[Index]
Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary September 2008
[Summaries and Track Data] [Prepared by Gary Padgett]
| Tropical
Cyclones
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Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary September 2008 [Summaries and Track Data] [Prepared by Gary Padgett] |
MONTHLY GLOBAL TROPICAL CYCLONE SUMMARY
SEPTEMBER, 2008
First Installment
(For general comments about the nature of these summaries, as well as
information on how to download the tabular cyclone track files, see
the Author's Note at the end of this summary.)
NOTE: The September summary is being issued in two installments. The
first covers the Atlantic, Northeast Pacific, and North Indian Ocean
basins. The second will cover the Northwest Pacific basin.
*************************************************************************
SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
--> Louisiana, Haiti, and U. S. East Coast affected by storms left over
from August
--> Cuba again struck by an intense hurricane, which later becomes third
most destructive U. S. hurricane on record--same storm devastates
Turks and Caicos
--> Nova Scotia struck by late September hurricane
--> China, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all affected significantly
by tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
WIKIPEDIA TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORTS
Short reports with satellite pictures and small-scale maps for all
tropical cyclones may be found at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Atlantic_hurricane_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Pacific_hurricane_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Pacific_typhoon_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_North_Indian_cyclone_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008-09_Southern_Hemisphere_tropical_cyclone_season>
For some storms more detailed reports have been prepared. In those cases
I will include the specific links in the reports for the applicable
tropical cyclones.
*************************************************************************
ACTIVITY BY BASINS
ATLANTIC (ATL) - North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico
Activity for September: 2 tropical storms
1 interesting frontal hybrid
3 hurricanes **
1 intense hurricane
** - two of these formed in August
Sources of Information
----------------------
Most of the information presented below was obtained from the
various tropical cyclone products issued by the Tropical Prediction
Center/National Hurricane Center (TPC/NHC) in Miami, Florida:
discussions, public advisories, forecast/advisories, tropical weather
outlooks, special tropical disturbance statements, etc. Some
additional information may have been gleaned from the monthly
summaries prepared by the hurricane specialists and available on
TPC/NHC's website. All references to sustained winds imply a
1-minute averaging period unless otherwise noted.
Atlantic Tropical Activity for September
----------------------------------------
Near average tropical cyclone activity prevailed across the Atlantic
basin during September, 2008. Four tropical storms were named, of which
two reached hurricane intensity. One hurricane became a major hurricane
(Category 3 or higher on the Saffir/Simpson scale). These numbers almost
exactly represent the long-term averages for September. In addition to
Hurricanes Ike and Kyle, which formed during September, Hurricanes Gustav
and Hanna, both holdovers from August, were active into the early days
of September. One of the named storms, Laura, initially formed as a
non-tropical LOW and subsequently evolved into a subtropical and finally
tropical storm. In addition to the named tropical cyclones, there was
an interesting frontal hybrid storm which was about to make the
transition into a subtropical cyclone when it made landfall on the
Carolina coast.
The official storm reports for some of the individual cyclones are
already available on TPC/NHC's website at the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2008atlan.shtml>
HURRICANE IKE
(TC-09)
1 - 15 September
------------------------------------
A. Brief Synoptic History
-------------------------
Hurricane Ike was a classic Cape Verde hurricane which struck a
devastating blow to the Turks and Caicos Islands and to Cuba before
becoming the third most destructive hurricane to strike the United
States, after Katrina of 2005 and Andrew of 1992. Ike reached its
peak intensity of 125 kts early on 4 September while still well out in
the Atlantic, but subsequently weakened briefly to Category 2 status
due to northerly shear. Environmental conditions became more favorable
on 6 September and the hurricane re-intensified into a Category 4
hurricane with 115-kt winds before passing directly over the Turks and
Caicos early on 7 September. Ike made landfall as a strong Category 3
hurricane near Cabo Lucrecia on the north coast of Cuba during the
evening of 7 September, eventually emerging into the Caribbean Sea along
the south coast of the island on the 8th. The hurricane skimmed along
an extensive portion of Cuba's southern coastline before crossing the
western province of Pinar del Rio on 9 September. Ike entered the Gulf
of Mexico as a Category 1 hurricane during the afternoon of the 9th.
