He said the US needs to continue to invest in satellites, remote sensors, and direct observations of the ocean to monitor and predict hurricane behavior.
He does not, however, support President Donald Trump's suggestion that the US drop nuclear bombs into hurricanes to modify their path or reduce their intensity.
"I've heard a lot of ideas put forth about how to disrupt a hurricane, but none as ludicrous nuking them," he said.
As for whether we'll ever be able to intervene to weaken a hurricane in other ways, Haus said such proposals often raise ethical problems. Decades ago, he said, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tried to experiment with ways to weaken or redirect hurricanes, but that came with major risks: "If that storm ended up hitting somebody, you were monkeying with that storm and you caused it to do that," Haus said.