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NOTE: Creation of the Newsletter goes to Hurricanehink, not me!! - Nilfanion created the newsletter prior to 2008

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #24

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Number 24, March 7

The Hurricane Herald

This is the bi-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. This newsletter covers all of January 2009 and February 2009.

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

Cyclone Fanele near peak intensity
Cyclone Fanele near peak intensity

Storm of the month
Cyclone Fanele was the first cyclone of tropical cyclone status to strike western Madagascar since Cyclone Fame one year prior. It formed on January 18 in the Mozambique Channel, and rapidly organized, reaching peak winds of 185 km/h (115 mph). It weakened before moving ashore in Menabe Region southwest of Morondava, and rapidly deteriorated over land. Fanele briefly re-intensified after reaching open waters, only to become an extratropical cyclone by January 23. The cyclone caused heavy damage near where it moved ashore and along its path, resulting in at least eight deaths. Fanele struck Madagascar just two days after Tropical Storm Eric brushed the northeastern portion of the country. The two storms affected over 50,000 people, of which at least 4,000 were left homeless. Fanele struck the country during a series of government protests, and consequentially relief efforts were hindered.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Western Pacific Ocean– The first tropical cyclone of the season was Tropical Depression Auring, as designated by PAGASA. It formed on January 3 to the east of the Philippines, producing heavy rainfall and flooding on Mindanao island. Never organizing much, the depression dissipated a few days after forming, causing one death and destroying 305 houses. The next month, Tropical Depression Bising formed near Palau and, moving westward, later passed through the Philippines as a remnant low; rainfall from the system produced mudslides, though no major damage was reported.
  • South-West Indian– Tropical Storm Dongo was the first storm of January in the basin, and it remained over open waters without affecting landmasses throughout its duration. In the middle of the month along with Cyclone Fanele, Tropical Storm Eric developed and moved near Madagascar, killing one and producing heavy rainfall in the northeastern portion of the country. Later, Cyclone Gael killed two people on Réunion while tracking for ten days east of Madagascar; at the time it was the 2nd strongest cyclone of the season. Lastly, Tropical Storm Hina persisted for about five days, nearly reaching tropical cyclone status before weakening.
  • Australia- During the previous two months their have been nine Tropical Lows with four of them becoming a Tropical Cyclone whilst the remants of Cyclone Innis briefly moved into the Australian Region from the South Pacific. Cyclones Charlotte, Dominic, Ellie, and Freddy all caused damage to Australia and or the Indonesia Islands.
  • South Pacific- During the last two months the south Pacific has come alive with six depressions forming in January and February. The most significant depression was Tropical Depression 04F which brought heavy rainfall to Fiji and caused widespread flooding and killing at least 11 people. The first two named storms, Hettie and Innis also developed, each having minor effects on land.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The member of the month is... HurricaneSpin HurricaneSpin is a relativly new member of the project who has helped the project out by finding photos of Tropical Cyclones and uploading them to Commons. He is still getting to grips with the project but is coming on in leaps and bounds thus we have decided to make him the Member of the Month, for January and February 2009.

New and improved articles

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Oct Nov Dec Feb
FA 49 50 50 56
A 19 19 19 17
GA 190 198 202 239
B 13 21 22 14
C 119 118 122 122
Start 204 210 210 198
Stub 19 16 17 28
Total 613 631 642 669
ω 2.88 2.87 2.87 2.80
percentage
≥Less than C 		36.4 35.8 35.4 33.0
percentage
≥GA or better 		42.1 42.2 42.2 46.6

Project News
The project reached a milestone in the last two months in terms of article quality for all articles within the project. For the first time, the percentage of Good articles or better reached more than 1/3, and at the same time, the percentage of Start or Stub articles totaled less than 50%. In the previous twelve months, the overall project grew by 262 articles, of which 204, or 78%, were GA or better. Additionally, in terms of only storm articles, the project now has 46.6% of its articles as GA or better, and only 1/3 are Start or Stub. Unfortunately, much of that is due to newly-created articles easily attaining GA status. For storm articles, the total number of Start or Stub articles, currently 226, is about the same as it was a year ago. The lack of work on older articles is especially noticeable on season articles, where more than 75% of articles are still Stub or Start.

In an attempt to improve articles, there is talk of forming a collaboration between a few Wikipedians. The current project is to improve Hurricane Camille to FA status in time for its 40th anniversary this August. There is still plenty of work to be done, so if you're interested, any help would be appreciated.

Additionally, there is a recent discussion on the WPTC talk page about establishing a notability criteria. There was talk in the past of instating one, although this time the proposal is backed up by interpretations of existing Wikipedia policy. The proposal would limit articles to tropical cyclones that have at least one independent, reliable source other than any warning centers. Excluding cross-basin, off-season, or 64+ knot cyclones, the proposal would affect 26 articles, none of which affected land or lasted for an appreciable amount of time.

Jason Rees (talk) 01:01, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #23

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Number 23,

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. This newsletter covers all of November & December 2008.

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

Hurricane Paloma
Hurricane Paloma

Hurricane Paloma
Hurricane Paloma was the second most powerful November hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, behind Hurricane Lenny in 1999. It was the third and final major hurricane to hit Cuba in 2008, being the first time that three major hurricanes have struck Cuba in one season. It also marked the first time that at least one major hurricane formed in every month of the hurricane season from July to November, with only June not having a major hurricane this season.

Hurricane Paloma was also the last Tropical Depression of the 2008 season, and caused at least $1.4 billion in damage and was responsible for at least one direct death.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • South Indian– Cyclone Bernard was the first cyclone of the year to move into the Australian Region from the Southwest Indian Ocean. Forming on early on November 19 it quickly intensified into a Moderate Tropical Storm the next day, however as it moved westward it weakened into a Tropical Depression and moved into Australia's Bureau of Meteorology's area of responsibility and dissipated later on November 21.
  • Australian - There were four tropical lows during November and December with Tropical Low ex Bernard moving into the Australian Region from the South-West Indian Ocean. Two of the Lows developed into Tropical Cyclones being named Anika and Billy respectively. Anika intensified into a category two cyclone whilst Cyclone Billy became a Severe Tropical Cyclone after it had affected Northern Australia.
  • The 2008–09 South Pacific cyclone season got off to an slow start during November and December, with three Tropical Disturbances forming during December. Only one of the tropical disturbances developed into a tropical depression.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The November/December member of the month is Thegreatdr, who has been a steady editor within the project for the past few years. Lately, the user's contributions include improving some of the Pacific Typhoon season articles from the 1980s. Thegreatdr has also tipped us off about going on's at the National Hurricane Center and the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center.

New and improved articles

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Sep Oct Nov Dec
FA 47 49 49 50
A 19 19 19 19
GA 161 187 198 202
B 17 13 21 22
C 107 119 118 122
Start 201 204 210 210
Stub 19 19 16 17
Total 571 613 631 642
ω 2.92 2.88 2.87 2.87
percentage
≥Less than C 		38.5 36.4 35.8 35.4
percentage
≥GA or better 		39.8 42.1 42.2 42.2

Project News
During the last two months there have been several important discussions of which some are still seeking contributions from members. These include discussions about:

Project Importance - Is it better to rate Storm Importance by basin or by overall importance? - There seems to be a consensus to rate storm importance on a case by case basis, though there still needs to be a bit more discussion on this matter.
Prominent units within TC articles: Imperial or SI? - Which should be the prominent unit outside the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Basins, Knots or MPH? Generally people think that Knots should not be used except in the general science articles and infoboxes.
ACE - Where and how, should it be used? - We have decided that it should not be used outside the Atlantic or the Eastern Pacific hurricane Seasons. A debate is still ongoing with a view too get rid of it all together.
JMA Tropical Depressions Should we include them with the season articles or not? - The general consensus so far seems to be that we should include them in the season articles though this debate is still ongoing.

We discovered during December that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology have started to designate the Tropical Lows that form within their region with letter U. It is unclear whether either TCWC Jakarta or TCWC Port Moresby assign any designations to lows that form within their Area of Responsibility.

–Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 02:54, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #22

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Number 22, November 2, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of October 2008.

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

Cyclone X2008 Yemen floods
Cyclone X

Deep Depression ARB 02 caused the 2008 Yemen floods. On October 19 the IMD noted that an area of low pressure which located to the south east of Salalah, Oman had intensifed in to a tropical depression and was assigned the number ARB 02. On October 21 IMD updated the system to a Deep Depression while it lay 700 km south of Salalah, Oman near the east coast of Somalia. It lost its strength while crossing the Gulf of Aden due to entry of dry air and land interaction as it passed close to the northeastern coast of Somalia. It later was downgraded to a Depression, named TC 03B by the JTWC. On October 24 it made landfall on the south-eastern coast of Yemen, leaving at least 26 civilians and six soldiers dead while trapping hundreds of people due to flooding and torrential rainfalls. The latest figure of casualties is of 184 persons dead and 100 others missing, mostly from the region of Hadhramawt, where the storm made landfall. A total of 733 houses were destroyed in the governorates of Hadhramaut and Al Mahrah, while 22,000 people were displaced. The Yemeni Government declared the two aforementioned governorates as disaster zones.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Atlantic Ocean– In the Atlantic, four tropical cyclones formed this October. Tropical Storm Marco formed in the Bay of Campeche on October 6. It made landfall on October 8 and is one of the smallest Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1988. Tropical Storm Nana formed October 12 in the middle of the open Atlantic. It had no impact anywhere and dissipated October 14. Hurricane Omar formed October 13 and dissipated October 18. Eventually peaking as a Category 4 hurricane, Omar passed through the Lesser Antilles twice, including once near peak intensity. Fortunately, it caused only one indirect death. Tropical Depression Sixteen formed on October 16 and dissipated two days later after making landfall. It killed 16 to 20 people in Central America.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The October member of the month is Hurricanehink. Since joining the project near its inception, Hurricanehink has been involved in bringing forty two articles, eighteen lists and six topics to featured status. Just this month, Hurricanehink was mentioned in the Signpost Dispatch. Hurricanehink has also been the regular distributor for this newsletter.

New and improved articles

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Jul Aug Sep Oct
FA 42 46 47 48
A 18 18 19 19
GA 139 145 161 187
B 15 14 17 12
C 98 99 107 113
Start 202 197 201 201
Stub 10 15 19 20
Total 524 537 571 600
ω 2.94 2.92 2.92 2.88
percentage
≥Less than C 		40.5 39.5 38.5 36.8
percentage
≥GA or better 		38.0 39.3 39.8 42.3

Project News
A discussion concerning sandboxes for next year's articles has begun. Please consider working on sandboxes so they will be ready to publish. As tropical cyclones can form at any time in the western Pacific and northern Indian Oceans, these two season's should be made ready for cyclones by December. Ideally, due to the possibility of pre-season storms, the eastern Pacific and Atlantic seasons should also be ready by then, but they should at least be ready by the northern-Hemisphere antipeak in late February and early March. Seasons for the years 2010 to 2015 should be given the name "Post-2009 {ocean name} {cyclone term} seasons", as in "Post 2009 Atlantic hurricane seasons".

