If you want to track potential damage from Frankenstorm in real time, or find the nearest shelters, Google has put together a fantastic crisis map for the New York City area. It’s a constantly-updating record not of where the storm has gone, but of where it’s likely to go based on the data that’s coming in from weather satellites. On the map, you can see predictions of areas that are likely to be flooded, alongside helpful information about local shelters and medical stations.
One of the best parts of the map are the webcams, where you can see recent photos taken in areas likely to be affected by the storm. This is precisely the kind of disaster modeling that we’d hope to see more of in the future — it can help people plan where to evacuate if things get worse, and also provide people with a good way to visualize different possible outcomes depending on storm severity.
This is what it means to predict the future using science. Track the storm’s future on Google’s crisis map.
