User talk:WmE

Number 3, August 6, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Severe Tropical Storm Bilis was a damaging tropical storm that caused significant damage to areas of southeastern China, the Philippines and Taiwan. The fourth named storm of the 2006 Pacific typhoon season formed to the east of the Philippines on July 8 and moved towards Taiwan, strengthening as it did so. It reached its peak strength of 110 km/h (70 mph) on July 13, shortly before it made its first landfall on northern Taiwan. Bilis then made a second landfall in Fujian, China on July 14 after officials evaucated over 1 million residents from the areas in the storm's path. The remnant lasted for several days after landfall and brought heavy rain to inland China. The most significant damage occurred in Hunan, where heavy flooding and mudslides destroyed over 31,000 homes and killed 345. Despite never reaching typhoon strength, the storm was responsible for $2.5 billion in damage and at least 625 fatalities in total.

Other tropical cyclone activity

There were 10 other tropical cyclones worldwide in July, with activity in all 4 northern hemisphere basins.

• In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Beryl made landfall on Nantucket on July 21 before bringing rain to Atlantic Canada.
• In the East Pacific, Hurricane Bud was a Category 3 hurricane that formed on July 10 and dissipated on July 15.
• Hurricane Carlotta twice became a minimal hurricane before degenerating into a remnant low on July 16.
• Hurricane Daniel reached Category 4 strength and was predicted to make landfall in Hawaii before it dissipated on July 26.
• Tropical Storm Emilia brought tropical storm-force winds to southern Baja California on July 26 and was forecast to become a hurricane but this did not occur.
• Tropical Storm Fabio formed late on July 31 but did not last long in the face of strong shear.
• In the West Pacific,Typhoon Ewiniar (Ester) formed on June 29 to the east of the Philippines, it reached Category 4 strength before making landfall in South Korea on July 10 as a tropical storm. It killed at least 36 people.
• Typhoon Kaemi (Glenda) formed on July 2 and passed over Taiwan before dissipating over mainland China on July 26. It brought heavy rain to Taiwan and the Philippines and killed at least 32 people in China.
• Typhoon Prapiroon (Henry) formed on July 28 but did not reach tropical storm strength until August.
• In the North Indian Ocean, Tropical Storm 03B formed on June 30 near the east Indian coast before making landfall on the Orissa coast on July 2.

Main Page content

• Entries from 3 articles: Tropical Storm Bilis (2006), National Weather Service bulletin for New Orleans region and List of South America tropical cyclones appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during July.

New articles and improvements wanted

• New articles are wanted for Fiji Meteorological Service and Papua New Guinea National Weather Service.
• While the individual storm articles are generally quite good, the project's core articles are quite poor. Please help improve tropical cyclone and its subpages.
• Cyclone Tracy has recently had featured status removed, please help improve this article back up to FA standards again.

Member of the month

The July member of the month is Hurricanehink. The WikiProject awards this to him for the superb quality of his work on articles. Hurricanehink joined the project in November and has significantly contributed to many of the project's Featured Articles including Tropical Storm Allison and Hurricane Mitch. In addition to his contributions Hurricanehink also works on the assessment and improvement of most articles within the project.

New and improved articles

• New storm articles include: Typhoon Aere (2004), Cyclone Vance, Hurricane Karl (2004) and 1916 Texas Hurricane.
• New non-storm articles include: List of Canadian hurricanes and National Weather Service bulletin for New Orleans region.
• New Featured articles: Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricane Esther (1961), Hurricane Irene (1999). Also, List of South America tropical cyclones became a Featured list.
• Articles which became A/GA class include: Tropical Storm Henri (2003) (A), Typhoon Vamei (GA), Cyclone Rosita (GA), Tropical Storm Harvey (2005) (GA) and Storm of October 1804 (GA).

Storm article statistics

Grade	May	June	July	August
FA	7	10	13	16
A	5	7	6	6
GA	3	5	18	24
B	66	82	79	77
Start	177	168	180	191
Stub	12	10	8	8
Total	263	282	303	322
percentage ≥Less than B	71.6	63.1	62.0	61.8

Useful sources of tropical cyclone information

The following organizations provide helpful information for writing about tropical cyclones, both past and present.

