Staff members and the data holdings of the National Centers for Environmental Information are safe following the storm, the agency said.

Drones and small data-collection devices aim to improve measurements used to track and monitor the intense tropical cyclones in an effort to provide potentially life-saving information.

Discussion of mobile applications dominated President Barack Obama’s briefing Friday on disaster preparedness with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  NOAA, which predicted a near-normal or below-normal…