Once in the Gulf of Mexico, Ike was slow to re-intensify. The storm
moved across the Gulf on a fairly straight west-northwesterly track
toward the upper Texas coast, becoming a very large hurricane along the
way. At one point hurricane-force winds covered an area 210 nm in
diameter with gales covering a zone 520 nm in diameter. According to
the Wikipedia report, this makes Ike the largest Atlantic hurricane
on record in areal extent. Ike made landfall at Galveston, Texas,
during the early morning hours of 13 September as a 95-kt upper-end
Category 2 hurricane. Once inland the storm made a slow turn to the
north and eventually northeast. After weakening to tropical storm
status, Ike passed about 160 km to the east of Dallas, Texas, and
west of Little Rock, Arkansas. Weakening to tropical depression status,
Ike accelerated to the northeast, passing near St. Louis, Missouri.
Ike merged with a cold front early on the 14th and became extratropical.
This deep LOW crossed into Canada on the night of 14 September and
brought strong winds to a wide area of the U. S. as well as southern
Ontario and Quebec before moving into the Labrador Sea early on the
16th. (Much of the information in this section was taken from the
extremely detailed Wikipedia report.)
B. Storm Effects
----------------
According to the online Wikipedia report, damage in the United States
has been estimated at about $27 billion, with damage in Cuba placed at
$4 billion and damage in the Turks and Caicos estimated at $0.5 billion.
This makes Ike the third most destructive U. S. hurricane, after
Katrina's $89.6 billion and Andrew's $40.7 billion price tags (both
values adjusted to 2008 dollars). Surge flooding was by far the most
destructive force in Hurricane Ike. Much of downtown Galveston was
flooded with water 6 feet (2 metres) deep inside the Galveston County
courthouse. The worst damage was incurred on the Bolivar Peninsula to
the east of Galveston. According to various media estimates, 80-95%
of the homes in the area were destroyed or damaged beyond repair.
The total number of fatalities is currently estimated at 126 direct,
38 indirect, with 202 still missing. The U. S. death toll has been
placed at 82, including 48 in Texas.
C. Links
--------
The extremely detailed online Wikipedia report on Hurricane Ike may
be accessed at the following URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ike>
This report contains many links to other sources of information. A
graphic depicting Ike's storm-total rainfall may be found at:
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/ike2008.html>
The official TPC/NHC storm report on Hurricane Ike is not yet
available, but additional information may be found at the following
link:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2008/tws/MIATWSAT_nov.shtml?>
D. Additional Discussion
------------------------
Was Ike a "major" hurricane? Officially it wasn't, according to
current NHC operational terminology, which requires that a hurricane
be classified as a Category 3 cyclone on the Saffir/Simpson scale, and
today (though it hasn't always been so) that is based entirely upon the
official estimate of the maximum 1-minute average wind speed. According
to reports which circulated in the media at the time, many residents
chose not to evacuate some low-lying areas because Ike was "only" a
Category 2 hurricane, even though the NHC public advisories carried
warnings of a storm surge of 20 ft (6.1 m) and possibly reaching 25 ft
(7.6 m)--which is in the storm surge range to be expected in association
with a Category 5 hurricane. Ike's actual storm surge didn't quite reach
those values, but was in the Category 4 range in some places. Similarly,
Hurricane Opal of 1995 was barely a Category 3 hurricane at landfall,
but produced a Category 4-equivalent storm surge in the Florida Pan-
handle. And more recently, Hurricane Katrina was weakening from a
Category 4 to Category 3 hurricane at landfall, but its storm surge
topped 30 feet (9 m)--several feet in excess of the peak surge produced
by Category 5 Hurricane Camille.
There was much discussion in the media and on e-mail discussion lists
about the inability of the Saffir/Simpson scale to adequately convey the
potential for storm surge-related destruction in very large hurricanes
such as Ike. One suggested alternative is the new Integrated Kinetic
Energy (IKE) scale, developed by Mark Powell and Timothy Reinhold. This
indicator of destructive potential is computed by integrating the 10-m
level kinetic energy per unit volume over portions of the storm domain
volume containing sustained surface winds within specific ranges. The
calculation is very complex, but the end product are two destructive
potential ratings based on wind speed (Wdp) and storm surge (Sdp).