• National Hurricane Center - Official forecasts for the Atlantic and East Pacific and a massive archive starting in 1958.
• Central Pacific Hurricane Center - Official forecasts for the Central Pacific and summaries of past storms.
• Joint Typhoon Warning Center - Unoffical forecasts for storms in the West Pacific and other regions. Has an archive of storm reports back to 1959.
• Japan Meteorological Agency - Official forecasts for the West Pacific.
• Naval Research Laboratory - A great source for satellite imagery of tropical cyclones.
• Hydrometeorological Prediction Center - Forecasts of weakening tropical cyclones in the United States and information and maps of rainfall in the US.
• National Climatic Data Center - Lots of information is available here, including satellite imagery. The Storm events archive is very useful for information on storms in the US and its territories.

In his April Tropical Cyclone Summary, Gary Padgett stated that he will extensively reference Wikipedia in his future summaries. I have communicated with him and he has stated that he is "very much interested in cooperating" with us. He has also provided me with a copy of Jack Beven's weekly summaries (covering 1991-1996). If you want a copy of them, email me.--Nilfanion (talk)

Number 3, September 3, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Typhoon Saomai (known as Typhoon Juan to PAGASA) claimed at least 441 lives and caused over $1.5 billion in damage. After forming on August 4 near Chuuk, the storm brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Marianas, the Philippines, Taiwan and southeastern China. It started to intensify, and reached its official peak with winds of 95 knots (175 km/h, 110 mph) on August 9. The JTWC reported that it peaked as a Category 5 super typhoon the same day, a strength Chinese forecasters described as the most powerful to hit China in 50 years. Saomai maintained that strength until landfall on August 10 and dissipated inland the next day.

Other tropical cyclone activity

There were 16 other tropical cyclones during August, in the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

• In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Chris moved to the north of Puerto Rico before dissipating on August 5 near Cuba.
• Tropical Storm Debby formed near the Cape Verde islands on August 21 but had no effects on land.
• Hurricane Ernesto formed in the Caribbean on August 24 and affected Haiti and Cuba, before making landfalls in Florida and South Carolina. It killed at least 5 people.
• In the east Pacific, Tropical Storm Fabio dissipated on August 3 well away from land.
• Tropical Storm Gilma formed on August 1 and lasted for two days before dissipating.
• Hurricane Hector reached its peak as a Category 2 hurricane on August 18 well away from land.
• Hurricane Ileana became the second major hurricane of the east Pacific season when it reached Category 3 intensity on August 23.
• Hurricane John formed near to Mexico on August 28 and to the northwest near the coast. It prompted a series of warnings from Michoacán to Baja California Sur, where it made landfall in September.
• Hurricane Kristy was briefly a hurricane on August 31, but its proximity to Hurricane John caused it to weaken soon after.
• Hurricane Ioke became the most intense Central Pacific hurricane on record on August 26 with a minimum pressure of 920 mbar. After crossing the dateline and becoming Typhoon Ioke it passed just to the north of Wake Island at Category 4 strength.
• Typhoon Prapiroon (Henry) reached its peak as a minimal typhoon in the South China Sea. It killed 77 people when it made landfall in China.
• Severe Tropical Storm Maria formed on August 4 and threatened Japanese coast.
• Severe Tropical Storm Bopha (Inday) passed over Taiwan as a tropical storm on August 9.
• Tropical Storm Wukong passed over Kyūshū on August 18.
• Tropical Storm Sonamu (Katring) was a minimal storm that was absorbed by Wukong on August 20.
• Tropical Depression 13W formed near Hainan on August 23 and soon made landfall in Guandong.

Main Page content

• Hurricane Mitch appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on August 16.
• Entries from List of Delaware hurricanes, Fiji Meteorological Service, Tropical Storm Helene (2000), Atlantic hurricane reanalysis and Hurricane Kyle (2002) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during August.
• Hurricane Katrina appeared on the Main Page in the On this Day column on August 29.

New articles and improvements wanted

• Landfall (meteorology) and Rapid deepening should be expanded.
• Direct hit (meteorology) and Cyclogenesis should be created.
• 2006 storm articles should be updated in light of the Tropical Cyclone Reports.

Member of the month

The August member of the month is Nilfanion. The WikiProject awards this to him for his contributions in many diverse sections of the project. Nilfanion joined the Wikiproject in April and provides track maps for the project and has produced a featured picture. He has developed the tropical cyclone Commons Category scheme in the process. In addition he has produced a number of quality articles and is active in assessment.