A category for tropical cyclone articles of very-low importance has been introduced. Although discussion is still ongoing, a rating of very-low-importance will generally be given to weak cyclones that do not have impact or set any sort of record.

Editorial
This month, our usual editor, Hurricanehink, has been on a semi-wikibreak until further notice. I am filling in as editor and distributor on an interim basis. The newsletter will continue as normal during that time. Thank you. Miss Madeline | Talk to Madeline 00:49, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Miss Madeline | Talk to Madeline 01:06, 2 November 2008 (UTC)


Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #21

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Number 21, October 4, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of September 2008.

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

As a result of an extended Wikibreak, I will not be able to work on the next month's newsletter. Other users are welcome to get it together. ♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 03:53, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Storm of the month

Hurricane Ike over the Gulf of Mexico
Hurricane Ike over the Gulf of Mexico

Hurricane Ike was among the costliest Atlantic hurricanes on record, based on a preliminary damage estimate of $31.5 billion (USD). The ninth named storm, fifth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 2008 season, Ike developed on September 1 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Maintaining a generally westward track throughout its duration, Ike reached Category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, moving across the Turks and Caicos Islands at that intensity before weakening and crossing Cuba; heavy damage was reported in Cuba, which was still recovering from Hurricane Gustav just weeks prior. Gustav later moved across the Gulf of Mexico and struck near Galveston, Texas, where its effects were estimated as the costliest hurricane in Texas history. Further inland, the storm brought high winds and widespread damage, and its impact reached as far as Canada. Throughout its path, Gustav caused over 100 deaths, mostly in Texas and Haiti, and several hundred remain missing.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Atlantic Ocean– In addition to Ike, two hurricanes from the previous month, Gustav and Hanna, lasted into September, both striking the United States. Tropical Storm Josephine formed while Ike and Hanna were active; it remained away from land and dissipated four days after forming. The tropics were quiet in the Atlantic for about 10 days after Ike dissipated, until Hurricane Kyle formed north of Hispaniola; its precursor brought heavy rains to the Greater Antilles, and Kyle ultimately became extratropical as it moved into Atlantic Canada. At the end of the month, Tropical Storm Laura formed from a subtropical cyclone far away from land; it persisted until early October, when it lost tropical characteristics to the southeast of Newfoundland.
  • Eastern Pacific Ocean– The month in the eastern Pacific Ocean was the quietest on record, in terms of ACE index. Early in the month, Tropical Storm Karina lasted for two days without affecting land. A few days later, Tropical Storm Lowell formed and later affected the Baja California peninsula and mainland Mexico as a tropical depression; its remnants merged with the remnants of Ike.
  • Western Pacific Ocean– Five named storms developed in the western Pacific, beginning with Typhoon Sinlaku which became a powerful cyclone before weakening and bringing heavy rainfall to Taiwan; there, it caused 11 deaths and heavy damage, and it later affected Japan. The second storm of the month was Typhoon Hagupit, which caused $1 billion (USD) in damage and 68 deaths when it struck China. Typhoon Jangmi was next, which brought further damage and deaths to Taiwan. Two more tropical storms developed during the month; Mekkhala formed in the South China Sea and caused heavy damage in Vietnam, while Higos moved across the Philippines and later struck China.
  • North Indian Ocean– One deep depression formed during the month, which moved ashore in the Indian province of Odisha; it caused 25 deaths from heavy rainfall.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The September member of the month is CrazyC83, who has been a steady editor within the project for the past few years. Lately, the user's contributions include maintaining the current season articles, which is the biggest workload for the project. In the past, however, CrazyC83 was very active in writing articles, and was a proponent for all storms in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season getting articles. Of note was his contributions to Hurricane Juan, which brought it to featured status and later to the main page.

Storm article statistics

Grade Jun Jul Aug Sep
FA 41 42 46 47
A 18 18 18 19
GA 135 139 147 161
B 96 15 15 17
C 3 98 99 107
Start 208 202 197 201
Stub 9 10 15 19
Total 510 524 537 571
ω 2.87 2.94 2.92 2.92
percentage
≥Less than C 		42.5 40.5 39.5 38.5
percentage
≥GA or better 		38.0 38.0 39.3 39.8

Project News
Overall, the project has had a relatively uneventful month. One of the most noteworthy events was the selection of 32 tropical cyclone-related articles, that were chosen as part of Wikipedia 0.7. Wikipedia 0.7 is a collection of English Wikipedia articles due to be released on DVD, and available for free download, later this year. While many of the selected articles are of featured or good quality, several require substantial cleanup and expansion.

In other news, a handful of changes to project standards have taken place. Per a consensus on the project's talk page, the section of each tropical cyclone article previously entitled "Storm history" has been changed to "Meteorological history", thanks in part to Plasticup's bot which preformed the hundreds of edits to execute the change. In addition, a discussion is ongoing regarding the necessity of List of storms in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, and similar articles for other seasons.

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 03:56, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #20

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Number 20, September 6, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of August 2008.

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

Hurricane Gustav at landfall in western Cuba at peak strength
Hurricane Gustav at landfall in western Cuba at peak strength

Hurricane Gustav was a deadly and damaging hurricane which formed late in the month in the Caribbean Sea. It first struck Haiti on August 26 as a minimal hurricane, where it killed 76 people and damaged or destroyed over 10,000 houses. Gustav turned to the southwest, moving over Jamaica where it killed 11 people. The hurricane rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) before making landfall on western Cuba; in the country, Gustav damaged or destroyed over 100,000 houses, though no deaths were reported due to well-executed evacuations. In the Gulf of Mexico, Gustav weakened due to its previous land interaction, and on September 1 it made landfall in south-central Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane, where it caused heavy damage. Across its path, the hurricane caused 101 deaths, with an initial damage total of $20 billion.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Atlantic Ocean– In addition to Gustav, three other tropical cyclones formed. Early in the month, Tropical Storm Edouard caused light damage when it moved ashore along Texas. In the middle of the month, Tropical Storm Fay formed over Hispaniola and later crossed over Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico; throughout the Caribbean it caused 25 deaths. Fay struck southwestern Florida, moved across the state, turned to the west, and moved across the Florida panhandle, making a record four landfalls on the state. The storm dropped 27.65 inches (702.1 mm) of rain in Melbourne, making Fay the fourth wettest Florida tropical cyclone. In the end of the month, Hurricane Hanna formed northeast of the Lesser Antilles; its impact will be covered in the next month's summary.
  • Eastern Pacific Ocean – Four named storms developed in the basin during the month, including Tropical Storm Kika, which was the first Central Pacific tropical cyclone since Ioke in 2006. Hurricane Hernan was the strongest hurricane of the month in the basin, reaching Category 3 status while remaining away from land. Tropical Storm Iselle lasted for a few days, but did not affect land. Tropical Storm Julio made landfall on Baja California Sur, producing heavy rainfall and causing two deaths.
  • Northwestern Pacific Ocean – The month began with Tropical Storm Kammuri forming and hitting southern China; the storm killed 140 people, mostly in neighboring Vietnam, and damage totaled $120 million (USD). Tropical Storms Phanfone and Vongfone lasted for a few days out at sea, before Typhoon Nuri formed and struck northern Luzon, causing 12 deaths.
  • 2008 North Indian Ocean cyclone season – A depression formed and struck Odisha.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The August member of the month is Cyclonebiskit, who has been on Wikipedia since April. The user helped maintain the current season articles as well as storm articles. Cyclonebiskit has written one GA, and wrote much of one of the recent tropical cyclone articles.

New and improved articles

Storm article statistics

Grade May Jun Jul Aug
FA 41 41 42 46
A 17 18 18 18
GA 129 135 139 147
B 101 96 15 15
C 0 3 98 99
Start 209 208 202 197
Stub 9 9 10 15
Total 506 510 524 537
ω 2.88 2.87 2.94 2.92
percentage
≥Less than C 		43.1 42.5 40.5 39.5
percentage
≥GA or better 		37.0 38.0 38.0 39.3

Version 0.7
This month, several of the WikiProject's articles were selected for the Version 1.0 Editorial Team's Version 0.7 static release. The article selection occurs using an automated process using WikiProjects' quality and importance assessments. For WPTC, this means that 29 articles will be part of this release, an increase from 13 in the previous release. It should be noted that these numbers are based on preliminary data that can change based on updates to the database and corrections to the selection algorithm and WP:1.0's cut-off score.

The list of articles chosen for the release can be seen here. Of the selection, almost half of the articles are already featured, and eleven are good articles. There one B-Class article (1970 Bhola cyclone, two C-Class articles (Hurricane Andrew, Cyclone Nargis), and two Start-Class articles (Pacific typhoon, Hurricane Rita). As these articles will be published in a CD, it is imperative that the project improve them quickly.

The full list of all the WikiProject's articles is also available here. According to that list, WPTC's highest-scoring article—Tropical cyclone—has a score of 1969, which is very good as Canada, the selection's highest-scoring article, has a score of 2,409. That said, Extreme wind warning is the least important article we have, with a score of 227, so we may have to improve it a little bit so it isn't that low...

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 05:13, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #19

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Number 19, August 2, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of July 2008.

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

Hurricane Bertha near peak intensity
Hurricane Bertha near peak intensity

Hurricane Bertha was a rare early season Cape Verde-type hurricane and the easternmost forming July tropical storm on record. Bertha became the longest-lived pre-August Atlantic tropical cyclone on record and the longest-lived tropical cyclone in the Atlantic Basin since Ivan in 2004. The second named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, Bertha developed from a tropical wave that emerged off the coast of Africa on July 1. After initially remaining weak while tracking westward, Bertha began to strengthen on July 6, and the next day it quickly intensified to reach peak winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). The hurricane weakened during the day on July 8, and after turning to a northwest drift, it passed within 40 miles (64 km) of Bermuda on July 14 before moving northeast away from the island. Bertha became extratropical on July 20 to the east of Newfoundland, after causing minimal damage and three indirect drowning deaths.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Northwestern Pacific Ocean – After several weeks of no activity, Typhoon Kalmaegi developed in the middle of the month, passing near northern Luzon before turning to the north and making landfalls on Taiwan and China; the typhoon caused heavy crop damage and 18 deaths. Later in the month, Typhoon Fung-Wong caused further flooding in Taiwan and China. In addition to the two named typhoons, PAGASA issued advisories on Tropical Depression Gener early in the month.
  • Eastern Pacific Ocean – Four named storms developed in the basin during the month, of which three became hurricanes; Hurricanes Elida, Fausto, and Genevieve, as well as Tropical Storm Douglas, all remained offshore, though in the middle of the month a tropical depression brought rainfall to Mexico after hitting near Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. Hurricane Boris and Tropical Storm Cristina continued from the previous month.
  • Atlantic Ocean– In addition to Hurricane Bertha, two other tropical cyclones developed in the month. Tropical Storm Cristobal formed off the coast of Florida, bringing rainfall and gusty winds to coastal North Carolina and later Nova Scotia. The most damaging Atlantic tropical cyclone during the month was Hurricane Dolly, which formed on July 20 in the western Caribbean Sea. After tracking northwestward through the Gulf of Mexico, it reached peak winds of 100 mph (155 km/h) before moving ashore on South Padre Island, Texas. The hurricane caused flash flooding from heavy rainfall, with damage in the United States estimated at $1.2 billion; across its path Dolly caused 21 deaths, including 17 from landslides in Guademala, as well as two indirect fatalities.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The July member of the month is User:Plasticup. Joining the project in August of 2007, Plasticup first became an asset in working on the active article series on Hurricane Dean. After a period of inactivity, the user returned to produce two featured articles this month, both interesting meteorological histories. Additionally, Plasticup has focused some attention to articles in the 2005 season. Keep up the good work!