In some situations, this could be a move in the right direction. For
example, comparing Hurricanes Camille and Katrina around the time of
their respective landfalls, the Wdp for Camille (Cat. 5) is 5.2 and for
Katrina (Cat. 3) is 3.7. But in terms of storm surge, Camille's peak
surge was around 24 feet, whereas the surge from the larger Katrina was
in excess of 30 feet. Camille's Sdp was 4.0, but for Katrina the Sdp
was 5.1. However, in the author's opinion, there are also some potential
problems. The Wdp for the very small but extremely intense (Cat. 4)
Hurricane Iris (2001) at landfall in Belize was only 0.1. This was also
the Wdp for Hurricane Katrina at landfall in Florida. Katrina was only
a Cat. 1 hurricane there, but larger than Iris. Iris' strongest winds
covered a very small area, but within that zone, destruction was extreme.
It would be very unwise to downplay the destructive potential from winds
due to a storm's small size, as anyone in Darwin, Australia, could
testify. Powell's and Reinhold's paper acknowledges the challenge
presented by small intense storms, and a Wdp rating > 4 is assigned to
storms with a MSW >= 55 m/s (107 kts).
Another and simpler idea perhaps would be to utilize the original
storm surge ranges expected for each Saffir/Simpson category as defined
in the original scale:
Category 1 4 - 5 feet (1.2 - 1.5 m)
Category 2 6 - 8 feet (1.8 - 2.4 m)
Category 3 9 - 12 feet (2.7 - 3.7 m)
Category 4 13 - 18 feet (4.0 - 5.5 m)
Category 5 > 18 feet ( > 5.5 m)
Prior to landfall, the storm's category would be assessed according to
the best MSW estimate. Also, the S/S category would be assessed
separately based upon the maximum surge height forecast by the surge
prediction models. For warning purposes, the storm's official S/S
category would be the higher of the two, or perhaps an average if the
two assessments differed by more than one S/S category. The same
principle could be applied after the fact to determine the hurricane's
official S/S rating at landfall based on a post-storm analysis of all
available data. However, with all that being said, such an approach
is not perfect and is not going to be realistic in all situations.
With so much information readily available to the public and emergency
managers via the internet and television and all the associated
graphical displays of the wind field and storm surge predictions, perhaps
the time has come to stop trying to convey the threat a particular
hurricane poses by the use of one number.
One final point--in the author's opinion, part of the problem lies
with terminology. To many people the term "major" connotes storm
impacts. To say that the third most destructive hurricane in U. S.
history was not a "major" hurricane in one sense seems ludicrous. The
impact from Ike was very, very major. Today, the Saffir/Simpson
classification is being based strictly upon the storm's maximum sustained
wind. Years ago the Colorado State University forecasts by Dr. Bill
Gray began using the term "intense hurricane" to refer to those storms
of Category 3 or higher on the Saffir/Simpson scale. That seems to me
to be a more accurate term since the category determination is based
solely upon the hurricane's intensity.
TROPICAL STORM JOSEPHINE
(TC-10)
2 - 6 September
--------------------------------------------
Tropical Storm Josephine was an inconsequential storm which formed
near the Cape Verde Islands on the heels of Hurricane Ike. Josephine
moved for several days on a general west-northwesterly course, reaching
a peak intensity of 55 kts on 3 September. Thereafter, slightly cooler
SSTs and more stable air, but especially strong shear, caused the cyclone
to gradually weaken. The shear was caused by an unusually strong trough
for so early in the season, possibly enhanced by outflow from the
intensifying Ike farther west. Josephine weakened to a tropical
depression late on 5 September and to a remnant LOW the next day.
The online Wikipedia report on Tropical Storm Josephine may be found
at the following URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Josephine_(2008)>
The official TPC/NHC report on Josephine, authored by Eric Blake, is
accessible at the link given in the introductory paragraph above.
