Tucked away inside a one-story concrete building in Miami is the headquarters of the National Hurricane Center. During hurricane season, attention turns to the center and its director, Michael Brennan, as fresh forecasts are posted every six hours when a tropical storm or hurricane forms. The center had been in Coral Gables, Fla., near Miami, but after Hurricane Andrew dealt Miami-Dade County a catastrophic blow in 1992, the office was heavily damaged and a stronger facility was needed.
In 1995, the center was built about 15 miles inland on the Florida International University campus. Designed as a hurricane shelter, the facility withstood Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005 and staff members spent two nights there during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Michael Brennan, 49, a Virginia native, became the director in 2023 and works in tandem with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu to cover the Pacific.
The facility, designed as a hurricane shelter, withstood Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005 and staff spent two nights there during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Brennan discussed his early interest in weather sparked by a 1985 flood in western Virginia that displaced his grandmother. In terms of hurricane center federal staff, there are about 45 personnel, with the biggest part being the operations division and the hurricane specialist unit.
Currently, there are about 13 hurricane specialists on staff. Brennan noted differences between forecasting for the Atlantic and Pacific basins, including storm formation patterns and data availability.
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