New and improved articles

• New storm articles include Cyclone Thelma, Typhoon Ewiniar (2006), Tropical Storm Otto (2004), Cyclone Heta (2003), Hurricane John (2006), Hurricane Kyle (2002), Hurricane Ioke and Hurricane Ernesto (2006).
• New non-storm articles include List of Delaware hurricanes, Fiji Meteorological Service and Atlantic hurricane reanalysis.
• New featured articles, lists and pictures: 2003 Pacific hurricane season, List of Delaware hurricanes and Global tropical cyclone tracks.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
FA	10	13	16	15
A	7	6	6	7
GA	5	18	24	28
B	82	79	77	79
Start	168	180	191	200
Stub	10	8	8	8
Total	282	303	322	337
percentage ≥Less than B	63.1	62.0	61.8	61.7

Tropical cyclone imagery

When uploading an image of a tropical cyclone please

1. Download the highest resolution image possible to your computer, not a thumbnail.
2. If the image is free, upload it to Commons. In general, only upload to en.wikipedia if it is a Fair Use image. Wherever you upload, follow the instructions.
3. Preferably, include a link to the source image, not just the source site.
4. If you upload to Commons, add relevant Categories to the image, see the Commons category scheme. Make sure at least one category you add is the storm's category.

The following is a good image description:

{{Information
|Description=Visible image of Hurricane Ernesto on 2006-08-27 at peak strength just south of Haiti as seen by GOES-12.
|Source=Original image located here.
|Date=2006-08-27
|Author=The Naval Research Laboratory
|Permission={{PD-USGov-Military-Navy}}
}}
[[Category:Hurricane Ernesto (2006)]] [[Category:NRL images of tropical cyclones|Ernesto (2006)]]

Number 5, October 1, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Hurricane Ioke is the most intense hurricane on record in the Central Pacific. After forming on August 19 to the south of Hawaii, Ioke moved to the northwest and hit Johnston Atoll as a Category 2 hurricane. It strengthened further as it moved to the west, reaching Category 5 strength on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale three times, twice in the Central Pacific and once in the Western Pacific. After the storm entered the Western Pacific it directly hit Wake Island. The storm finally became extratropical on September 7 but its extratropical remnants affected Alaska. Overall damage from Hurricane Ioke was light.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• 4 hurricanes formed in the Atlantic: Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Gordon, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Isaac. Florence affected Bermuda and Newfoundland, and Gordon had effects in the Azores and Europe. Isaac is currently forecast to affect Newfoundland as an extratropical storm.
• The east Pacific saw three hurricanes and a tropical storm develop. Hurricane John and Hurricane Lane were both major hurricanes which hit Mexico, whilst Hurricane Kristy and Tropical Storm Miriam stayed clear of land. In addition, two tropical depressions formed in the Central Pacific.
• There were 4 typhoons in west Pacific during September. Typhoon Shanshan, Typhoon Yagi and Typhoon Xangsane formed in the west Pacific and Typhoon Ioke entered the basin from the east. Shanshan killed at least 9 people in Japan and Typhoon Xangsane, which is still active, killed at least 72 in the Philippines.
• Two tropical cyclones formed in the North Indian Ocean during September. Severe Cyclonic Storm Mukda formed in the Arabian Sea but did not affect land and Tropical Cyclone 05B formed in the Bay of Bengal before making landfall in India. However, the deadliest tropical system of September was a depression in the Bay of Bengal that killed more than 170 people in Bangladesh.

New and improved articles

• New storm articles include: Harry Cane of 1667, Hurricane Florence (2006), Hurricane Abby (1968) and Hurricane Lane (2006).
• New non-storm articles include: Monsoon trough, List of Pennsylvania hurricanes and Tropical cyclogenesis.
• New Good Articles include: Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane John (2006), Typhoon Saomai (2006) and Tropical Storm Danielle (1992).

Main Page content

• Hurricane Katrina appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on September 29.
• There were no Did you know mentions. Please check for an interesting fact in any new articles and submit it to Template talk:Did you know.

New articles and improvements wanted

• Pacific hurricane, Pacific typhoon, North Indian tropical cyclone...
• There are many many stub and start class articles on many topics, please improve these!
• How about David Roth (meteorologist)?