FRONTAL HYBRID LOW
23 - 26 September
--------------------------------------
An interesting system occurred off the southeastern U. S. coast around
the time that Kyle was taking shape near the Bahamas. This system was
initially a non-tropical LOW, but acquired more and more characteristics
of a subtropical cyclone as it moved westward and inland in extreme
northeastern South Carolina. Based on OPC High Seas warnings, at
1800 UTC on 23 September the LOW was located near 31N/75W and was
producing 50-kt winds. Six hours later it was re-positioned to near
34N/71W. From this point the storm moved generally westward and made
landfall in northeastern South Carolina very late on 25 September. At
0600 UTC 26 September it was located about midway between Myrtle Beach
and Florence.
Although the system was slowly acquiring subtropical characteristics,
the winds had weakened somewhat from the previous intensity the LOW had
displayed as a non-tropical storm. Based on the OPC warnings, the system
may have produced hurricane-force winds around 24/1200 UTC, but the
intensity had weakened to about 45 kts by landfall. Had the LOW had a
little more time over water, it would likely have made the transition to
a subtropical or tropical cyclone. It had a tight inner wind core,
maintained persistent organized convection, and was cutting itself off
from cold air sources in the westerlies. However, surface data
suggested that the frontal structure did not dissipate before the center
moved inland. This is a case where having more surface data likely
disqualified a system from receiving a name. It was quite well-
organized, and had it occurred further out to sea where there was less
data, there is a possibility that it could have been classified as a
subtropical storm. But, as Jack Beven of TPC/NHC pointed out in an
e-mail, if that had been the case, the system would likely have had
time to have made the transition to a subtropical or even tropical storm.
HURRICANE KYLE
(TC-11)
25 - 29 September
-------------------------------------
Hurricane Kyle was a late-September Category 1 hurricane which formed
north of Hispaniola and followed a generally northward trajectory to a
landfall in extreme southwestern Nova Scotia. Operationally, the peak
MSW assigned to Hurricane Kyle was 70 kts, but during post-storm analysis
the peak intensity has been nudged upward to 75 kts. Kyle made landfall
as a 65-kt hurricane near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, during the evening of
28 September, becoming extratropical the next day. The remnants of Kyle
were absorbed by another extratropical LOW over the Gulf of St. Lawrence
on the 30th.
The online Wikipedia report on Hurricane Kyle may be found at the
following URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Kyle_(2008)>
A graphic depicting rainfall triggered in Puerto Rico by the pre-Kyle
disturbance may be found at:
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/kyle2008.html>
The official TPC/NHC report on Kyle, authored by Lixion Avila, is
accessible at the link given in the introductory paragraph above.
SUBTROPICAL/TROPICAL STORM LAURA
(TC-12)
26 September - 5 October
----------------------------------------------------
Laura was a North Atlantic storm which began life as a non-tropical
LOW, subsequently undergoing a transformation into a subtropical storm,
at which point it was named, and later making the transition to full
tropical cyclone status. The storm was located at a relatively high
latitude--41.2 N--when it was declared a tropical storm. Shortly
thereafter, signs of extratropical transition began to appear. The
parent LOW was located in the central North Atlantic about 900 nm west
of the westernmost Azores when it was named Subtropical Storm Laura on
29 September. Laura initially moved westward, then recurved northward
and northeastward fairly sharply while located several hundred miles
southeast of Newfoundland. While the parent LOW produced winds of
hurricane force while still extratropical, the system had weakened some
prior to subtropical transition. The peak estimated MSW during the
subtropical and tropical portions of Laura's life was 50 kts.
The online Wikipedia report on Tropical Storm Laura may be found at
the following URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Laura_(2008)>
The name Laura was first included in a list of Atlantic hurricane
names in 1956, and appeared several times during the 1960s and early
1970s. The only previous tropical cyclone named Laura prior to 2008
was Tropical Storm Laura in November, 1971, which formed in the western
Caribbean Sea, making a loop just south of western Cuba prior to
embarking on an unusual southwesterly track. Laura neared hurricane
intensity just prior to making landfall near the Belize/Guatemala
border.
The official TPC/NHC report on Laura is not yet available, but likely
will be soon.
