User talk:WeatherVane

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[edit] Welcome to Wikipedia! :)

I'm not part of the Welcoming Commitee, but I thought I should drop in and say hi. I noticed you just created an account today, and you added your name to the Troical Cyclones WikiProject. You're something like the 62nd person to join. I'm actually part of the Project, too; I joined in late January as the 24th person. It's quite amazing how organized the project is, you'll see once you start to really get involved. Well, good luck with that Rita article. I hope I'll see you around! íslenska hurikein #12(samtal) 22:04, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to the Tropical Cyclone Wikiproject (yes, I'm part of the welcoming comittee)! We're looking forward to any future edits you can make to tropical cyclones, and we're happy to have you on board. Current projects include bettering the existing articles on retired hurricanes to GA or FA status. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Here's the latest version of our monthly newsletter. Enjoy!

Number 1, June 4, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary of the activities of the WikiProject over the past month and upcoming events over the next month. In addition monthly tropical cyclone activity will be summarized.

You have received this as you are a member of the WikiProject, please add your username in the appropriate section on the mailing list. If you do not add your name to that list, the WikiProject will assume you do not wish to receive future versions of The Hurricane Herald.

Storm of the month

Typhoon Chanchu near its peak intensity
Typhoon Chanchu was the first typhoon and first super typhoon of the 2006 Pacific typhoon season. Forming on May 9 over the open western Pacific Ocean, Chanchu moved over the Philippines on the 11th. There, it dropped heavy rainfall, causing mudslides, crop damage, and 41 deaths. It moved into the South China Sea, where it rapidly strengthened to a super typhoon on May 14, one of only two super typhoons recorded in the sea. It turned to the north, weakened, and struck the Fujian province of China as a minimal typhoon on the 17th. The typhoon flooded 192 houses, while heavy rainfall caused deadly mudslides. In China, Chanchu caused at least 25 deaths and $480 million in damage (2006 USD). Elsewhere on its path, strong waves from the typhoon sank eleven Vietnamese ships, killing at least 44 people. In Taiwan, heavy rainfall killed two people, while in Japan, severe waves killed one person and injured another.

Other tropical cyclone activity

New articles and improvements wanted

Member of the month

This isn't the generic barnstar, we just don't have a WPTC star yet…

The May member of the month is TitoXD. The WikiProject awards this to him for his brilliant work in improving articles. TitoXD joined the WikiProject in October just after it had been founded. Since then he has contributed substantially to many articles, for example Hurricane Nora (1997), which is currently a Featured Article Candidate. He is also actively involved in the assessment of articles and so helps to improve many more articles.

Explanation of content

If you have a topic which is not directly related to any specific article but is relevant to the WikiProject bring it up on the Newsletters talk page, and it will probably be included in a future edition of The Hurricane Herald.

These two sections are decided by the community on the newsletter's talk page:

  • Storm of the month: This is determined by a straw poll on the page. While all storms will be mentioned on the newsletter, the selected storm will be described in more detail.
  • Member of the month: Nominations are made on the talk page, voting is by secret ballot; read the talk page for details. The winner receives the WikiProject's barnstar (when we make it).

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade April May June
Featured article FA 7 7 10
A 4 5 7
Good article GA 0 3 5
B 62 66 82
Start 154 177 168
Stub 13 12 10
Total 240 263 282
percentage
≥Less than B		 69.6 71.6 63.1

The assessment scale

  • The cyclone assessment scale is one of the bases of the new assessment scale for Version 1.0 of Wikipedia. It splits articles into several categories by quality, to identify which articles are "finished" and which ones still need to be improved.
  • The assessment scale by itself counts of several grades:
    • FA: reserved for articles that have been identified as featured content only.
    • A: this grade is given to articles that are considered ready for Wikipedia:peer review. The way to get this grade assigned to an article is by asking other cyclone editors at the WikiProject's assessment page.
    • GA: reserved for articles that have passed a good article nomination.
    • B: these articles are "halfway there", and have most of the details of a complete article, yet it still has significant gaps in its coverage.
    • Start: articles that fall in this category have a decent amount of content, yet it is weak in many areas. Be bold and feel free to improve them!
    • Stub: these articles are mostly placeholders, and may in some cases be useless for the reader. It needs a lot of work to be brought to A-Class level.
  • The way to use these assessments is by adding a parameter to the WikiProject template on the articles talk page ({{hurricane|class=B}} as an example). This feeds the article into a category which is read and parsed to create an assessment table, summary and log.

