Better to stay outside the Hurricane or head inside the eye?

[chrisman10]

Homework Statement

Imagine the following. You and your best friend are at sea on your ship. Your
ship is designed to withstand seas during 120 knot winds. You measure the winds
outside your ship at 30 knots. From satellite images and Global Positioning System
(GPS) data, you pinpoint your position at 60 nautical miles from the centre of a
hurricane. The satellite image shows that the eye of the hurricane hasn't changed
position in hours and that the diameter of the eye is 20 nautical miles. The forecast
from the National Hurricane Center has (correctly) forecast that the hurricane will
not intensify. Your best friend thinks that the way to survive the storm is to head
to the hurricane's eye where winds and the sea will be calm. What is your reply to your friend's suggestion?
Explain your reasoning.

Homework Equations

None given.

The Attempt at a Solution

Think her suggestion is wrong because the eye of the storm is well known to be calm , she is not considering the fact that we have to go through the axis of rotation. Also, I'm having trouble understanding how I am suppose to use the numbers provided, is there a formula that would better supplement my reasoning.

 

[jbsteele]

I would tell my friend that her suggestion is not a good idea. Hurricanes are powerful storms, and the eye of the storm is known to be calm. However, we have to travel through the axis of rotation to get to the eye, and that may be too dangerous given our ship's capabilities. Our ship is only designed to withstand winds up to 120 knots, and the current winds outside our ship are 30 knots. If we try to go to the eye, we may encounter winds that exceed our ship's capabilities. Additionally, the forecast from the National Hurricane Center indicates that the hurricane will not intensify, so we should stay put in our current location and wait out the storm.