Storm article statistics

Grade	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct
FA	13	16	15	15
A	6	6	7	6
GA	18	24	28	33
B	79	77	79	84
Start	180	191	200	201
Stub	8	8	8	13
Total	303	322	337	352
percentage ≥Less than B	62.0	61.8	61.7	60.8

Member of the month

The September member of the month is Thegreatdr, David Roth. David Roth is a meteorologist at the HPC, who as part of his work there is producing Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Data. Dozens of the maps he has created are used in Wikipedia articles. He has produced a number of valuable articles to the project such as tropical cyclone rainfall climatology and Atlantic hurricane reanalysis, and significantly expanded several seasonal articles such as 1982 Pacific hurricane season.

Number 6, November 5, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Typhoon Xangsane, known as Typhoon Milenyo in the Philippines was a destructive typhoon that affected the Philippines and Indochina. The storm caused severe flooding and landslides in the regions it affected and was responsible for at least 279 deaths and $747 million (USD) in damage, mostly in the Philippines and Vietnam. Xangsane formed to the east of the Philippines and rapidly intensified, striking Samar Island as a Category 4 typhoon. It weakened over the Philippines, but again reached Category 4 strength in the South China Sea. After its landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon dissipated, with its remnant crossing Indochina and entering the Bay of Bengal.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• Hurricane Isaac, which formed in September, hit Newfoundland with minimal effects on October 2. It was the only Atlantic storm in October.
• One hurricane, Hurricane Paul, formed in the eastern Pacific and hit Mexico. There were also two tropical storms, Norman and Olivia, and two tropical depressions in the basin.
• In addition to Typhoon Xangsane, two further typhoons and two tropical storms developed in the west Pacific. Typhoon Soulik and Tropical Storms Bebinca and Rumbia both stayed clear of land, whilst Typhoon Cimaron hit the Philippines killing at least 19 people there, before it dissipated in the South China Sea.
• The North Indian Ocean saw one storm, Cyclonic Storm Ogni form in the Bay of Bengal.
• The 2006-2007 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season got underway, with Tropical Cyclone Xavier forming to the west of Fiji. There were two further tropical depressions in the South Pacific and a tropical disturbance in the South Indian Ocean.

New articles and improvements wanted

• Articles are wanted for Hurricane Flossy (1956), Tropical Storm Debbie (1965) and Tropical Storm Beryl (1994).
• The articles on the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres, such as those on the NHC, JMA and CPHC, all need work.
• Likewise the articles on meteorologists such as Lixion Avila are poor.

Member of the month

The October Member of the Month is Coredesat. Coredesat joined the WikiProject in March and has contributed to many diverse areas within the project. He has written two featured articles on Atlantic storms and a number of good articles on current typhoons. However, the article he is most proud of is a disambiguation page, a sorely neglected portion of the project.

Main Page content

• Global tropical cyclone tracks appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Picture on October 3.
• Entries from Hurricane Alberto (2000), Typhoon Xangsane (2006), Tropical Storm Bertha (2002) and Hurricane Bob (1985) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during October.

New and improved articles

• New storm articles include: Hurricane Alberto (2000), Tropical Depression Nine (2003), Hurricane Paul (2006) and Tropical Storm Peter (2003).
• A non-storm article was made on Pacific hurricane.
• New featured content: List of Delaware hurricanes, 2004 Atlantic hurricane season and 2004 Atlantic hurricane season.
• Significantly improved articles include: Hurricane Erika (2003) (A), Hurricane Linda (1997) (GA), Hurricane Ophelia (2005) (GA), Subtropical Storm Nicole (2004) (GA) and Hurricane Danny (2003).

Storm article statistics

Grade	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov
FA	16	15	15	16
A	6	7	6	7
GA	24	28	33	48
B	77	79	84	83
Start	191	200	201	210
Stub	8	8	13	11
Total	322	337	352	375
percentage ≥;Less than B	61.8	61.7	60.8	58.9

Tropical cyclone scales

The various agencies which report on tropical cyclones use a variety of different scales to measure the storms strength. The most familiar of these is the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale and this is the de facto standard in the project and should be used everywhere. However, as it is only official in the Atlantic and East Pacific, other local scales should be used when discussing storms in other regions and given primacy over the Saffir-Simpson Scale. The Saffir-Simpson scale is based on 1-minute averages, but other scales are generally based upon 10-minute averages, which are approximately 15% lower.

This table provides a useful-at-a-glance comparison of the various scales currently in use. Further complications arise due to the fact different agencies obtain different estimates for the same storm at the same time, so be careful to use the most appropriate source agency.