New members

Main Page content

Storm article statistics </noinclude>

Grade Apr May Jun Jul
FA 40 41 41 42
A 8 17 18 18
GA 131 129 135 139
B 103 101 96 15
C 0 0 3 98
Start 208 209 208 202
Stub 9 9 9 10
Total 499 506 510 524
ω 2.92 2.88 2.87 2.94
percentage
≥Less than C 		43.5 43.1 42.5 40.5
percentage
≥GA or better 		35.9 37.0 38.0 38.0

Project News
During July, there were two large changes to the operations of the WikiProject. First, WPTC adopted and helped develop the WP 1.0 B-Class criteria, and was among the first projects to use a "forced" B-Class rubric as part of their assessment schemes. This means that all the articles tagged with {{hurricane|class=B|...}} are automatically reassessed as {{C-Class}}, unless all the values in the checklist are marked as passed. In other words, to mark an article as B-Class, the banner needs to be changed to 

{{hurricane |class=B |B1=yes |B2=yes  |B3=yes |B4=yes |B5=yes |B6=yes | ... }}

B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 and B6 stand for each of the six points in the WikiProject's rubric. The banner also has the capability to mark why an article doesn't meet the new B-Class standards: Typing the following in an article's talk page 

{{hurricane |class=B |B1=no |B2=yes |B3=yes |B4=yes |B5=yes |B6=yes | ... }}

will assess an article as C-Class, and mark that the article is not a B because of bad references.

Articles assessed as B's before the introduction of the forced checklist were automatically reassessed as C's, but they're awaiting new reviews to check if they still meet the new B criteria. These articles are listed on Category:Tropical cyclone articles with incomplete B-Class checklists. Currently, there's 117 articles in the category—let's try to shrink that number to zero before the next edition of the Herald!

The other major change to the WikiProject was the addition of three task forces: the storm articles task force, season articles task force, and the tropical meteorology articles task force. These three task forces allow WPTC to see the progress of the different areas of the WikiProject. Currently, all 1,076 WPTC articles have been assigned to one of the three task forces, but any unsorted articles will be placed in Category:Unsorted tropical cyclone articles as they're tagged with {{hurricane}}.

In order to categorize an article, the banner needs to be modified from {{hurricane|...}} to: 

{{hurricane |storms-task-force=yes | ... }}
{{hurricane |seasons-task-force=yes | ... }}
{{hurricane |meteo-task-force=yes | ... }}

which will sort the pages into the storms, seasons, and tropical meteorology task forces, respectively.

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 03:31, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #18

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Number 18, July 5, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of June 2008.

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

Satellite image of Typhoon Fengshen
Satellite image of Typhoon Fengshen

Typhoon Fengshen was the deadliest Pacific typhoon since Typhoon Durian in November of 2006. The sixth named storm of the 2008 Pacific typhoon season, Fengshen developed on June 18 to the east of the Philippines, and after attaining typhoon status it stuck the island of Samar. It intensified while passing through the archipelago, reaching winds of over 175 km/h (110 mph) before passing near Metro Manila. Fengshen later weakened in the South China Sea, and it dissipated on June 26 after moving ashore in China.

The typhoon killed over 1,300 people, including 800 when the MV Princess of the Stars capsized during the storm. Damage totaled $247 million (USD), with over 300,000 houses damaged or destroyed. The damage total included $70 million (USD) in crop damage.

Other tropical cyclone activity

Addition of C-class
During the month, C-class was added to the assessment scheme. The project has begun the process of integrating C-class, though as of this publication only 8 articles in the project are at that level. A preliminary solution would be to very strictly define B-class with six criteria, with one proposal to automatically re-assess all B-class articles as C-class until they are confirmed to have passed the criteria. Discussion and participation are welcome on the issue.

As a result of the addition of C-class, the ω (WikiWork) rating for C-class is now 3.5, to keep in line with the previous system we used.

During the month, the project published a page on its style for articles. The purpose for the page, as quoted from the top of the page, is to document a few existing unwritten guidelines for Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones.

Storm article statistics

Grade Mar Apr May Jun
FA 38 40 41 41
A 8 8 17 18
GA 130 131 129 135
B 91 103 101 96
C 0 0 0 3
Start 211 208 209 208
Stub 9 9 9 9
Total 487 499 506 510
ω 2.94 2.92 2.88 2.87
percentage
≥Less than C 		45.2 43.5 43.1 42.5
percentage
≥GA or better 		36.1 35.9 37.0 38.0

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The June member of the month is User:Potapych. Though not officially a member of the project, Potapych is active on hurricane pages, having developed the new small infobox template introduced last month. After developing the new template, Potapych updated season articles across the board to accommodate the new template.

New members

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 03:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #17

[edit]

Number 17, June 7, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of May 2008.

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

Cyclone Nargis
Cyclone Nargis

Cyclone Nargis was the costliest and deadliest natural disaster in the history of Burma (Myanmar). It formed on April 27 in the central Bay of Bengal, and after initially tracking north-northwestward it turned to the east. Quickly strengthening to reach peak winds of at least 165 km/h (105 mph), Nargis made landfall in the Ayeyarwady Division of Burma on May 2 near peak intensity. The cyclone killed at least 80,000 people and potentially over 300,000. Passing near the metropolis of Yangon, the cyclone destroyed thousands of buildings, and damage was estimated at over $10 billion (USD). In the wake of the storm, the ruling military junta of Burma initially refused foreign aid, and after they allowed foreign assistance, the government was criticized for its poor handling of the aftermath of the storm.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Northwestern Pacific Ocean – Typhoon Rammasun was the strongest tropical cyclone worldwide during the month, though it did not affect land. Tropical Storm Matmo formed east of Luzon in the middle of the month and lasted for three days. Severe Tropical Storm Halong (Cosme) was the deadliest storm in the Pacific basin, causing 58 deaths and $94 million (USD) in damage after hitting Luzon on May 17. At the end of the month, Typhoon Nakri formed and reached peak intensity over open waters before becoming extratropical in early June.
  • Eastern Pacific Ocean – Tropical Storm Alma was was the easternmost forming Pacific tropical cyclone on record. Forming from a trough on May 29, it became a strong tropical storm before making landfall near León, Nicaragua, killing at least two people.
  • 2008 Atlantic hurricane season– Tropical Storm Arthur formed from the remnants of Tropical Storm Alma as it made landfall on Belize, causing flash flooding and at least nine fatalities.

Project News
Several other languages are active in the realm of tropical cyclone articles, though as much as ours. The French Wikipedia has 76 storm articles, the Spanish Wikipedia has 99 storm articles, and the Portuguese Wikipedia has 116 storm articles. Each of the projects have several storm articles we do not have, and the coverage on non-notable storms outside of the Atlantic is better, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.

During the month, User:Potapych finished working on Template:Infobox Hurricane Small, which is used for the small Infoboxes in season articles; he has updated several season article already with the changes.

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Feb Mar Apr May
FA 36 38 40 41
A 8 8 8 17
GA 123 130 131 129
B 96 91 103 101
Start 216 211 208 209
Stub 7 9 9 9
Total 487 487 499 506
ω 2.96 2.94 2.92 2.88
percentage
≥Less than B 		45.8 45.2 43.5 43.1
percentage
≥GA or better 		34.3 36.1 35.9 367.0

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The May member of the month is Juliancolton. Joining the project in November 2007, Julian has become an active member of the project, working on new articles in the Atlantic basin. He has created two featured lists (List of Maryland and Washington, D.C. hurricanes (1980–present) and List of New York hurricanes), and rewrote the article on 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, which became featured during May. Juliancolton is currently working on a featured topic for Hurricane Dennis and its effects by region.

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 02:48, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #16

[edit]

Number 16, May 3, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of April 2008.

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

Typhoon Neoguri on April 17
Typhoon Neoguri on April 17

Typhoon Neoguri was the earliest tropical cyclone on record to strike China. It formed on April 13 to the east of the Philippines, and once entering the South China Sea, environmental conditions allowed for quick strengthening. Neoguri attained its peak intensity of 150 km/h (90 mph) as it approached the island of Hainan, though rapidly weakened due to unfavorable conditions. The system made landfall in southern China on April 19, causing three deaths and moderate damage totaling over ¥296 million (2008 RMB, $42 million 2008 USD). The typhoon left 40 fishermen missing in the South China Sea.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • A weak tropical depression formed near New Caledonia in the South Pacific ocean early in the month, and another tropical depression developed in the basin later in the month.
  • Two named storms formed in the Australian region during the month, including Tropical Cyclone Durga, which was the first ever cyclone named by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia. Tropical Cyclone Rosie co-existed with Durga for much of its duration.
  • Cyclone Nargis developed in the North Indian Ocean late in the month, and reached its peak intensity early in May; further details will be covered in the next newsletter.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The April member of the month is VOFFA. Though not officially a project member, VOFFA is an important user to the project, having maintained and updated the talk page archives on tropical cyclones worldwide; activity includes adding warnings and discussions for all storms. The user is particularly active during the off-season of the Atlantic basin, when article activity on tropical cyclones typically declines.

Storm article statistics

Grade Jan Feb Mar Apr
FA 33 36 38 40
A 9 8 8 8
GA 114 123 130 131
B 99 96 91 103
Start 214 216 211 208
Stub 3 6 9 9
Total 472 485 487 499
ω 2.98 2.96 2.94 2.92
percentage
Less than B 		46.0 45.8 45.2 43.5
percentage
GA or better 		33.1 34.3 36.1 35.9

Project News
There is discussion on the status of articles on non-notable storms in the Merging page of the project. Comments are welcome.

A Wikipedia traffic counter was launched earlier this year. In the month of February, the article on Hurricane Katrina was viewed just over 200,000 times, making the article the 496th most viewed article on the English Wikipedia during the month.

During the month, Hurricane Camille was demoted from GA status, continuing the trend of good articles degrading in status on notable storms; other occurrences include the FA removal of Cyclone Tracy and 1900 Galveston Hurricane. If anyone has any ideas how to fix the problem, feedback and ideas are appreciated.

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 03:51, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #15

[edit]

Number 15, April 5, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of March 2008.

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

Cyclone Jokwe
Cyclone Jokwe

Cyclone Jokwe was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Mozambique since Cyclone Favio struck in the previous year. The tenth named storm of the 2007-08 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season, Jokwe was first classified as a tropical depression on March 2 over the open Southwest Indian Ocean. It tracked west-southwest, crossing northern Madagascar as a tropical storm on March 5 before intensifying into a tropical cyclone on March 6. Jokwe rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 195 km/h (120 mph), before weakening slightly and striking Nampula Province in northeastern Mozambique. It quickly weakened while paralleling the coastline, though the storm restrengthened as it turned southward in the Mozambique Channel. Late in its duration, it remained nearly stationary for several days, and steadily weakened due to wind shear before dissipating on March 16.

