Template talk:Infobox hurricane

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1 Usage
2 Example
3 Discussion

[edit] Usage

Simply add this infobox to articles about specific tropical cyclones (hurricanes/typhoons). It can also be used in some cases for subtropical cyclones.

Parameters:

Parameter name	Purpose	Example	Notes
category	SSS category for the storm. Must be one of "cat1", "cat2", "cat3", "cat4", "cat5", "storm", "depression", "unknown".	cat3	Classification parameters: Mandatory
type	"Type" of the storm, depending on basin. one of "tropical depression", "tropical storm", "subtropical depression", "subtropical storm", "hurricane", "cyclone", "tropical cyclone", "typhoon", "super typhoon". Uncapitalized.	hurricane	Classification parameters: Mandatory
image location	Location of picture to use		Image parameters: Optional
image name	Caption for picture		Image parameters: Optional
formed	Date of formation	[[September 23]], [[1996]]	Duration parameters: Mandatory
dissipated	Date of dissipation	[[October 2]], [[1996]]
hurricane season	Link to the hurricane's season or collective season article	[[1996 Atlantic hurricane season]]
highest winds	Highest sustained winds	160 [[mph]] (260 [[km/h]])	Intensity parameters: Mandatory
lowest pressure	Lowest recorded pressure. Should be in mbar/hPa	925 [[mbar]] ([[hPa]])	Intensity parameters: Mandatory
total damages	Damages from the storm; should give units and year	$1 billion (2005 [[USD]])	Destruction parameters: Mandatory
total fatalities	Number of people who died. Separate direct and indirect deaths if possible.	65 (36 direct; 29 indirect)
areas affected	List of regions affected, in chronological order	[[Florida]], [[North Carolina]]

[edit] Example

Hurricane Dennis

[edit] Discussion

General discussion about hurricanes should be moved to Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical Cyclones.

[edit] Adding infoboxes

Should there be small infoboxes created to go on the season pages (in the storm sections) for storms that never warranted an article? Also when there was no damage or fatalities, it should say "None reported" since there easily could have been but it was never reported or discovered... CrazyC83 23:35, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

I was thinking so. There should be an 'infobox hurricane small' or something..except then we need infobox hurricane small nopic (which would probably be very common). Another idea though is to make one large table per season showing data for each hurricane. Jdorje 23:49, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Listing Saffir-Simpson category?

I was curious if there was a reason for not listing the hurricanes peak intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in the infobox for quick reference? The peak windspeed is in the infobox so peak category wouldn't take that much more space, but perhaps there is a reason category was left out of the original template creation? --Fxer 15:56, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

I think there's no reason. After the season we were planning to add the minimum pressure to the infobox; we could surely add the category status as well. The only reason we might not want the category is that the infobox is used for all basins, whereas some basins don't normally use the saffir-simpson categories (but they still know what they mean). Jdorje 17:26, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

The wind speed will instantly tell you the category of the storm. If it shows 75-95, it is Cat 1; 100-110 Cat 2; 115-130 Cat 3; 135-155 Cat 4; 160+ Cat 5. CrazyC83 23:25, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

For those who don't have the categories memorized, the category might be helpful. --AySz88^-^ 00:07, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Of course the category would be helpful :-). I've now added it, sort of. But it's not perfect. Include "category=cat5" parameter to give the category; see Hurricane Wilma for an example. Some would argue that it should say "Category 5 hurricane" not just "Category 5", but that is trickier since it's not correct for all basins. Jdorje 03:30, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Update:I also added the {{{type}}} parameter. This allows you to give an actual noun, for which the category functions as an adjective. For all atlantic hurricane-strength storms the {{{type}}} should be "hurricane". Although...we could make it "major hurricane" if we want to make that distinction (corresponding to the typhoon/super-typhoon distinction in the wpac). Jdorje 04:39, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

And the remaining problem is with subtropical and non-tropical entries, which are not possible using the category/type system as it is now. That's probably okay since we don't have any such articles. But it could be fixed if we make the {{switch}} statements increasingly more complex. Jdorje 04:55, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Listing pressure

As has been discussed (elsewhere...I'm not sure where), since the 2005 Atlantic season is now over I've added the minimum pressure to the infobox. This uses an {{if}} template to make it an "optional" parameter, since most storm articles won't include it for some time. Eventually this should be made manditory, or alternately we can include "unknown" as the default if no pressure if given. Jdorje 07:37, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More off-season changes

I am continuing to cautiously add to the template cautiously, based on the example of fr:Modèle:Cyclone. The changes here are constrained because I want to keep a clean upgrade path, so that changes will not break the hundreds of existing articles that use this template. Category:Incomplete hurricane infoboxes is used to point out tc articles that are missing one of the new fields; this category can be used to periodically update articles. Jdorje 08:16, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Switch/case parameters

The {{{category}}} and {{{type}}} parameters are intended to follow exact specificiations so they are used inside {{switch}}. For instance one question is: should it be "Category 5 Hurricane" or "Category 5 hurricane"? Personally I believe the latter. However either way it should be type=hurricane and the capitalization should be handled inside the template. This way we can guarantee that capitalization is the same throughout all articles. Jdorje 08:30, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox image problem

I noticed a couple of articles without images and I tried to add them. For some reason the template doesn't work with Maria and Philippe. Good kitty 03:48, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

I was trying to add the images from the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season to the infoboxes here [1] and here [2]. I think CrazyC83 had this problem because he left them out of the articles. Good kitty 06:42, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SSS/SSHS

Just from recollection, all NHC documents use "SSS" as the acronym for the Saffir-Simpson Scale. However we call it the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale which should seemingly be abbreviated SSHS. Personally I prefer SSS since it's shorter and flows better. But which is more correct? — jdorje (talk) 03:56, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Some continued googling answered my own question: http://www.nwstc.noaa.gov/sysinfo/glossary.html#S shows SSS to mean "System/Segment Specification" while SSHS means "Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale". So, sadly, I guess it has to be SSHS. — jdorje (talk) 03:59, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Also, our own article on SSS tells us that it might be confused with other things, as it is a simple three-leter-abbreviation, which is harder to occur when it comes to SSHS. Tito xd^{(?!? - help us)} 04:02, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Update

Let me know if there's any problems with the update I made (articles not appearing correctly, etc). I did test it in over a dozen articles, but it's used in more than that obviously. =) —Locke Cole • t • c 01:50, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Different wind values

I (and tito) added different fields for the various possible wind values. {{{highest gusts}}}, {{{highest 1-min winds}}}, and {{{highest 10-min winds}}} are all fields now. I used Cyclone Mala as a testbed. We shouldn't go crazy switching over all the articles until we decide this is the best way to do it, though. If we keep it like this, eventually {{{highest winds}}} should be deprecated and just the above three parameters used. — jdorje (talk) 08:04, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template Broken

The template is currently adding ALL (as far as I can tell) storm articles to the Category "List of incomplete hurricane infoboxes" TimL 14:54, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More to add

I think the total number of missing people should be included in the infobox. Why not. It wouldn't count towards the death toll, but it should be there. For example, Alberto of this year would read; 0 direct, 2 indirect, 9 missing. How's that? íslenska hurikein #12_(samtal) 00:13, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Damages

Is there a way for the updated infoboxes to include damage figures from other countries? Hurricanehink (talk) 22:30, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sandbox problem

In a sandbox article I am attempting to create, I can't get the infobox to support a ≥ symbol in the winds parameter. Does anyone know of anyway to fix it so that it will display ≥ 100 mph (and possibly unknown strength colour scheme etc)? Miss Madeline | Talk to Madeline 00:34, 15 June 2007 (UTC)