Landfall: Landfall does not mean that a hurricane has “hit land.” It means that the hurricane’s eye, or it’s center, has passed over land.

What does the cone mean? This map was developed by NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, and it’s a way to convey the path of a tropical system but also the level of uncertainty that exists within ...

To form the cone, a set of imaginary circles are plotted along a forecast track every 12 hours up to five days before a hurricane is expected to make landfall, NHC said.

In the case of Tropical Storm Nicole, much of New England is within this cone of uncertainty. This means that we will likely feel impacts from Nicole, but the magnitude of those impacts will ...