The storm caused minor damage in northern Madagascar. In Mozambique, the cyclone affected 165,000 people, and left at least sixteen fatalities. Cyclone Jokwe destroyed over 9,000 houses and damaged over 3,000 more, with the heaviest damage in Angoche and the Island of Mozambique in Nampula Province. The storm also caused widespread power outages and crop damages.

Other tropical cyclone activity

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The March member of the month is CapeVerdeWave, whose first edit was to a tropical cyclone article, back in January 2006. CapeVerdeWave has been a steady and active member of the project, writing several articles on Category 5 hurricanes as well as working on the often forgotten older hurricanes. The user also has contributed to some older season articles, and recently helped update the project after the recent hurricane re-analysis. We thank him for his continued dedication.

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Dec Jan Feb Mar
FA 33 33 36 38
A 9 9 8 8
GA 112 114 123 130
B 86 99 96 91
Start 208 214 216 211
Stub 6 3 6 9
Total 454 472 485 487
ω 2.98 2.98 2.96 2.94
percentage
Less than B 		47.1 46.0 45.8 45.2
percentage
GA or better 		33.9 33.1 34.3 36.1

Project News: Updates on the Best Track - Atlantic and North Indian Ocean, and more
In February, the Hurricane Research Division released its reanalysis for the Atlantic Ocean from 1915 to 1920. Highlights include the addition of eight storms, as well as the removal of one storm. The winds in the 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane were increased to 130 knots, and the 1916 Texas hurricane was increased to a Category 4 hurricane.

According to an email sent to the India Meteorological Department, there will be an online version of the North Indian Ocean best track from 1877 to 2006, scheduled to be released in two months; it is unknown if it will cost money to access.

In unrelated news, the project was featured on the Signpost; Mitchazenia was interviewed, and talked about the past, present, and future of the project.

At the end of the month, there were five different Featured content candidates (FXC's) by five different editors; two were featured article candidates, two were featured list candidates, and one was a featured picture candidate. The have been a few times in which there were four FXC's from four different editors, most recently in February and early March of 2008.

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 02:39, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #14

[edit]

Number 14, March 1, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of February 2008.

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

Cyclone Ivan
Cyclone Ivan

Cyclone Ivan formed on February 7 and subsequently executed a loop to the west-southwest. Encountering favorable conditions, it strengthened to attain peak winds on February 17 before striking northeastern Madagascar. It degenerated into a remnant low pressure area as it crossed the island, and briefly re-organized into a weak tropical depression before dissipating on February 22. Ivan caused heavy damage in Madagascar, leaving 190,000 people homeless and causing over 83 deaths.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • In the South Pacific ocean, Cyclone Gene persisted from the previous month; a tropical depression also occurred in the month.
  • Tropical Cyclone Nicholas was the only named storm during the month in the Australian region, which struck Western Australia. Two tropical lows occurred during the month, the latter of which later formed into Tropical Cyclone Ophelia.
  • Four storms occurred in the Southwest Indian Ocean, including two from the previous month and the aforementioned Cyclone Ivan. Cyclone Hondo became the strongest cyclone worldwide in the month, and after becoming extratropical it regenerated over ten days later about 1750 miles (2800 km) to its west-northwest.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The February member of the month is RattleMan, for his lasting dedication and continual support of the project. During February, the user worked on improving the timeline articles for the previous season. RattleMan often updates the sections on storms in season articles, and helps to maintain the southern hemisphere articles.

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Nov Dec Jan Feb
FA 31 33 33 36
A 8 9 9 8
GA 109 112 114 123
B 82 86 99 96
Start 211 208 214 216
Stub 6 6 3 6
Total 447 454 472 485
ω 3.01 2.98 2.98 2.96
percentage
Less than B 		48.5 47.1 46.0 45.8
percentage
GA or better 		33.1 33.9 33.1 34.3

Improvements During the month, a total of 15 new articles were added, though the net increase in start or stub articles was only three. The highest quality set of articles for a basin is for the Eastern Pacific Ocean, of which half of its articles are either a good article or better; all of its retired storm articles are good or better. However, the basin has a lower total number of articles, and the Atlantic basin has a higher overall total of good articles.

There is a drive to increase the number of featured topics, which is located on the project talk page.

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 05:00, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #13

[edit]

Number 13, February 2, 2008

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. This newsletter covers all of January 2008.

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

Cyclone Gene formed on January 26 over the open south Pacific Ocean. It drifted southward, and strengthened into Tropical Storm Gene on January 28 as it moved across the Fijian archipelago. There, it brought heavy rainfall, which caused the worst flooding in several years. Half of the country was left without power, and the cyclone killed seven people in Fiji. The storm turned southwestward, developing a cloud-filled eye and quickly strengthening by the end of the month.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • One tropical cyclone formed in the Western North Pacific Ocean west of The Philippines, which was analyzed by Japan Meteorological Agency as a depression; it tracked southwestward and did not significantly affect any land areas.
  • In addition to Cyclone Gene, Tropical Storm Elisa and Cyclone Fuma occurred in the South Pacific ocean during the month, along with three tropical depressions.
  • The only tropical cyclone in Australian region during the month was Tropical Cyclone Helen, which struck Australia.
  • Four tropical cyclones, three of which named, existed in the Southwest Indian Ocean during the month. The most notable was Cyclone Fame, which caused twelve deaths after striking Madagascar.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The January member of the month is Ajm81. A tropical cyclone editor since he first joined in October 2005, Ajm81 plays a vital role in the project. Unlike other editors, who mainly edit articles, Ajm81 maintains and updates the track maps across the project. We thank Ajm81 for his timely contributions, and may he have some well-deserved downtime after the last tropical cyclone report is released.

Storm article statistics

Grade Oct Nov Dec Jan
FA 30 31 33 33
A 9 8 9 9
GA 106 109 112 114
B 78 82 86 99
Start 212 211 208 214
Stub 5 6 6 3
Total 440 447 454 472
ω 3.02 3.01 2.98 2.98
percentage
Less than B 		49.3 48.5 47.1 46.0

Wikiwork and 1000 articles In January 2008, the WikiProject began using a system called Wikiwork, or ω. It weighs the overall quality of the project's articles, and a lower number means a greater total quality. The weighed ω, as used above, is a relative number that can be used to compare groups of this article. As of this publication, the relative ω of the project is 3.404, corresponding to between Start and B class. However, when limiting it solely to storm articles, the number drops to 2.98, which is slightly better than B class. During the month, a new statistics page was created.

Additionally, during the month, Mitchazenia pointed out that we received our 1,000th article with the creation of Cyclone Elita.

♬♩ Hurricanehink (talk) 16:38, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #12

[edit]

Number 12, January 10, 2008

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. This edition of the newsletter, after an extended hiatus, covers December 2007 and the first ten days of January 2008.

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

Tropical Storm Olga

Tropical Storm Olga was a rare Atlantic December tropical cyclone. The fifteenth named storm of the season, it developed near Puerto Rico on December 11, and quickly struck the Dominican Republic. There, it brought heavy rainfall and severe damage, and caused more than 40 deaths. Casualties were also reported in Puerto Rico and Haiti. The storm greatly weakened as it crossed Hispaniola, degenerating into a remnant low pressure area in the Caribbean Sea on December 13. The remnants of Olga passed near the Yucatán Peninsula before turning northward and bringing rainfall to Florida.

Other tropical cyclone activity

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The December member of the month is Mitchazenia. Mitchazenia has been a project member since 2006. He has created several tropical cyclone related articles, including the good article Subtropical Storm One (1982). Mitchazenia significantly contributed to 1983 Atlantic hurricane season, which is currently a featured article candidate.

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Sep Oct Nov Dec
FA 30 30 31 33
A 4 9 8 9
GA 105 106 109 112
B 80 78 82 86
Start 213 212 211 208
Stub 6 5 6 6
Total 438 440 447 454
percentage
Less than B 		50.0 49.3 48.5 47.1

Categories and more The project has gone under somewhat of a revamping. We have a new, more realistic goal. The members list has been dropped from 89 to 34. This newsletter is to inform users of a change in policy with categories. Previously, an Atlantic and Pacific storm article would have both Category:Atlantic hurricanes and Category:Category 3 tropical cyclones. However, the two were combined, resulting in Category:Category 3 Atlantic hurricanes. The same is done with Pacific hurricanes. Tropical storm articles are dealt with either Category:Eastern Pacific tropical storms or Category:Atlantic tropical storms.

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #11

[edit]

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
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
FA 23 25 28 29
A 2 2 2 2
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.

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #10

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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 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 occurring 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 unusually 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
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.

Storm article statistics

Grade Dec Jan Feb Mar
FA 19 23 25 28
A 6 2 2 2
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.

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #9

[edit]

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 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
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
FA 16 19 23 25
A 7 6 2 2
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.

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #8

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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 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
FA 15 16 19 23
A 6 7 6 2
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

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #7

[edit]

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)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #6

[edit]

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
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
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
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.

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #5

[edit]

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 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

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

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The September member of the month is Thegreatdr, David Roth. David Roth is a meteorologist at the wpc, 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.

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #4

[edit]

Number 4, 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 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
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
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)]]

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #3

[edit]

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 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

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
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
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.

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)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #2

[edit]

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 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
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
FA 7 7 10 13
A 4 5 7 6
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)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #1

[edit]

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. Sorry if the newsletter breaks your talk page formatting.

Storm of the month

Typhoon Chanchu near its peak intensity
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…
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
FA 7 7 10
A 4 5 7
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.

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #25

[edit]

Number 25, April 4

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to provide a summary of both the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclones. 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. This newsletter covers March 2009.

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

Satellite image of Hamish near peak intensity

Storm of the month
Cyclone Hamish formed as a Tropical Low to the south of Papua New Guinea on March 4. The low quickly organized and became Tropical cyclone Hamish the following day. Hamish then started to rapidly intensify, becoming the second severe tropical cyclone of the season the next day. Throughout much of its duration, it moved southeastward, parallel to the coast of Queensland. It underwent rapid deepening over a period of 48 hours, Hamish reached peak winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) according to the Australia Bureau of Meteorology, making the cyclone a Category 5 on the Australian intensity scale. It quickly weakened due to wind shear, and without moving ashore it stalled and turned to a northwest drift. The low dissipated on March 5.

Hamish indirectly caused a major environmental disaster along the Queensland coastline, when strong waves from the cyclone damaged the hull of a cargo ship, spilling 260 tonnes of fuel and oil into the ocean. The oil washed onto the coastline, endangering the environment prompting a costly cleanup. Offshore, the fishermen went missing after the boat was lost; one person was found, although the other two remained missing and were presumed dead. As the storm remained offshore, overall damage directly from the storm was minor, primarily from strong waves.

Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Australia – In addition to Cyclone Hamish, three other cyclones formed and were named as Gabrielle, Ilsa and Jasper. However, there was no impact reported from these three storms whilst in the Australian region.
  • South Pacific – This month Cyclones Joni and Ken formed near to the Cook Islands, whilst Cyclone Jasper moved into the area at its peak and brought heavy rain and coastal erosion to New Caledonia. On the last day of the month Tropical Depression 14F formed to the northeast Fiji.
  • South-West Indian – Severe Tropical Storm Izilda was the only storm to form in the South-West Indian Ocean this month; however the extratropical remnants of Ilsa moved into the region from the Australian basin.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The member of the month is... Ramisses, has been a member of the Project since January 2008. He is a usefull editor who helps to make the trackmaps for the current season articles, as well as numerous other storms, from previous seasons. We just hope he is able to keep on top of the trackmaps when the busy part of the year comes!

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Nov Dec Feb Mar
FA 50 50 56 56
A 19 19 17 17
GA 198 202 239 244
B 21 22 14 15
C 118 122 122 120
Start 210 210 198 192
Stub 16 17 28 34
Total 631 642 669 678
ω 2.87 2.87 2.80 2.81
percentage
≥Less than C 		35.8 35.4 33.0 33.3
percentage
≥GA or better 		42.2 42.2 46.6 46.8

Project News
There is a discussion on the state of the project, discussing whether it still works like it used to, and what can be done about it. One extreme position is labeling the project inactive, while another position is eliminating some of the bureaucracy. Input would be very beneficial.

As part of the above discussion, there is a request for all active members to sign a list to affirm they are still active members in the project. If you don't sign the list, or if you don't consider yourself active anymore, your name will be placed on the inactive members list on May 1st.

Hurricanehink has organised a challenge to try and improve some of the Tropical cyclone articles. The rules are that you must take either an seasonal or a storm article from one of the eight basins we have, that is either a Stub, Start class or a brand new article and improve it to at least GA status. However to avoid several articles on cyclones that did not affect land, Hurricanehink has limited the challenge to storms/seasonal articles of Mid-importance or higher. Their is an exception to this rule for the Central Pacific as Cyclones rarely form in this basin. - For full details of the challenge see the Project's Talkpage Project member list

Jason Rees (talk) 01:18, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Tropical cyclone WikiProject newsletter #26

[edit]

Number 23, June 7

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. This newsletter covers all of April and May 2009.

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

Cyclone Aila near landfall

Cyclone Aila was the second tropical cyclone to form within the Northern Indian Ocean during 2009. The disturbance that was to become Cyclone Aila formed on 21 May 2009 about 950 kilometres (590 mi) to the south of Kolkata, in India. Over the next couple of days the disturbance slowly developed before a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert was issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center early on 23 May 2009 and being designated as a depression by RSMC New Delhi. As of 27 May 2009, 330 people have been killed by Aila and at least 8,208 more are missing, while about 1 million are homeless. Health officials in Bangladesh confirmed a deadly outbreak on diarrhea on 29 May, with more than 7,000 people being infected and four dying. In Bangladesh, an estimated 20 million people were at risk of post-disaster diseases due to Aila. Damage totaled $40.7 million (USD).

Other tropical cyclone activity

Tropical Depression One was the first tropical cyclone to develop during the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. The depression formed on May 28, out of a disorganized area of low pressure off the coast of North Carolina. However after attaining its peak strength the depression began to weaken due to increasing wind shear and cooling sea surface temperatures with the final advisory being issued on May 29.

  • 2009 Pacific typhoon season - In the two month period, there were four tropical cyclones, all within a short time period and small area. Tropical Depression Crising moved through the Philippines but didn't develop. Typhoon Kujira formed over the Philippines, causing 29 deaths and almost $30 million in damage, before becoming the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. While Kujira was active, a tropical depression formed and dissipated over the open ocean, while Typhoon Chan-hom developed and organized in the South China Sea, eventually crossing Luzon and causing 60 deaths and heavy damage.
  • North Indian - Aside from Aila, Cyclone Bijli formed in April, making landfall on Bangladesh and killing 7 people.
  • South Indian– Cyclone Jade was the final Cyclone to form. Jade formed on April 5th from a tropical disturbance it quickly intensifed and bcame a category one tropical cyclone on the SSHS before making its first of three landfalls on Madagascar. Jade then dissipated on April 11 after causing fifteen deaths.
  • Australian Region - Cyclone Kirrly formed on April 25 in the Arafura Sea to the north of Australia within 5 degrees of the equator which is an unusual area of formation. It quickly reached its peak before making landfall on eastern Indonesia.
  • South Pacific - As the last newsletter was published Tropical Cyclone Lin was just developing as Tropical depression 14F. Lin eventually went on to affect Fiji and Tonga causing at least $1000 worth of damage. Tropical Disturbance 15F also formed this month within the Solomon Islands. It moved eventually moved into the Australian Region but was not monitored by TCWC Brisbane as anything higher than an area of low pressure.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The member of the month is Jason Rees, who joined Wikipedia in 2007, and has written nine tropical cyclone GA's. Jason primarily focuses on Southern Hemisphere storms, as well as the Western Pacific. He has plans for featured topics for several seasons, but for now, he is a regular member of the project who adds his input in discussions on the talk page. We thank Jason for his work, and we look forward to more articles!

Main Page content

Storm article statistics

Grade Sep Oct Nov Dec
FA 47 49 49 50
A 19 19 19 19
GA 161 187 198 202
B 17 13 21 22
C 107 119 118 122
Start 201 204 210 210
Stub 19 19 16 17
Total 571 613 631 642
ω 2.92 2.88 2.87 2.87
percentage
≥Less than C 		38.5 36.4 35.8 35.4
percentage
≥GA or better 		39.8 42.1 42.2 42.2

Project News
There is debate as usual with regards to notability, as well as the status of the project in general, but nothing new is going on.

During the last week, some editors have organized a page — Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Viewed stats — that has a listing of monthly page views within the project. It is under construction, although it is complete for all Eastern Pacific tropical cyclones, as well as all Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1979 to the present. Interestingly, the top 6 viewed EPAC articles are all featured, and all of the top 16 in the basin are GA's. Unfortunately, the Atlantic, at least from 1979 to the present, is much worse, despite being viewed much, much more. The top eight-viewed Atlantic articles all are viewed more than 10,000 times per month, for a total of 363889 views per month, but only two of them are featured, and none of the others are GA. As always, any help in the retired storms would be greatly appreciated.

Somewhat tying into the bettering of project articles, the basin article challenge is still ongoing. Hurricanehink is currently in the lead with a GA in 2 basins. Cyclonebiskit is in 2nd, with one GA in the EPAC. The challenge is still open to anyone, and it is not so much a race, rather a challenge just to get a fairly important GA in each basin.

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary of the WikiProject's progress 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. This newsletter covers June 2009.

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

From the editors

In recent months, the project has become increasingly inactive; with only a few active participants, we need your help for the upcoming hurricane season! Feel free to contact Hurricanehink (talk · contribs), Juliancolton (talk · contribs), Jason Rees (talk · contribs), or Cyclonebiskit (talk · contribs) for more information. Thanks!

Storm of the month

Tropical Storm Linfa formed out of an area of low pressure on June 14, the storm briefly attained tropical depression status before degenerating. By June 17 the system regenerated in the South China Sea. Slowly tracking northward, the storm intensified, attaining severe tropical storm status on June 19 and peaking in intensity the following day. On June 21, Linfa made landfall in Fujian Province, China as a tropical storm before weakening to a tropical depression.

In Taiwan, outer bands of the storm produced significant amounts of rain over southeastern areas of the island. Along the western coast, rip currents resulted in the drowning of one person. Six hikers also were reported to be missing. In China, torrential rains triggered flooding that destroyed 100 homes, killed one person and left six others missing. In all, seven people were killed by Linfa, with another 12 missing, damages in mainland China were estimated at ¥655 million (US$95.8 million) and agricultural losses in Taiwan reached NT$400 million (US$12.1 million).

Other tropical cyclone activity

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The member of the month is Cool3 (talk · contribs). Though only a new member, Cool3 has contributed hundreds of sources and hours of research to several articles, two of which are now featured. The project thanks him for his high-quality work.

New members

In addition, three users re-joined the project after being listed as inactive:

Main Page content

Article statistics

Tropical cyclone articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 3 14 84 60 161
FL 1 4 32 43 80
FM 21 21
A 2 1 3
GA 10 65 400 648 1,123
B 11 32 62 63 1 169
C 10 103 258 287 2 660
Start 2 58 332 405 5 802
Stub 2 53 84 139
List 6 25 87 594 413 1,125
Category 956 956
Disambig 68 68
File 8 8
Portal 204 204
Project 97 97
Redirect 3 21 79 105 208
Template 470 470
NA 4 4
Other 3 3
Assessed 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
Total 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 10,240 Ω = 3.35

Project News
The project as a whole is still rather inactive, though more articles are being created and expanded than in previous months. 18 good articles and four featured articles were promoted during June, including Wind. Additionally, about 28 new articles were created and assessed.

As of 01:42, 4 July 2009 (UTC), there are three featured article candidates; see the noticeboard for more info.

A discussion is ongoing at the project talk page (link) regarding the naming of unnamed tropical cyclones, such as 1978 January subtropical storm and 1975 Pacific Northwest hurricane. While more descriptive titles often constitute original research, official designations are sometimes ambiguous. Comments are welcome. There is also a discussion on how the project rates its articles on the importance scale.

Tropical cyclones at associated Wikimedia projects

–Juliancolton | Talk 02:04, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #28

[edit]

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary of the WikiProject's progress 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. This newsletter covers July 2009.

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

From the editors

In recent months, the project has become increasingly inactive; with only a few active participants, we need your help for the upcoming hurricane season! Feel free to contact Juliancolton (talk · contribs), Jason Rees (talk · contribs), or Cyclonebiskit (talk · contribs) for more information. Thanks!

Storm of the month

Hurricane Carlos was the third named storm of the 2009 Pacific hurricane season. Tropical Depression Four-E formed on July 10, and was quickly upgraded to Tropical Storm Carlos. On July 11, the storm strengthened into a minimal Category 1 hurricane. Following a series of intensity fluctuations, Carlos peaked as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h). The storm subsequently began to weaken, and on July 16, Carlos degenerated into a remnant low. The cyclone had no known effects on land.

Other tropical cyclone activity

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The member of the month is Plasticup (talk · contribs). Plasticup was inactive for most of the winter; however, upon returning this month, he quickly resumed work. Among his recent works are Meteorological history of Hurricane Gustav, a Good Article, and Tropical Storm Gamma (2005), a Good Article nominee. Plasticup was also designated member of the month in July 2008.

New members There were no new members in July. However, four users re-joined the project after being listed as inactive:

Main Page content

Hurricane Ioke appeared on the main page in the Today's Featured Article section on July 22.

Tropical Storm Dottie (1976) and Tropical Storm Hallie (1975) appeared on the main page in the Did You Know? section on July 13 and July 24, respectively.