Here's some pointers to making a good tropical cyclone article. Dear Tropical cyclone editor,

As a member of the Tropical Cyclone Wikiproject, you are receiving this message to describe how you can better tropical cyclone articles. There are hundreds of tropical cyclone articles, though many of them are poorly organized and lacking in information. Using the existing featured articles as a guide line, here is the basic format for the ideal tropical cyclone article.

  1. Infobox- Whenever possible, the infobox should have a picture for the tropical cyclone. The picture can be any uploaded picture about the storm, though ideally it should be a satellite shot of the system. If that is not available, damage pictures, either during the storm or after the storm, are suitable. In the area that says Formed, indicate the date on which the storm first developed into a tropical depression. In the area that says Dissipated, indicate the date on which the storm lost its tropical characteristics. This includes when the storm became extratropical, or if it dissipated. If the storm dissipated and reformed, include the original start date and the final end date. Highest winds should be the local unit of measurement for speed (mph in non-metric countries, km/h in metric countries), with the other unit in parenthesis. The lowest pressure should be in mbars. Damages should, when available, be in the year of impact, then the present year. The unit of currency can be at your discretion, though typically it should be in USD. Fatalities indicate direct deaths first, then indirect deaths. Areas affected should only be major areas of impact. Specific islands or cities should only be mentioned if majority of the cyclone's effects occurred there.
  2. Intro- The intro for every article should be, at a minimum, 2 paragraphs. For more impacting hurricanes, it should be 3. The first should describe the storm in general, including a link to the seasonal article, its number in the season, and other statistics. The second should include a brief storm history, while the third should be impact.
  3. Storm history- The storm history should be a decent length, relatively proportional to the longevity of the storm. Generally speaking, the first paragraph should be the origins of the storm, leading to the system reaching tropical storm status. The second should be the storm reaching its peak. The third should be post-peak until landfall and dissipation. This section is very flexible, depending on meteorological conditions, but it should generally be around 3. Storm histories can be longer than three paragraphs, though they should be less than five. Anything more becomes excessive. Remember, all storm impacts, preparations, and records can go elsewhere. Additional pictures are useful here. If the picture in the infobox is of the storm at its peak, use a landfall picture in the storm history. If the picture in the infobox is of the storm at its landfall, use the peak. If the landfall is its peak, use a secondary peak, or even a random point in the storm's history.
  4. Preparations- The preparations section can be any length, depending on the amount of preparations taken by people for the storm. Hurricane watches and warnings need to be mentioned here, as well as the number of people evacuated from the coast. Include numbers of shelters, and other info you can find on how people prepared for the storm.
  5. Impact- For landfalling storms, the impact section should be the majority of the article. First, if the storm caused deaths in multiple areas, a death table would work well in the top level impact section. A paragraph of the general effects of the storm is also needed. After the intro paragraph, impact should be broken up by each major area. It depends on the information, but sections should be at least one paragraph, if not more. In the major impact areas, the first paragraph should be devoted to meteorological statistics, including rainfall totals, peak wind gusts on land, storm surge, wave heights, beach erosion, and tornadoes. The second should be actual damage. Possible additional paragraphs could be detailed information on crop damage or specifics. Death and damage tolls should be at the end. Pictures are needed, as well. Ideally, there would be at least one picture for each sub-section in the impact, though this sometimes can't happen. For storms that impact the United States or United States territories, this site can be used for rainfall data, including an image of rainfall totals.
  6. Aftermath- The aftermath section should describe foreign aid, national aid, reconstruction, short-term and long-term environmental effects, and disease. Also, the storm's retirement information, whether it happened or not, should be mentioned here.
  7. Records- This is optional, but can't hurt to be included.
  8. Other- The ideal article should have inline sourcing, with the {{cite web}} formatting being preferable. Always double check your writing and make sure it makes sense.

