A question from a non-techie (that is, me).

It seemed from the radar that the hurricane looked very much the same even as it was making landfall, that is, it seemed there were high winds in the hurricane, but somehow it seemed that they didn't make it to the ground.

If that is the case, how does that happen? I mean, in weather terms. What does it mean in terms of calibrating the hurricane's intensity? I'm assuming it would still matter if it could be seen from radar, even if it couldn't be felt from the ground. And would there be any way to find out if this is happening so you'd know that the intensity on the ground was going to be less.