*************************************************************************
NORTHEAST PACIFIC (NEP) - North Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 180
Activity for September: 2 tropical storms
Sources of Information
----------------------
Most of the information presented below was obtained from the
various tropical cyclone products issued by the Tropical Prediction
Center/National Hurricane Center (TPC/NHC) in Miami, Florida (or the
Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) in Honolulu, Hawaii, for
locations west of longitude 140W): discussions, public advisories,
forecast/advisories, tropical weather outlooks, special tropical
disturbance statements, etc. Some additional information may have
been gleaned from the monthly summaries prepared by the hurricane
specialists and available on TPC/NHC's website. All references to
sustained winds imply a 1-minute averaging period unless otherwise
noted.
Northeast Pacific Tropical Activity for September
-------------------------------------------------
Overall, tropical cyclone activity in the Eastern North Pacific during
September, 2008, was the lowest ever recorded for the month of September
since reliable records began in 1971. In terms of the Accumulated
Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, September had a value of only 9% of the long-
term average. Only two tropical storms were noted during the month and
there were no hurricanes. The 1971-2007 averages are three tropical
storms, two hurricanes, and one major hurricane.
The official storm reports on both Tropical Storms Karina and Lowell
are already available on TPC/NHC's website at the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2008epac.shtml>
TROPICAL STORM KARINA
(TC-12E)
2 - 3 September
-----------------------------------------
Karina was a short-lived minimal tropical storm which formed on
2 September a few hundred miles south of the tip of Baja California.
The cyclone was spawned by the same tropical wave of African origin
which had spawned Hurricane Gustav in the Caribbean Sea. Karina was
upgraded directly to a tropical storm on the first advisory--something
unusual for an Eastern North Pacific system (although a very common
occurrence in the Atlantic basin during the 2008 season). Karina's
MSW were estimated no higher than 35 kts, and the system was a tropical
storm for only 12 hours as it moved west-northwestward. Strong easterly
shear as well as movement into an environment of cooler SSTs and stable
air led to the quick demise of Karina with the system being carried
operationally as a tropical cyclone for only about 24 hours.
The online Wikipedia report on Tropical Storm Karina may be found at
the following URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Karina_(2008)>
The official TPC/NHC report on Karina, authored by Lixion Avila, is
available at the link given in the introductory paragraph.
This was the first usage of the name Karina in the Northeast Pacific
basin. The name was chosen to replace Kenna, which was retired after
the 2002 season due to that year's Hurricane Kenna striking the Mexican
coast as a destructive Category 4 hurricane. It was pointed out in some
e-mail discussion that the name is very similar to Katrina. That is
true, but Karina was chosen as a replacement well over two years before
the catastrophic 2005 hurricane.
TROPICAL STORM LOWELL
(TC-13E)
7 - 12 September
-----------------------------------------
Tropical Storm Lowell formed in a monsoon trough well to the south
of Manzanillo late on 6 September. Like Karina a few days earlier,
Lowell was upgraded directly to a tropical storm on the first advisory.
The tropical cyclone moved northwestward on a trajectory roughly parallel
to the Mexican coastline, reaching a peak intensity of 45 kts. After
weakening to a tropical depression on the 10th, Lowell recurved rather
sharply to the east-northeast and made landfall right on the tip of the
Baja California Peninsula on 11 September. (NOTE: Operationally, the
peak MSW assigned for Lowell was 50 kts, but this was reduced to 45 kts
during a post-storm review.)
Flooding from Lowell's remnants left more than 26,500 persons homeless
in the states of Michoacan, Sonora and Sinaloa. Damage in Sonora alone
was estimated at more than $15.5 million USD. Moisture from the storm
moved northeastward and joined up with a cold front and the remnants of
Hurricane Ike, leading to significant damage. Extensive flooding was
experienced in Illinois, breaking records in the Chicago area dating
back to 1871.
An online Wikipedia report containing information about the Midwest
floods may be found at the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Midwest_floods>
The official TPC/NHC report on Lowell, written by Robbie Berg, is now
available at the link given in the introductory paragraph.
*************************************************************************
NORTHWEST PACIFIC (NWP) - North Pacific Ocean West of Longitude 180
Activity for September: 1 tropical depression
3 tropical storms **
2 typhoons
1 super typhoon
** - one of these treated as a tropical storm by JTWC only
NOTE!!! The Northwest Pacific basin will be covered in the second
installment of the September summary.