Good luck with future writing, and if you have a question about the above, don't hesitate to ask.


Again, don't worry about asking questions, and I'll see you around. Hurricanehink (talk) 00:26, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #2

Number 2, July 2, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list.

Storm of the month

Tropical Storm Alberto near peak intensity
Tropical Storm Alberto was the first tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. Forming on June 10 over the western Caribbean Sea, the system moved northwestward as a disorganized tropical depression due to dry air and wind shear. It passed to the west of Cuba, bringing heavy rainfall to Cuba and Grand Cayman. The rainfall damaged 37 homes and destroyed 3 in Havana. It strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico and became a tropical storm on June 11. The center reformed to the northeast near its deep convection, and Alberto reached a peak intensity of 70 mph (110 km/h) before weakening and hitting the Florida Panhandle on June 13. Alberto brought heavy rainfall to the southeastern United States, peaking at 7.16 inches in Raleigh, North Carolina. The rainfall in Florida was beneficial in places as it alleviated drought conditions. The storm indirectly caused two deaths: A pilot who crashed near Tampa due to poor conditions and a boy who drowned in the flooding in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Other tropical cyclone activity

New articles and improvements wanted

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar

The June member of the month is Jdorje. The WikiProject awards this to him for his many contributions to the coverage of tropical cyclones on Wikipedia. Jdorje founded the WikiProject in October 2005 and established much of the categorizations the project depends on. His most significant contributions include the Featured article 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane and his track map generator with which he has created hundreds of track maps.

Storm article statistics

Grade April May June July
Featured article FA 7 7 10 13
A 4 5 7 6
Good article GA 0 3 5 18
B 62 66 82 79
Start 154 177 168 180
Stub 13 12 10 8
Total 240 263 282 303
percentage
≥Less than B		 69.6 71.6 63.1 62.0

WikiProject subpages

This is a brief description of some of the subpages of the WikiProject, explaining their purpose briefly, to find out more read the pages.

  • Assessments: Provides a series of guidelines to help with the assessment and improvement of articles. Discussion of how to improve specific articles is also held here and future nominations for FAC.
  • Merging: Discussion of articles which could be merged is held here. Generally for less significant topics, their articles are likely to be listed here unless very well written.
  • Article requests: A list of many possible subjects for articles, with comments on the worth of an article. If you have a topic which you think should have an article, list it here.
  • Collaboration: Discussion of the collaboration of the fortnight is held here. Nominate an article for WikiProject collaboration or comment on the existing nominations on this page.
  • Newsletter: The content of future editions of this newsletter and selection of Member of the month are discussed here.
  • Other topics not relating to a specific article are handled on the main WikiProject talk page.

Thanks to Hurricanehink to maintaining the stats table and producing the storm summaries. Nilfanion (talk)

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #3

Number 3, August 6, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list.

"Tropical Storm Lee was probably national news at the time, depending on where it went and what it did. Millions of people knew about it."

Storm of the month

Severe Tropical Storm Bilis approaching Taiwan
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

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

Cyclone barnstar

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.

Storm article statistics

Grade May June July August
Featured article FA 7 10 13 16
A 5 7 6 6
Good article 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.

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)

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #4

Number 3, September 3, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list. The WikiProject now has its own IRC channel.

"Katrina is important to BS but BS is not important to the story of Katrina."

Storm of the month

Typhoon Saomai nearing its landfall in China

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.

New articles and improvements wanted

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar

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.

Storm article statistics

Grade Jun Jul Aug Sep
Featured article FA 10 13 16 15
A 7 6 6 7
Good article 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)]]

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #5

Number 5, October 1, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list. The WikiProject has its own IRC channel.