Article statistics

Tropical cyclone articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 3 14 84 60 161
FL 1 4 32 43 80
FM 21 21
A 2 1 3
GA 10 65 400 648 1,123
B 11 32 62 63 1 169
C 10 103 258 287 2 660
Start 2 58 332 405 5 802
Stub 2 53 84 139
List 6 25 87 594 413 1,125
Category 956 956
Disambig 68 68
File 8 8
Portal 204 204
Project 97 97
Redirect 3 21 79 105 208
Template 470 470
NA 4 4
Other 3 3
Assessed 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
Total 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 10,240 Ω = 3.35

Project News
July was a relatively quiet month for the project; low levels of tropical activity allowed editors to maintain and build content regarding older storms. There are currently three Featured Article candidates and three Featured List candidates pertaining to tropical cyclones.

SchuminWeb (talk · contribs) pointed out towards the end of the month that hurricane disambiguation pages are often over-categorized. Efforts are currently underway to address this.

A discussion is underway at Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/Timeline of the 1987 Atlantic hurricane season/archive1 regarding the use of HURDAT as a reference. Input is appreciated.

Tropical cyclones at associated Wikimedia projects

–Juliancolton | Talk 02:52, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #29

[edit]

The Hurricane Herald

This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary of the WikiProject's progress 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.

From the editors

The project has gone since August without a newsletter, due to a lack of interest in its publication and development. This issue aims to catch up on major events and milestones since late summer 2009, and set a series of goals for the upcoming hurricane seasons. Your help in writing future issues is appreciated.

Tropical cyclone activity
2009 Atlantic hurricane season
2009 Pacific hurricane season
2009 Pacific typhoon season
2009 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
2009–10 Australian region cyclone season
2009–10 South Pacific cyclone season
2009–10 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
2010 Pacific typhoon season
2010 North Indian Ocean cyclone season

Typhoons Morakot, Ketsana, and Parma caused extensive damage to China, Taiwan, Philippines, and Vietnam in August and September. Their collective damages total in the billions of dollars and each storm caused hundreds of fatalities. All three of the storms' names were subsequently retired.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

Thegreatdr (talk · contribs) is thanked for his tireless improvement of high-profile tropical cyclone and general meteorology articles; his production of rainfall maps for individual storms; and for his willingness to share his expertise where needed. Thegreatdr is largely responsible for the project's continued success, and has been instrumental in resolving many debates and discussions.

Members
Thirteen Wikipedia users have joined the project since September, and several have returned after an extended absence: Hurricanehink (talk · contribs), Yellow Evan (talk · contribs), and Darren23 (talk · contribs). The list of inactive or retired users has remained mostly unchanged.

Goals for the upcoming season
Hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic basins is quickly approaching. Activity from new users typically increases substantially during the summer months, especially during active periods of tropical cyclone strikes. Precautions should be taken to ensure that content covering ongoing or recent events is kept up-to-date. Moreover, creation of new articles should be discouraged unless the storm in question presents an immediate or long-term threat to land.

Nonetheless, the project should encourage new editors to get involved; for this purpose the standard Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Invite template may be used.

The project should also make an effort to evaluate existing recognized content. A Project audit of featured articles has been proposed; ideally, each article should be reviewed for continued compliance with the FA criteria. Articles that no longer meet the criteria may be nominated for demotion, or alternatively, improved and updated.

Main Page content
Three articles appeared on the main page as Today's Featured Article: Cyclone Orson on September 22, Hurricane Fabian on January 30, and Hurricane Lane (2006) on March 22

Article statistics

Tropical cyclone articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 3 14 84 60 161
FL 1 4 32 43 80
FM 21 21
A 2 1 3
GA 10 65 400 648 1,123
B 11 32 62 63 1 169
C 10 103 258 287 2 660
Start 2 58 332 405 5 802
Stub 2 53 84 139
List 6 25 87 594 413 1,125
Category 956 956
Disambig 68 68
File 8 8
Portal 204 204
Project 97 97
Redirect 3 21 79 105 208
Template 470 470
NA 4 4
Other 3 3
Assessed 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
Total 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 10,240 Ω = 3.35

Project news
September 2009 – A debate on the numbering of JMA tropical depressions in season articles took place. Much of the discussion can be read here.
October 2009 – The project was featured in a Signpost article, detailing its progress over the past two years.
December 2009 – Multiple Wikipedia Books—organized and printable compilations of related articles—are created under the project's purview.
Nilfanion (talk · contribs) proposed a revamp of the project's track map standards and naming conventions. This is likely a long-term project, and will be largely executed on Wikimedia Commons.
March 2010 – One of the project's core articles, Hurricane Katrina, was demoted from featured article status. Later in the month, it was suggested that more tropical cyclone-related articles are added to the rotating list of the Main Page's Selected anniversaries.

JCbot (talk) 14:09, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

The WikiProject Tropical Cyclones Newsletter #31

[edit]

Number 31, September 10, 2010

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. This newsletter covers all of August 2010.

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
Hurricane Frank is the storm of the Month.

Hurricane Frank

Tropical Depression Nine-E formed on August 21 south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. It developed into a tropical storm the following morning. On August 23, Frank continued to intensify, but later faced shear and entered a period of weakening. However, on August 24, as shear decreased, it began to reorganize and strengthen again, becoming a hurricane on August 25. Two days later, Frank weakened into a tropical storm. Rapidly weakening overnight, NHC issued that it have been degraded into an remnant low. The area of low pressure associated with Frank was absorbed with another area of disturbed weather which later developed into Tropical Depression Ten-E.

Throughout Central America, Hurricane Frank produced torrential rain that resulted in at least 30 fatalities, most of which took place in Nicaragua and Honduras. In Guatemala alone, damage from the system was estimated to be up to $500 million. In Mexico, six deaths were reported. A total 30 homes were destroyed with 26 others damaged. Two major roads were damaged with another road blocked due to a landslides. Several rivers overflowed their banks as well. Losses from the storms totaled millions of dollars. Water Currents form a nearby volcano were damaged as well.


Other tropical cyclone activity

  • Atlantic Ocean– In the Atlantic Ocean, around three storms and one depression formed. Tropical Depression Four early on August 2. Early the next day, the depression strengthened further into a tropical storm and was named "Colin". Tropical Storm Colin was downgraded to a tropical depression late morning on August 8. Tropical Depression 5 formed on August 10, with no improvement, it dissipated within 24 hours. Tropical Depression Six developed near the Cape Verde Islands on August 21, the first of the series of Cape Verde-type storms. On August 22 the system attained tropical storm status, thus earning the name "Danielle" The next day it attained hurricane status, becoming the second of the season and strengthened further to a Category 2 hurricane. On August 27, Hurricane Danielle strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane, becoming the first major hurricane of the season, and further strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane shortly after.Danielle later weakened to a Category 3, then Category 2 hurricane, and later became a Category 1 Hurricane due to an eyewall replacement cycle, while avoiding land areas. It became extratropical early on August 31 southeast of Newfoundland without having directly impacted land. It was fully absorbed by a larger extratropical low on September 4 over Greenland. On August 25, Tropical Depression 7 formed east of Hurricane Danielle. Later that day it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Earl. On August 29, 2010 Earl strengthened to become the season's third hurricane. Earl then quickly intensified to become the season's second major hurricane on August 30. The hurricane weakened to a Category 3 hurricane after an eyewall replacement cycle before becoming a Category 4 again. Earl made landfall in the Canadian Maritime Provinces, twice in Nova Scotia and once in Prince Edward Island (PEI) at hurricane intensity. On August 30, when gale-force winds and better organization resulted in the development of Tropical Storm Fiona, skipping tropical depression status. It struggled to develop further, however, as it was hindered by high wind shear from the outflow of the much larger and stronger Earl.
  • Eastern Pacific Ocean– Three depressions formed in the Month of August. A tropical depression formed on August 5. slowly intensified, reaching tropical storm status on August 6. On August 9, it was downgraded into a tropical depression. On August 10th Estelle dissipated. Tropical Depression Eight-E formed on August 20. However, the depression weakened slightly overnight. The depression continued to weaken and the National Hurricane Center issued its final advisory on August 22. Tropical Depression Nine-E formed on August 21 south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. It developed into a tropical storm the following morning. On August 25 it became a hurricane. Two days later, Frank weakened into a tropical storm. Rapidly weakening overnight, NHC issued that it have been degraded into an remnant low. Throughout Central America, Hurricane Frank produced torrential rain that resulted in at least 30 fatalities, most of which took place in Nicaragua and Honduras. In Guatemala alone, damage from the system was estimated to be up to $500 million. In Mexico, six deaths were reported. A total 30 homes were destroyed with 26 others damaged. Two major roads were damaged with another road blocked due to a landslides. Several rivers overflowed their banks as well. Losses from the storms totaled millions of dollars. Water Currents form a nearby volcano were damaged as well.
  • Western Pacific Ocean– Eight depression formed in the Month of August. Early on August 4, After Domeng, had merged with the low pressure area PAGASA reported that Domeng had intensified into a tropical storm and reached its 10-minute peak sustained windspeeds of 65 km/h (40 mph). In Luzon, heavy rain produced by the storm led to a few landslides, prompting road closures. Offshore, three people drowned after their boat capsized amidst rough seas produced by Domeng. Later that day PAGASA reported that Domeng had weakened into a tropical depression, before reporting early the next day that after it had passed through the Babuyan Islands, Domeng had weakened into an area of low pressure. Early on August 6, the JTWC reported that a tropical disturbance formed within the monsoon gyre about 800 km (500 mi) southeast of Taipei, Taiwan. During that day the JMA started to monitor the depression before the JTWC designated it as Tropical Depression 05W. The depression was then upgraded into a tropical storm by the JMA and named "Dianmu". After moving northward for several days, it turned northeastward and struck southern South Korea. Dianmu weakened as it crossed the Korean peninsula and emerged into the Sea of Japan. Heavy rains produced by the storm resulted in one fatality after a cargo ship sank amidst rough seas produced by the storm. This marked the first time in nine years that a rain-related fatality took place in the capital city of Seoul. More than 3,000 homes were destroyed in eastern China after heavy rains from the outer bands of Dianmu struck the region. The storm made landfall on Japan; exiting the country within five hours. Heavy rains were reported through out the islands. Nearly a week after the two ships sank off the coast of the Philippines, 31 crew members remain missing and are presumed dead after numerous coast guard rescue attempts. Damage from the storm on Jeju Island amounted to 5 billion won ($4.2 million USD). Early on August 17, an area of low pressure formed about 415 km (260 mi), northeast of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. On the evening of August 18, as it crossed Babuyan Islands, the disturbance's low level center (LLC) weakened due to land interaction and high vertical wind shear. It regenerated on August 20 when it was located about 280 km (175 miles), to the west of Dagupan City, Pangasinan. Early on the next day, the LLCC of the disturbance became partially exposed due to a Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough (TUTT) that was developing off Luzon at that time. On the afternoon of that day, Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded the system into a tropical depression. The next day, they further upgraded the depression into a tropical storm and named it "Mindulle". At the same time, the JTWC reported that Tropical Depression 06W has intensified into a tropical storm. Thousands of fishermen were urged to return to port. According to Vietnamese officials, contact was lost with 10 vessels on August 24 and the 137 fishermen on the ships were listed as missing. Rainfall, peaking at 297 mm (11.7 in),[59] led to significant flooding and agricultural losses. A Tropical depression formed on August 26, it survived for three days with no change in strength. it rapidly traveled northwest and dissipated on August 29. On August 28, the JMA upgraded the system to a Tropical Storm and was named "Lionrock". Early of september 1, Lionrock made a Fujiwhara effect with Namtheun, whilst Lionrock maintained it's strength while Namtheun was absorbed. Lionrock made landfall on the east coast of Guangdong Province, China, just north of the city of Shantou. It then started to dissipate and weaken into a tropical storm and moved over Guangzhou, Guangdong's capital. Lionrock soon lost it's intensity as it went over Guangdong. Midday of August 29, the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) on the system as a Low Level Circulation Centre had become organized. On the morning of that same day, the JTWC announced that the system had quickly developed into a tropical storm and assigned the designation "08W". Intensification continued, then by midday of August 30, the JMA reported that the depression had intensified into a tropical storm and assigned it the international designation "Kompasu". In addition, PAGASA also announced that the low pressure in the northeast of Batanes had formed and assigned it a local name, "Glenda". At the same time, the JTWC also upgraded Kompasu into a category 1 typhoon. On the next day, Kompasu crossed the island of Kadena and rapidly intensified into a category 2 typhoon equivalent. On September 1, Kompasu was upgraded by JTWC as a category 3 typhoon equivalent, becoming the strongest typhoon of the season. The storm later weakened to a category one typhoon in the Yellow Sea, before veering northeast and making landfall on Ganghwa Island, northwest of Incheon and Seoul, killing at least four people.[61] Kompasu was the strongest tropical storm to hit the Seoul metropolitan area in 15 years. On August 27, an extensive cloud formed in the waters east of Taiwan. On August 28, it developed into a low pressure. At 18:00, near Yaeyama Islands, the Japan Meteorological Agency upgraded the low pressure into a tropical depression. There were two tropical cyclones developing on both sides of 09W (namely Lionrock and Kompasu), and Typhoon Kompasu had a relatively stronger intensity, causing 09W moved southwest to Taiwan Strait. On August 30, it caused heavy rain in northern Taiwan. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau could only issue a tropical depression warning since it had not strengthened to a tropical storm. At 20:00, 09W suddenly intensified into a tropical storm, and was named Namtheun. However, due to the development of another stronger tropical storm Lionrock at South China Sea, the increase of intensity of Namtheun was difficult. In the evening hours of August 31, Namtheun weakened into a tropical depression north of Taiwan Strait. Whilst Lionrock maintained it's strength while Namtheun was absorbed. Late on August 28, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center reported that an area of low pressure system associated with a tropical disturbance had developed about 1,000 mi (1,600 km) to the southwest of Honolulu in Hawaii. Isolated thunderstorms were developing in association with the small low-level circulation. During the next day the disturbance moved towards the west and moved into the western Pacific where the JMA immediately designated it as a tropical depression. The depression was expected to bring inclement weather to Majauro and nearby atolls, although the system significantly weakened before reaching the area.

