Hurakai 1.1

Native macOS tracker for hurricanes and tropical disturbances in the Eastern and Central Pacific — including the Hawai'i basin.

New in 1.1

• Live satellite overlay on the map. GOES-West GeoColor draped over the chart as Web Mercator tiles from NASA GIBS, so the cloud field and the forecast geometry read together. Turn it on under the Layers button in the toolbar → Satellite Imagery (GOES-West). Off by default.
• Intensity Models pane — every technique's wind forecast against forecast hour, with Saffir-Simpson thresholds marked, one tab per active Pacific system.
• ATCF model guidance on the map — spaghetti tracks with labelled endpoints, including GDMN, the Google DeepMind ensemble mean.
• Light mode by default, with a dark mode toggle that persists.
• Corrected first-launch instructions for macOS 15 and later (see below).

Install

Download Hurakai-1.1.dmg and drag Hurakai to Applications. Universal binary (Apple Silicon + Intel), macOS 14 or later.

First launch. This build is ad-hoc signed and not notarized, so macOS blocks it the first time with "Apple could not verify…". On macOS 15 and later, Control-click → Open no longer works — Apple removed that shortcut. Use either:

1. Double-click Hurakai, let it be blocked, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, and click Open Anyway.

2. Or clear the download quarantine flag in Terminal:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Hurakai.app

One-time either way. On macOS 14, Control-click → Open → Open still works.

What it does

• Map — active systems with forecast track, uncertainty cone, forecast points, past track, watches and warnings, Tropical Weather Outlook areas, model guidance, and the optional satellite overlay. Click a storm for intensity, motion, the forecast point table, the public advisory and the forecast discussion.
• Intensity Models — model intensity guidance per storm, including the intensity-only aids (SHIP, LGEM, DSHP, IVCN).
• Satellite & Outlook — NHC/CPHC 2-day and 7-day graphical outlooks, GOES-West GeoColor and Air Mass imagery.
• DeepMind Weather Lab and Outlook Text panes.

Data refreshes on launch, on ⌘R, and every 10 minutes.

Sources

NHC CurrentStorms.json · NOAA tropical GIS MapServer · NHC ATCF a-decks · NHC/CPHC text products · NHC graphical outlooks · NOAA NESDIS GOES-18 · NASA GIBS.

Not a forecast product

Hurakai displays official NHC/CPHC data but is not itself an official source. For warnings and protective decisions use hurricanes.gov and your local NWS office.

Hurakai 1.0

Superseded by 1.1. This build predates the live satellite overlay, the Intensity Models pane and the ATCF model guidance. Please download 1.1 instead.

Native macOS app for tracking hurricanes and tropical disturbances in the Eastern and Central Pacific.

Correction to the original install note: on macOS 15 and later, Control-click → Open does not get past Gatekeeper — Apple removed that shortcut. Use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Hurakai.app.