"TD's should be bolded, as they are the impetus of every storm, weak or strong."

Storm of the month

Hurricane Ioke at peak strength

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.

Main Page content

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
Featured article FA 13 16 15 15
A 6 6 7 6
Good article 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

Cyclone barnstar

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.

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #6

Number 6, November 5, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list. The WikiProject has its own IRC channel.

"THIS IS THE LAST PUBLIC ADVISORY ISSUED ON THIS USER UNLESS REGENERATION OCCURS"

Storm of the month

Xangsane to the east of the Philippines

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

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar

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.

Storm article statistics

Grade Aug Sep Oct Nov
Featured article FA 16 15 15 16
A 6 7 6 7
Good article 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.

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #7

Number 7, December 22, 2006

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. This shortened late issue covers just global tropical cyclone activity in November, to prevent the next newsletter from being too large.

Tropical cyclone activity

  • One hurricane, Hurricane Sergio, formed in the eastern Pacific. Sergio was the longest lasting November Pacific hurricane recorded. Two other tropical cyclones, Tropical Storm Rosa and a tropical depression formed in the basin. None of the systems affected land.
  • An unusual extratropical cyclone developed in the northern central Pacific, resembling a subtropical cyclone at its peak.
  • A total of three typhoons formed in the western Pacific, and all the storms followed a similar track across the Philippines. Typhoon Cimaron formed at the end of October and lasted into November, killing 19 people. Typhoon Chebi existed during the middle of the month and was the weakest of the three causing minor damages. The most devastating storm of the month, Typhoon Durian hit the Philippines on November 30, killing at least 720 people in the island nation.
  • Two named cyclones developed in the Southern Hemisphere, Tropical Cyclone Yani in the South Pacific and Moderate Tropical Storm Anita in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Two unnamed depression also formed in the South Pacific. None of these storms affected land.

Editorial

The lateness of this edition is due to me being on an wikibreak and no-one taking up the slack. My wikibreak was the result of a lightning strike damaging my internet connection and frying my router, and the time taken for the replacement to arrive. As this issue is almost 3 weeks later than planned, only the monthly cyclone activity for November has been included. The next letter will be produced for January 7, 2006 and will be larger than normal to cover both month's Wikipedia news and December's tropical activity. There will be no Member or Storm of the month in January, to reduce the length; and the newsletter will return to normal in February.--Nilfanion (talk) 21:59, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #8

Number 8, January 7, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list. The WikiProject has its own IRC channel.

Tropical cyclone activity

  • Three tropical cyclones existed in the West Pacific during December. Typhoon Durian (Reming) was the deadliest and strongest of the three, killing over 800 people, in the Philippines and Vietnam and peaking at Category 4 strength. Typhoon Utor lasted formed on December 7 and lasted for 7 days, passing over the Philippines and causing severe floods in Malaysia. The final storm of the year, Tropical Storm Trami, lasted for three days and did not affect land.
  • The Southern Hemisphere saw a number of storms develop during December. The most significant was Cyclone Bondo, which hit Madagascar on December 23. Cyclone Anita dissipated early in the month, having formed in November and Cyclone Clovis developed on December 30 before reaching its peak in January. All of these storms were in the Southwest Indian Ocean, the only other cyclone was Cyclone Isobel that formed on December 31 to the north of Western Australia.

The Portal

Portal:Tropical cyclones is designed as the entry point to the WikiProject's work and is recognised as a Featured Portal. The structure emulates that of Wikipedia's Main page and needs updating in a similar manner. The following are the key sections that need editorial attention:

  • Selected article: This is one of the articles of the project, rotated on a weekly basis. These are selected from the better-quality articles and discussed at Portal talk:Tropical cyclones/Selected article.
  • Selected picture: This is chosen from the pictures used in the articles and is rotated monthly. It is selected in a similar manner to the article on Portal talk:Tropical cyclones/Selected picture.
  • Did you know: This is rotated as new articles are created and contains an interesting fact from a few of the new articles.
  • Active tropical cyclones: The currently active tropical cyclones are listed here, and are linked to appropriately.
  • Tropical cyclone news: Recent events in Tropical cyclone activity, such as formation, landfalls and dissipation of storms.
  • Anniversaries: This significant anniversaries for each day in the last week. Unlike the others it refreshes automatically, but should be updated if a new significant event occurs.
  • Things you can do: Unlike the other sections which are reader orientated, this is aimed at editors to give suggestions of articles to work on.

