Forecasts and advisories about hurricanes include two major components: movement and intensity.
Paths of hurricanes can now be projected up to five days in advance, although with less certainty than the traditional three-day path forecasts.
In addition to the path that a hurricane or tropical cyclone will take, projections are made concerning where landfall will occur.
The term »landfall« refers to the point where the surface center of a hurricane intersects with the coastline.
Because hurricanes can be massive systems with destructive winds extending for hundreds of miles and storm surges occurring along the coast as well as tornadoes spawned by the system and flooding caused by heavy rain more attention should be paid to the watches and warnings for an area rather than to the single point of predicted landfall.
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