How one computer model botched Ian’s track

American model called for panhandle landfall.

Cars and debris from washed away homes line a canal in Fort Myers Beach on Wednesday, one week after the passage of Hurricane Ian. Hurricane Ian confounded one key computer forecast model, creating challenges for forecasters and Florida residents. (REBECCA BLACKWELL/Associated Press)
Cars and debris from washed away homes line a canal in Fort Myers Beach on Wednesday, one week after the passage of Hurricane Ian. Hurricane Ian confounded one key computer forecast model, creating challenges for forecasters and Florida residents. (REBECCA BLACKWELL/Associated Press)

As Hurricane Ian bore down on Florida, normally reliable computer forecast models couldn’t agree on where the killer storm would land. But government meteorologists are now figuring out what went wron…