Please keep all of these sections up-to-date and refresh them as new tropical cyclones develop and articles are created. Also please keep the suggestions to editors current and fresh.

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Oct Nov Dec Jan
Featured article FA 15 16 19 23
A 6 7 6 2
Good article GA 33 48 57 74
B 84 83 78 71
Start 201 210 200 193
Stub 13 11 15 16
Total 352 375 375 379
percentage
Less than B		 60.8 58.9 57.3 55.1

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #9

Number 9, February 4, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list.
"The NHC is the official basin for the Atlantic."[1]

Storm of the month

Cyclone Clovis approaching Madagascar
Cyclone Clovis was named late on December 31 near to Tromelin Island. Clovis strengthened as it moved to the southwest reaching its peak the same day with 60 knot winds (according to Météo-France). The JTWC intensified Clovis more slowly, and assessed that it reached its peak with 65 knot winds on January 2, as it was nearing the Madagascar coast. The JTWC maintained this strength until it made landfall on the island on January 3. The resulting floods damaged a number of structures in Mananjary and about 1,500 people had to be evacuated.[2]

Other tropical cyclone activity
The only activity during January was in the Southern Hemisphere, with a total of 5 cyclones existing throughout the month.

  • Dora, the second cyclone the Southwest Indian Ocean formed late in January well to the east of Réunion; and reached tropical cyclone strength at the start of February.
  • The two storms in the South Pacific, Zita and Arthur followed very similar tracks to the east of the Dateline. The JTWC estimated that Zita reached its peak on January 23 and Arthur briefly had hurricane force winds two days later.
  • Cyclone Isobel formed between Indonesia and Australia late in December and headed south, making landfall in Western Australia on January 3 as a minimal Tropical Cyclone.

New articles and improvements wanted

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar

The January member of the month is Chacor, formerly known as NSLE. Chacor joined the project in November 2005, and has contributed to a wide variety of articles across the project. Recently he has generally focussed on the West Pacific and did most of the work on the first Good article in that basin: Typhoon Ewiniar (2006). He has also started the much needed process of splitting the Southern Hemisphere seasonal articles. Finally, Chacor is probably the user who maintains the quality of the most visible part of the project, the current activity.

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Nov Dec Jan Feb
Featured article FA 16 19 23 25
A 7 6 2 2
Good article GA 48 57 74 75
B 83 78 71 76
Start 210 200 193 195
Stub 11 15 16 16
Total 375 375 379 389
percentage
Less than B		 58.9 57.3 55.1 54.2

A quick note: When you create a new article please list it in the appropriate section on the project's page and add a fact from the article to the Portal. Thanks.

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #10

Number 10, March 4, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list.

Storm of the month

Cyclone Favio near Madagascar

Cyclone Favio developed well to the east of northern Madagascar on February 12 and moved to the southwest as it developed. The storm did not significantly intensify until February 19 when it was just off the soutern coast of Madagascar, but rapidly intenstified soon after to its peak with 185 km/h (115 mph) winds. Favio turned to the northwest and hit Mozambique worsening the floods already occuring in the country. Favio claimed at least 4 lives and destroyed thousands of homes.

Other tropical cyclone activity
There were a total of 6 tropical cyclones in the southern hemisphere during February. Five of these, including Favio, were in the South West Indian Ocean.

