Hurricane Michael 2018

Hurricane Michael 2018

Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on October 10, 2018 as a Category 5 storm. It caused catastrophic damage with winds of 160 mph, massive storm surge, and flooding across multiple states. The storm caused over $25 billion in damages and claimed more than 70 lives.

Using Hurricane Michael as a case study, this tool explores how we can better communicate risk and impact, especially for underserved, rural, or visually impaired users.

About This Page

This map was designed to improve accessibility, clarity, and usability during hurricane events.

Features

• Layer toggles: Show/hide key storm features
• Storm Path Legend: Visual guide to storm intensity
• POI search: Enter addresses to view storm impact
• Wiki Maps: Region summaries in plain English
• Keyboard navigation: Fully accessible interface

Cone of Uncertainty
Storm Path

Add a location to explore more details

Enter address Use Current Location Add Location

Hear the storm's intensity as sound while navigating through time.

Sonification is the use of sound to represent data. Just as a graph shows data visually, sonification lets you hear the data. This makes hurricane information accessible to low-vision and visually impaired users, and provides an additional sensory dimension for everyone.

Sound Mapping

Four layers of sound work together to represent different aspects of the hurricane:

🌪️ Wind Speed → Woodwinds (Flute-like)

• Low wind: Slow, lower-pitched notes with longer gaps
• High wind: Rapid, high-pitched frantic trills
• Volume: Gets louder as wind speed increases

🌡️ Atmospheric Pressure → Strings (Low Drone)

• High pressure (1015 mb): Higher pitch, quieter
• Low pressure (920 mb): Very low, ominous pitch with extra "growl"
• Special effect: Below 950 mb, an additional dissonant tone adds urgency

📍 Geographic Location → Stereo Position

• Longitude (East/West): Sound pans across left and right speakers/headphones
• Latitude (North/South): Subtle brightness changes via high-pass filter

How to Use

🎧 For Best Experience

• Use headphones or stereo speakers to hear spatial positioning
• Start with auto-play enabled and click through different time points
• Listen for all four layers playing simultaneously
• Pay attention to how sounds change as the storm intensifies

📖 Three Ways to Listen

• Auto-play: Click through the time dropdown to hear each moment
• Play Current Point: Manually trigger sound for the selected time
• Play Full Sequence: Hear the entire storm evolution automatically (800ms per point)

Technical Details

Audio Engine: Tone.js (Web Audio API)

Synthesis: Sawtooth (strings), Triangle (woodwinds), Sine (position)

Effects: Reverb, stereo panning, dynamic filtering

Data Source: Hurricane Michael best track data (NOAA)