*************************************************************************
NORTH INDIAN OCEAN (NIO) - Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea
Activity for September: 1 tropical cyclone **
** - treated as a deep depression by IMD
Sources of Information
----------------------
Most of the information presented below is based upon tropical
cyclone warnings and significant tropical weather outlooks issued
by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center of the U. S. Air Force and
Navy (JTWC), located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Occasionally some
information may be gleaned from the daily tropical weather outlooks
and other bulletins issued by the Indian Meteorological Department
(IMD), which is the World Meteorological Organization's Regional
Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for the basin.
The reported maximum sustained winds (MSW) are based on a 1-minute
averaging period, which is used by all U. S. civilian and military
weather services for tropical cyclone warnings. For synoptic
observations in the North Indian Ocean region, both 10-minute and
3-minute average winds are employed, but IMD makes no attempt to
modify the Dvorak scale for estimating tropical cyclone intensity;
hence, a 1-minute average MSW is implied. In the North Indian Ocean
basin JTWC usually does not initiate warnings until a system has
become well-organized and likely to attain tropical storm status
within 48 hours.
TROPICAL CYCLONE
(TC-02B)
15 - 19 September
-------------------------------------
Tropical Cyclone 02B was a short-lived minimal tropical storm which
was recognized as only a deep depression by IMD. An area of low pressure
formed on the 14th in the northern reaches of the Bay of Bengal and began
moving westward. On 15 September the system was classified as a
depression with 25-kt winds by IMD. Further upgrading to a deep
depression with 30-kt winds occurred at 16/0300 UTC with the center
located near 20.0N/87.5E. At 1200 UTC JTWC issued their first of two
warnings on the system with the warning intensity estimated at 35 kts.
The system made landfall on the Orissa coast near Chandbali during the
afternoon of the 16th with JTWC issuing their final warning at 1800 UTC.
Both SAB and JTWC assigned Dvorak ratings of T2.5/2.5 on the 16th shortly
before landfall.
Following landfall the system appeared to be slow to weaken. RSMC
New Delhi maintained the system as a deep depression through the 18th,
and as a depression until the next day. Even though the peak operational
MSW estimated by JTWC was 35 kts, a track posted on the NRL Monterrey
Tropical Cyclone Homepage (KML data feed) reports the MSW to be 40 kts
at 17/0600 UTC--some twelve hours after the center had moved inland.
According to the Wikipedia report, there were 25 deaths reported in
India due to TC-02B: 10 in the state of Orissa, and 15 in Uttar
Pradesh. In addition, over 100 fishermen were reported missing as
25 trawlers capsized in the Bay of Bengal off Bangladesh's southern
coastal areas due to rough seas. A storm surge of 4.6 to 6.1 m was
reported from some areas, but overall damage was minor.
*************************************************************************
SOUTHWEST INDIAN OCEAN (SWI) - South Indian Ocean West of Longitude 90E
Activity for September: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
NORTHWEST AUSTRALIA/SOUTHEAST INDIAN OCEAN (AUW) - From 90E to 135E
Activity for September: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
NORTHEAST AUSTRALIA/CORAL SEA (AUE) - From 135E to 160E
Activity for September: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
SOUTH PACIFIC (SPA) - South Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 160E
Activity for September: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
SPECIAL FEATURE - SOURCES OF TROPICAL CYCLONE INFORMATION
The purpose of this section is to list some websites where many and
varied types of tropical cyclone information are archived. Many readers
will know about these already, but for the benefit of those who don't,
I wanted to include them.
(1) Aircraft Reconnaissance Information
---------------------------------------
Various types of messages from reconnaissance aircraft may be
retrieved from the following FTP site:
ftp://ftp.nhc.noaa.gov/pub/products/nhc/recon/>
Information regarding how to interpret the coded reconnaissance
messages may be found at the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/reconlist.shtml>
Links are also included to websites with further information about the
U. S. Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the NOAA Air-
craft Operations Center.
(2) Archived Advisories
-----------------------
All the advisory products (public advisories, forecast/advisories,
strike probabilities, discussions, various graphics) issued by TPC/NHC
are archived on TPC's website. For the current year (using 2004 as an
example), the archived products can be found at:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2004/index.shtml>
Links to tropical products archives for earlier years are available at
the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastall.shtml>
JTWC warnings for past storms are archived on the NRL Monterrey website:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html>
On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left
corner of the screen.