  • The only other storm in the Australian region was Cyclone Nelson which formed at the end of January in the Gulf of Carpentaria before it hit Queensland.
  • Cyclone Dora was active in January and reached its peak as an annular cyclone on February 3 with 185 km/h (115 mph) winds.
  • Cyclone Gamede was an unusally large storm that prompted the highest level of cyclone warning on Réunion and brought strong winds to the island on February 27, causing a bridge to collapse.
  • Neither Enok towards the start of the month or Humba near its end, had any impact on land.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar

The February member of the month is Miss Madeline. Miss Madeline is responsible for many of the projects featured lists such as List of Category 5 Pacific hurricanes and List of California hurricanes. She has also put serious work into many of our Pacific hurricane articles since she joined the project as one of its founding members. Recently she has worked on 1996 Pacific hurricane season, bringing it from a stub-class article to a Good article candidate.

New articles and improvements wanted

Storm article statistics

Grade Dec Jan Feb Mar
Featured article FA 19 23 25 28
A 6 2 2 2
Good article GA 57 74 75 80
B 78 71 76 78
Start 200 193 195 194
Stub 15 16 16 16
Total 375 379 389 398
percentage
Less than B		 57.3 55.1 54.2 52.8

Comments wanted on project talk Many discussions that potentially have far reaching impact for the whole project are carried out on the project's talk page. However, only a fraction of our active contributors actually engage in those discussions. If you add the project page to your Watchlist and keep an eye on discussions there to monitor upcoming changes, even if you don't participate in those discussions it would help both yourself and the project as a whole. For instance, at the moment the primary infobox templates such as {{Infobox hurricane}} are in the process of being deprecated and replaced by new versions which do the role more effectively.

[edit] Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #11

Number 11, April 1, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list.

Please visit this page and bookmark any suggestions of interest to you. This will help improve monitoring of the WikiProject's articles.

Storm of the month

Damage from Will

Hurricane Will developed from a tropical wave to the east of the Caribbean Sea and intensified. It crossed over Jamaica and re-emerged over water a few days later. The storm intensified into a hurricane and an eye began to develop. Will became a major hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall on the vulnerable Gulf Coast of the United States soon after. To date, Hurricane Will has claimed over 350 lives and is directly responsible for about $5 billion of damages; of which an unknown amount was insured. Despite the damage, it is not expected that the name will be retired by WMO.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • After threatening the Eastern Seaboard for some time, Hurricane Hink has turned away and the NHC has cancelled all warnings associated with the storm.
  • The 2007 Pacific typhoon season began with Tropical Storm Kong-rey forming on March 31.
  • There were a total of 7 cyclones in the southern hemisphere: Becky in the South Pacific, Indlala and Jaya in the Southwestern Indian Ocean and Odette, George, Jacob and Kara in the Australian region. Indlala killed at least 80 and left over 100,000 homeless; whilst Cyclone George was the worst storm to affect Port Hedland in over 30 years.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar

The April member of the month is HurricaneIrene. Irene began contributing to tropical cyclone articles on Wikipedia in August 2005, but ran out of steam and left after barely 2 weeks. However, Irene's influence on the project has been wide-reaching. Her efforts led directly to two articles attaining featured status and her legacy inspired many of our most active editors to write a plethora of good articles on a wide range of storms.

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Jan Feb Mar Apr
Featured article FA 23 25 28 29
A 2 2 2 2
Good article GA 74 75 80 82
B 71 76 78 80
Start 193 195 194 209
Stub 16 16 16 17
Total 379 389 398 419
percentage
Less than B		 55.1 54.2 52.8 53.9

The Main Page

The WikiProject has a narrow scope, so it is not surprising that our articles are not frequently selected for Today's featured article. Most destructive cyclones are likely to be mentioned on the In the news column. We have no real control over that, but we should submit suggestions when appropriate.

However, we can do a more lot more to place our content in the other major section of the main page: The Did you know column. In the past month we created over 30 articles. Of these only 2 were even submitted as suggestions for DYK. We can do much better, please submit DYK entries for new articles when you do the initial assessment.

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