Member of the month

Cyclone barnstar
Cyclone barnstar

The October member of the month is CrazyC83. Since joining the project near its inception, CrazyC83 has been involved in bringing twenty two articles to Good Article status and one article to Featured Article Status. Not only this, he is been working with the [[2010 Atlantic hurricane season 24/7. Our Favorite member Jason Rees looks like he has gone on a short break with the west, but he still continues with the east.


Storm Basics

  • A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain.
  • While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge as well as spawning tornadoes.
  • The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, and their formation in maritime tropical air masses.
  • Many tropical cyclones develop when the atmospheric conditions around a weak disturbance in the atmosphere are favorable. The background environment is modulated by climatological cycles and patterns such as the Madden-Julian oscillation, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation.

Storm article statistics

Tropical cyclone articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 3 14 84 60 161
FL 1 4 32 43 80
FM 21 21
A 2 1 3
GA 10 65 400 648 1,123
B 11 32 62 63 1 169
C 10 103 258 287 2 660
Start 2 58 332 405 5 802
Stub 2 53 84 139
List 6 25 87 594 413 1,125
Category 956 956
Disambig 68 68
File 8 8
Portal 204 204
Project 97 97
Redirect 3 21 79 105 208
Template 470 470
NA 4 4
Other 3 3
Assessed 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
Total 37 289 1,268 1,756 2,530 421 6,301
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 10,240 Ω = 3.35

Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Tropical cyclone storm articles by quality statistics

Tropical cyclone season pages by quality
Quality
Total
Assessed 0
Total 0
Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Tropical meteorology articles by quality statistics

Project News
The Newsletter has been properly restarted by Anirudh Emani.

Editorial Member Award
This month the editorial member award has been disputed to CrazyC83 & Jason Rees. CrazyC83 has been working mainly with the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season while Jason Rees is working with the 2010 Pacific typhoon season. Jason has also created sandboxes for western Pacific Typhoons and North Indian ocean cyclones, Rashmi and Dianmu are a few good examples of this work. Anirudh Emani (talk) 08:35, 10 September 2010 (UTC)


Anirudh Emani (talk) 11:06, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Volume XIV, Issue 39, March 17, 2020

The Hurricane Herald: Special St. Patrick's Day and COVID-19 edition!

The Hurricane Herald is the semi-regular newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The newsletter aims to provide in summary the recent activities and developments of the WikiProject, in addition to global tropical cyclone activity. The Hurricane Herald has been running since its first edition ran on June 4, 2006; it has been almost thirteen years since that time. If you wish to receive or discontinue subscription to this newsletter, please visit the mailing list. This issue of The Hurricane Herald covers all project related events from August 1, 2019–March 17, 2020. This edition's editor and author is ♫ Hurricanehink (talk).

Please visit this page and bookmark any suggestions of interest to you. This will help improve the newsletter and other cyclone-related articles. Past editions can be viewed here.

From the Main Page

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WikiProject Tropical Cyclones: News & Developments

  • An awards program for the project began on May 31. It involves 25 levels that may be gained by earning points for completing various actions such as getting good or featured articles. Additional awards will be added in the future.
  • In March 2020, the most popular article in the project was the Beaufort scale, with about 4,800 daily views, followed by tropical cyclone with 3,865 daily views, and Hurricane Katrina, with 3,393 daily views. Hurricane Dorian remains popularly viewed, six months after it devastated the Bahamas. Rounding out the top 10 are hurricanes Sandy and Irma.
  • There is ongoing featured article review for the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The recent look at the article stemmed from a discussion about merging the List of storms in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which was created in January 2006 in response to the large season article. The 2005 article was then more of a summary, covering economic costs, the record activity, and focusing on storms by month (and not sequentially). For several years, there were a few season articles that had both a primary article and a dedicated list of storms article; all were eventually re-incorporated back into the main season article, recently including 2005 AHS. On March 3, 2020 (hard to believe that was this month), the list article was merged, as well as 2005 Atlantic hurricane season statistics, and articles for Franklin and Philippe. A singular article for the 2005 season was prepared in draftspace, and was incorporated into the main 2005 article.

New articles since the last newsletter include:

New GA's include:

The 1988 and 2015 Pacific seasons are now good topics.

Project Goals & Progress

The following is the current progress on the three milestone goals set by the WikiProject as of this publishing. They can be found, updated, at the main WikiProject page.

New WikiProject Members since the last newsletter

More information can be found here. This list lists members who have joined/rejoined the WikiProject since the release of the last issue in May 2019. Sorted chronologically. Struckout users denote users who have left or have been banned.

To our new members: welcome to the project, and happy editing! Feel free to check the to-do list at the bottom right of the newsletter for things that you might want to work on. To our veteran members: thank you for your edits and your tireless contributions!

Latest WikiProject Alerts

The following are the latest article developments as updated by AAlertBot, as of the publishing of this issue. Due to the bot workings, some of these updates may seem out of place; nonetheless, they are included here.

Featured article candidates

Featured list candidates

Good article nominees

Good article reassessments

Peer reviews

Requested moves

Articles to be merged

Articles to be split

Storm of the month and other tropical activity for August

Typhoon Lekima became China's costliest typhoon ever recorded when it struck the country in early August, leaving 90 fatalities and over $9 billion in damage.

Storm of the month and other tropical activity for September

Hurricane Dorian was the strongest hurricane on record to strike The Bahamas, and was regarded as the worst natural disaster in the country's history. Dorian formed on August 24, and moved through the Caribbean as an intensifying storm. On September 1, Dorian hit Great Abaco Island with sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h), and struck Grand Bahama Island at the same intensity a day later. Dorian killed 58 people and left $7 billion in damage to the island nation. The hurricane later struck North Carolina as a minimal hurricane, and Nova Scotia as a post-tropical cyclone.

  • Atlantic - The tropics were more active in September. Tropical Storm Fernand killed one person and caused damaging floods in northeastern Mexico. Tropical Storm Gabrielle moved across the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Humberto affected the Bahamas weeks after Dorian devastated the island chain, and later brought hurricane-force winds to Bermuda. Tropical Storm Imelda formed rapidly near the coast of Texas and dropped torrential rainfall, killing five people and inundating parts of Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey two years earlier. Hurricane Jerry and Tropical Storm Karen moved near or over the eastern Caribbean. At the end of the month, Hurricane Lorenzo became the easternmost Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, reaching that intensity in the eastern Atlantic Ocean; the hurricane caused a shipwreck, killing at least three people, and also passed through the Azores in early October.
  • Western Pacific - In early September, Tropical Storm Kajiki brought heavy rainfall to northeastern Vietnam, killing six people. Typhoon Lingling moved through the East China Sea before striking North Korea, killing eight people. In the middle of September, short-lived Tropical Storm Peipah dissipated south of Japan, and Typhoon Tapah passed between Japan and South Korea. At the end of the month, Typhoon Mitag was moving across South Korea. There were also a series of nine non-developing depressions.
  • Eastern Pacific - There were two major hurricanes in September – Juliette and Kiko. Short-lived Tropical Storm Akoni was in the Central Pacific. Toward the end of the month, Tropical Storm Mario and Hurricane Lorena interacted with each other, and the latter hurricane struck Mexico twice, killing one person. At the end of the month, Tropical Storm Narda followed a similar path to Lorena, killing four people in southwestern Mexico.
  • North Indian Ocean - In September, Cyclonic Storm Hikaa struck eastern Oman, killing one person. At the end of the month, a land depression formed over western India.

Storm of the month and other tropical activity for October

Typhoon Hagibis was considered the most devastating typhoon to hit the Kantō region of Japan since Ida in 1958. It struck near Tokyo on October 12, triggering heavy rainfall and landslides. Hagibis killed 95 people along its path and left about US$9 billion in damage.