I am not aware at the moment of any other TCWC which archives all
its tropical cyclone warning/advisory products for public access, but
if I learn of any, I will add them to this list.
(3) Satellite Imagery
---------------------
Satellite images of tropical cyclones in various sensor bands are
available on the NRL Monterrey and University of Wisconsin websites,
courtesy of Jeff Hawkins and Chris Velden and their associates. The
links are:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html>
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/tropic.html>
On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left
corner of the screen. For the CIMSS site, a link to data archives is
located in the lower left portion of the screen.
Additional tropical satellite imagery, along with looping ability for
composite microwave imagery for the Western Hemisphere north of the
equator, can be found at:
(1) For the Eastern North Pacific:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-epac.html>
(2) For the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-atl.html>
(4) Cyclone Tracking Information
--------------------------------
There is a U. S. Navy site that tracks tropical cyclones at 6-hourly
intervals which often includes pre and post-advisory positions. The
link to the site is:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/atcf_web/doc_archives/>
Steve Young has compiled many of these tracks onto a single webpage
which is very user-friendly:
http://home.earthlink.net/~shy9/tc1.htm>
I'm sure there are other sites with available imagery available, and
as I learn of them, I will add the links to this list.
*************************************************************************
EXTRA FEATURE
In order to shorten the amount of typing in preparing the narrative
material, I have been in the habit of freely using abbreviations and
acronyms. I have tried to define most of these with the first usage
in a given summary, but I may have missed one now and then. Most of
these are probably understood by a majority of readers but perhaps a
few aren't clear to some. To remedy this I developed a Glossary of
Abbreviations and Acronyms which I first included in the August, 1998
summary. I don't normally include the Glossary in most months in
order to help keep them from being too long. If anyone would like to
receive a copy of the Glossary, please e-mail me and I'll be happy
to send them a copy.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: This summary should be considered a very preliminary
overview of the tropical cyclones that occur in each month. The cyclone
tracks (provided separately) will generally be based upon operational
warnings issued by the various tropical cyclone warning centers. The
information contained therein may differ somewhat from the tracking and
intensity information obtained from a "best-track" file which is based
on a detailed post-seasonal analysis of all available data. Information
on where to find official "best-track" files from the various warning
centers will be passed along from time to time.
The track files are not being sent via e-mail. They can be retrieved
from the archive sites listed below. (Note: I do have a limited e-mail
distribution list for the track files. If anyone wishes to receive
these via e-mail, please send me a message.)
Both the summaries and the track files are standard text files
created in DOS editor. Download to disk and use a viewer such as
Notepad or DOS editor to view the files.
The first summary in this series covered the month of October,
1997. Back issues can be obtained from the following websites
(courtesy of Michael Bath, Michael V. Padua, Michael Pitt, and
Chris Landsea):
http://australiasevereweather.com/cyclones/>
http://www.typhoon2000.ph>
http://mpittweather.com>
ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/landsea/padgett/>
Another website where much information about tropical cyclones may
be found is the website for the UK Meteorological Office. Their site
contains a lot of statistical information about tropical cyclones
globally on a monthly basis. The URL is:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/tropicalcyclone>
TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORTS AVAILABLE
JTWC now has available on its website the Annual Tropical Cyclone
Report (ATCR) for 2007 (2006-2007 season for the Southern Hemisphere).
ATCRs for earlier years are available also.
The URL is: http://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php>
Also, TPC/NHC has available on its webpage nice "technicolor"
tracking charts for the 2007 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific
tropical cyclones; also, storm reports for all the 2007 Atlantic
and Eastern North Pacific cyclones are now available, as well as
track charts and reports on storms from earlier years.
The URL is: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov>
A special thanks to Michael Bath of McLeans Ridges, New South Wales,
Australia, for assisting me with proofreading the summaries.
PREPARED BY
Gary Padgett
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 334-222-5327
Kevin Boyle (Northwest Pacific)
E-mail: [email protected]
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|
Document: summ0809a.htm
Updated: 6 January 2009 |
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