How to read a hurricane map to track a hurricane path

What path will Hurricane Florence take? Will it hit North Carolina? A hurricane map will tell you if you're in the path, but reading it wrong can put you in danger. While hurricane maps are supposed to show the path of a hurricane, understanding what track the tropical storm will actually take isn't always easy. All hurricane maps use something called the "cone of uncertainty," and if you don't know how it works, you won't know how to predict a hurricane's path.

A cone of uncertainty doesn’t show all the areas that will be affected by a hurricane. And it doesn’t indicate its size. All the cone actually depicts is the range of possible areas where the center of the hurricane might go. Also, it’s only about 67% accurate.

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