  • Atlantic - a series of weaker storms formed in October, beginning with Melissa, which caused significant flooding along the east coast of the United States from its predecessor extratropical low. After a weak tropical depression formed near Cabo Verde, there were two tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico – Nestor and Olga, which together left more than $250 million in damage and four fatalities to the United States gulf coast. Later in the month, Hurricane Pablo became the easternmost storm on record to attain hurricane status, having originated from a nontropical storm near the Azores. A few days later, Subtropical Storm Rebekah formed in the same region.
  • Eastern Pacific - there were three cyclones in the Eastern Pacific during the month, beginning with short-lived Ema in the Central Pacific. Later, Tropical Storm Octave lasted two days over open waters, and Tropical Storm Priscilla moved ashore near Manzanillo.
  • Western Pacific - in addition to Hagibis, two other storms formed in the western Pacific during October. Typhoon Neoguri and Typhoon Bualoi existed south of Japan. At the end of the month, Tropical Storm Matmo struck Vietnam, which later redeveloped in the North Indian Ocean as Cyclone Bulbul.
  • North Indian Ocean - there were two storms in the North Indian Ocean during October. The first was Super Cyclonic Storm Kyarr, which was the strongest storm on record in the Arabian Sea; the cyclone produced high waves throughout the basin, but didn't strike land. Later in the month, Cyclone Maha formed in the Arabian Sea, marking the first time on record there were two simultaneous storms in the body of water. Maha eventually struck Gujarat in western India as a depression.

Storm of the month and other tropical activity for November

Cyclone Bulbul formed in the Bay of Bengal from the remnants of Tropical Storm Matmo, which struck Vietnam in late October. Bulbul intensified into the record-breaking sixth very intense tropical cyclone (the NIO equivalent to a hurricane). On November 9, Bulbul made landfall near the India/Bangladesh border, killing 38 people and leaving US$2.6 billion in damage.

  • Atlantic - Tropical Storm Sebastien formed northeast of the Lesser Antilles and moved across much of the Atlantic, becoming an extratropical cyclone near the Azores.
  • Eastern Pacific - there were two simultaneous tropical cyclones in the middle of the month. Tropical Storm Raymond brought rainfall to California, and Tropical Depression Twenty-One-E existed south of Mexico.
  • Western Pacific - Typhoon Halong was the strongest storm of the year worldwide, reaching winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) according to the JMA. The storm remained away from land. Also in the month, Typhoon Nakri struck Vietnam, killing six people. Typhoon Fengshen struck the northern Marianas Islands. Typhoon Kalmaegi and Tropical Storm Fung-wong affected the northern Philippines in short succession. Later in the month, Typhoon Kammuri formed, moving through the Philippines in early December, where it caused US$116 million in damage and 12 deaths.
  • South Pacific - Cyclone Rita passed through the Solomon Islands.

Member of the month (edition) – ChocolateTrain

ChocolateTrain first joined Wikipedia in April 2017. An Australian native, he is already a prolific writer on the Australian basin, and is responsible for half the edits to the current Australian cyclone season. ChocolateTrain wrote good articles on Cyclone Lili (2019) and Cyclone Nora, plus several articles that are C-class. We thank ChocolateTrain for his edits, and hopes he keeps writing about southern hemisphere storms!

Featured Content

From August 1, 2019–March 17, 2020, one featured list and three featured articles were promoted:

Current assessment table

Assessments valid as of this printing. Depending on when you may be viewing this newsletter, the table may be outdated. See here for the latest, most up to date statistics.
As of this issue, there are 154 featured articles and 70 featured lists. There are 134 A-class articles, but that number is subject to change, depending if we mandate that all A-class articles have an A-class review first. There are 974 good articles. There are only 63 B-class articles, perhaps because because most articles of that quality already passed a GA review. There are 374 C-class articles, 733 start-class articles, and 150 stub-class articles, with 32 lists, and 9 current articles. These figures mean that slightly more than half of the project is rated a GA or better - including the lists/current/future articles, there are 1320 articles that are below GA status, versus 1334 that are GA or better.

There is a discussion about getting rid of redirect and list-class articles.

About the assessment scale →

WikiProject To-Do


Here are some tasks you can do:

Collaborating - AKA the right kind of sharing, by User:Hurricanehink
As mentioned elsewhere in the newsletter, 2005 Atlantic hurricane season has changed recently. It was a collaborative effort of several users, making sure this top-importance vital article is still of featured-quality. (There is an ongoing discussion about removing its featured article status).

There are other kinds of collaborations. Recently, users Juliancolton and TropicalAnalystwx13 wrote Tropical Storm Kirk (2018) together. Each year, the season articles are written by many editors, by folks who add the latest satellite imagery or track. There are others who document the storm's journey, and what impacts they left. When a major storm is threatening a landmass (especially the United States), users edit from IP addresses far and wide to add the latest information. Unfortunately, some of these big storm articles languish, because they're written in real time without historical perspective, and the websites might no longer be up and running a few years later. Don't get me wrong, I know the excitement of being the first to write on Wikipedia when the NHC classifies something. However, there are lots of older articles that end up half-finished, or with broken weblinks. Thankfully we have the web archive.

We see the disruption that Covid-19 is causing in our world right now. Yea, it sucks to have everything canceled, for schools and bars and gyms and restaurants to be shut down. Some people experience that same feeling every few years when a hurricane/typhoon/cyclone strikes. It's easy writing/researching about these furious beasts of nature when we're in the comfort of our own home/office/library/school. And sometimes it's uncomfortable seeing how we rebuild. After every storm, there is help, often from the government. Politics have made my country turn fearful and hateful, and so I have to choose my words carefully. When nature is at its worst, my government is there after when people need it the most, providing financial assistance, logistical support, and a sense of national unity.

This pandemic is making a lot of people fearful of the unknown, how bad that unstoppable force will be. A lot of us may be stuck at home right now with a sense of fear and too much time on our hands. Consider, then, the spirit of collaboration, working together to document the world around us. If you're reading this, you are likely interested in meteorology. Go improve an article then. Now. Do it. :P Stop reading this and find an article you're interested in, and make it better. <3

Tropical cyclones by year
In 2019, there have been 143 tropical or subtropical cyclones. We (the thousands of editors who are writing the first draft of history in the middle of Earth's biggest climate crisis in many millennia) are writing the first draft of history. There might be edit wars, conflicts over whether a source is reliable, and maybe even a controversy surrounding a sharpie, Alabama, and a NWS weather map (see also Hurricane Dorian–Alabama controversy, AKA Sharpiegate). 2019 has featured several significant storms: Cyclone Idai, one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in the southern hemisphere. Cyclone Kenneth was the strongest cyclone to strike Mozambique. In February, Typhoon Wutip was the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the month of February.

The storms in 2019 represent about 0.116% of the known tropical cyclones on Wikipedia. We're aware of around 12,000 tropical cyclones; about one-third were in the Western Pacific, where storms have killed more than 1.4 million people. Storms in the western Pacific date back to the year 957, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. In the Atlantic, we know of 2,443 tropical cyclones, dating back to 1494, and Christopher Columbus's 2nd voyage to the New World; however, paleotempestological evidence] of storms date back to 1330 BC. In the eastern Pacific, storms date back to 1537, when a hurricane struck Mexico and was recorded by a missionary. Storms in the South Pacific Ocean date back to 1568, and in the South Indian Ocean to 1615. Wikipedia coverage in the North Indian Ocean goes back to 1721.

Storm of the month and other tropical activity for December

Cyclone Ambali was the first very intense tropical cyclone in the South-west Indian Ocean since Cyclone Fantala in 2016. It formed on December 3 as part of a series of storms in the western Indian Ocean in both hemispheres. Ambali's winds increased by 185 km/h (115 mph) in 24 hours, marking the fastest 24-hour intensification recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. The storm rapidly weakened after its peak, degenerating into a remnant low by December 8.

  • Western Pacific - Typhoon Phanfone moved through the central Philippines on Christmas Day, killing 50 people. Damage was estimated at US$67.2 million, enough to warrant the retirement of its international name, as well its local Filipino name Ursula.
  • North Indian - Cyclonic Storm Pawan formed in early December in the western Arabian Sea. It struck Somalia, causing flooding rains that killed six people. Pawan existed simultaneously to a deep depression off India's west coast, which killed 25 people. The season ended on December 10 when another deep depression formed in the Arabian Sea, which dissipated near the Somalia coastline.
  • South-west Indian Ocean - Cyclone Belna developed west of Cyclone Ambali, and struck northwestern Madagascar on December 9. The storm killed nine people and left US$25 million in damage. Cyclone Calvinina formed at the end of the month, passing near Mauritius on December 31, causing power outages and flooding. The storm became extratropical the next day.
  • South Pacific - There were two December tropical cyclones – a tropical depression, and Tropical Cyclone Sarai. Sarai passed near Fiji on December 27, causing two deaths and US$2.3 million in damage.

Storm of the month and other tropical activity for January

Cyclone Tino was part of a broader convergence zone that affected ten South Pacific countries. Tino formed on January 11, and passed near Fiji on January 17 with winds of 120 km/h (75 mph), where two people were left missing. Tino became extratropical two days later.

  • South Atlantic - Subtropical Storm Kurumí formed on January 23 south of São Paulo. It existed for two days, until it was absorbed by a larger weather system that killed three people in Brazil.
  • South-West Indian Ocean - A series of three systems formed in the second half of the month, beginning with a short-lived tropical depression. Tropical Storm Diane moved across Madagascar in its formative stages, killing 31 people. It later passed near Mauritius, and eventually became extratropical. Tropical Storm Esami formed east of Madagascar and followed Diane's path.
  • Australia - the Australian season began when Tropical Cyclone Blake formed on January 4. It later struck Western Australia on the Dampier Peninsula, causing localized flooding. Simultaneous to Blake's development, Cyclone Claudia moved across Australia's Top End, dropping heavy rainfall, and eventually reached its peak intensity off northwest Australia. There were also two tropical lows during the month, including one low in the extreme southeastern Gulf of Carpentaria, which dropped 475 mm (18.7 in) of rainfall in Queensland.
  • South Pacific - Toward the end of the month, there was a short-lived tropical disturbance near American Samoa.

Storm of the month and other tropical activity for February

Cyclone Damien struck Western Australia near Karratha on February 8, having originated from a monsoon trough five days later. Damien caused localized flooding and power outages.

  • South-west Indian - Tropical Storm Francisco lasted for nearly two weeks, beginning as a short-lived storm near the Chagos, and moving across much of the basin as a weak disturbance. Francisco regenerated into a tropical storm near eastern Madagascar, moving ashore near Mahanoro; it killed one person in the country. Also in the month, Cyclone Gabekile formed on February 13, and weakened after it stalled over open waters.
  • Australia - there were two other storms in the basin during the month, in addition to Damien. Cyclone Esther moved across the Northern Territory, reached the coastline of the Indian Ocean, and then moved back east inland. The storm caused flooding rains along its path. Occurring simultaneously to Esther, Cyclone Ferdinand developed, intensified, and weakened off Australia's northwest coast.
  • South Pacific - Cyclone Uesi passed west of New Caledonia on February 11, causing flooding and power outages. It later moved into the Australian basin, where it transitioned into a subtropical cyclone. High waves killed one person in Sydney. Over a one week span, four tropical cyclones developed in the basin in short-succession near American Samoa, including two tropical disturbances. Cyclone Vicky caused power outages and flooding, followed only days later by Cyclone Wasi.
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