are often the only ground truth in a landfalling hurricane—serving as the “missing link” for scientists working to understand the event afterward.
And on the off-season, when not chasing, Morgerman engages in deep research of historical hurricane impacts.
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When I hunt hurricanes, I’m on a mission to collect data. If I collect meaningful data, I write a technical report which goes to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) or other scientists if it’s in a part of the world not under the NHC’s jurisdiction. Here are examples of my more consequential work on major storms:
Hurricane ROSLYN (Mexico)
https://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/roslyn/iCyclone_Chase_Report_ROSLYN2022.pdfHurricane DORIAN (Bahamas)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/dorian/iCyclone_Chase_Report_DORIAN2019.pdfHurricane MICHAEL (Florida)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/michael/iCyclone_Chase_Report_MICHAEL2018.pdfHurricane WILLA (Mexico)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/willa/iCyclone_Chase_Report_WILLA2018.pdfHurricane MARIA (Puerto Rico)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/maria/iCyclone_Chase_Report_v2_MARIA2017.pdfHurricane HARVEY (Texas)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/harvey/iCyclone_Chase_Report_HARVEY2017.pdfHurricane PATRICIA (Mexico)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/patricia/iCyclone%20Chase%20Report%20-%20PATRICIA%202015.pdfHurricane ODILE (Mexico)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/odile/iCyclone_Chase_Report_ODILE_2014.pdfSuper Typhoon HAIYAN (Philippines)
http://www.icyclone.com/upload/chases/haiyan/iCyclone_HAIYAN_in_Tacloban_City_040314.pdf -
On many occasions, Morgerman’s data have provided the National Hurricane Center with that critical “missing puzzle piece” as they performed postanalysis of hurricane-impact events.
Following are just a few salient examples. In all reports, search for “Morgerman” and “iCyclone”:
Official NHC Report on IDALIA
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL102023_Idalia.pdfOfficial NHC Report on ROSLYN
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/EP192022_Roslyn.pdfOfficial NHC Report on IAN
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092022_Ian.pdfOfficial NHC Report on WILLA
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/EP242018_Willa.pdfOfficial NHC Report on MICHAEL
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL142018_Michael.pdfOfficial NHC Report on PATRICIA
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/EP202015_Patricia.pdfOfficial NHC Report on ODILE
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/EP152014_Odile.pdf -
Followng are peer-reviewed papers on which Morgerman was a coauthor:
Rewriting the Tropical Record Books: The Extraordinary Intensification of Hurricane Patricia
This was a technical paper on the strongest hurricane ever observed. I co-authored it with a group of hardcore scientists. I wrote the section about the hurricane’s landfall in Mexico because I was there on the ground and collected critical data and observations:https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0039.1
Reanalysis of the Great Mexico Hurricane of 1959
My coauthors and I researched, dug up old data, and analyzed a hurricane that flattened a Mexican port city in 1959. Think of it as weather-nerd “Forensic Files.” Our conclusion from our investigation: the hurricane was not as strong as historically believed. The National Hurricane Center accepted our findings and officially downgraded the event from Category 5 to Category 4:https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/1959_Manzanillo_hurricane_reanalysis.pdf
The NHC’s response to the first draft of our paper, along with our written defense of each point:
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/1959_Manzanillo_hurricane_comments.pdf
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