MONTHLY GLOBAL TROPICAL CYCLONE SUMMARY FEBRUARY, 2008 (For general comments about the nature of these summaries, as well as information on how to download the tabular cyclone track files, see the Author's Note at the end of this summary.) ************************************************************************* FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS --> Intense tropical cyclone makes destructive strike in Madagascar --> Weakening cyclone makes landfall in Western Australia ************************************************************************* WIKIPEDIA TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORTS Short reports with satellite pictures and small-scale maps for all tropical cyclones may be found at the following links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Atlantic_hurricane_season> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Pacific_hurricane_season> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Pacific_typhoon_season> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_North_Indian_cyclone_season> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007-08_Southern_Hemisphere_tropical_cyclone_season> For some storms more detailed reports have been prepared. In those cases I will include the specific links in the reports for the applicable tropical cyclones. ************************************************************************* !!!!!!!!!! EXTRA FEATURE !!!!!!!!!! 2008 TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES for the NORTHWEST PACIFIC BASIN Beginning in 2000 tropical storms and typhoons forming in the North Pacific west of the Dateline are assigned names by JMA taken from a new list of Asian names contributed by fourteen nations and territories from the western Pacific and eastern Asia. Names are not allocated in alphabetical order and the majority are not personal names--instead names of animals, plants, fictional characters, descriptive adjectives, places--even foods--are utilized. The entire list consists of 140 names and all names will be used before any are repeated. The last name assigned in 2007 was Hagibis in November. The next 36 names on the list are (** indicates name has already been assigned in 2008): Neoguri ** Phanfone Maysak Molave Rammasun ** Vongfong Haishen Goni Matmo ** Nuri Noul Morakot Halong ** Sinlaku Dolphin Etau Nakri ** Hagupit Kujira Vamco Fengshen Jangmi Chan-hom Krovanh Kalmaegi Mekkhala Linfa Dujuan Fung-wong Higos Nangka Mujigae Kammuri Bavi Soudelor Choi-wan Since 1963 PAGASA has independently named tropical cyclones forming in the Philippines' AOR--from 115E to 135E and from 5N to 25N (except for a portion of the northwestern corner of the above region). Even though the Philippines contributed ten names to the international list of typhoon names, PAGASA still continues to assign their own names for local use within the Philippines. It is felt that familiar names are more easily remembered in the rural areas and that having a PAGASA- assigned name helps to underscore the fact that the cyclone is within PAGASA's AOR and potentially a threat to the Philippines. Another consideration may be PAGASA's desire to assign a name when a system is first classified as a tropical depression. Since tropical and/or monsoon depressions can bring very heavy rainfall to the nation which often results in disastrous flooding, the weather service feels that assigning a name helps to enhance public attention given to a system. Beginning with 2001 PAGASA began using new sets of cyclone names. These do not all end in "ng" as did the older names. Four sets of 25 names will be rotated annually; thus, the set for 2008 will be re-used in 2012. In case more than 25 systems are named in one season, an auxiliary set will be used. PAGASA names for 2008 are (** indicates name has already been assigned in 2008): Ambo ** Julian Rolly Butchoy ** Karen Siony Cosme ** Lawin Tonyo Dindo ** Marce Ulysses Enteng ** Nina Vicky Frank Ofel Warren Gener Pablo Yoyong Helen Quinta Zosimo Igme In the unlikely event that the list is exhausted, the following names would be allocated as needed: Alakdan, Baldo, Clara, Dencio, Estong, Felipe, Gardo, Heling, Ismael, and Julio. NORTH INDIAN OCEAN CYCLONE NAMES After several years of planning and working out implementation details, the RSMC for the North Indian Ocean basin--the Indian Meteorological Department--began naming tropical cyclones in that region on an experimental basis in the autumn of 2004. The procedure for allocating names is similar to that used in the Northwest Pacific basin. All the member nations--eight in this case-- submitted eight names each. The 64 names were arranged in eight columns of eight names, ordered by the contributing nations in alpha- betical order, just as is done in the Northwest Pacific. Potential cyclonic storms for 2008 include (** indicates name has already been assigned): Nargis ** Bijli Laila Abe Aila Bandu Khai Muk Phyan Phet Nisha Ward Giri EXTRA FEATURE - INDEX TO EXTRA FEATURES FOR 2007 Beginning in May, 2000, I began including with each monthly summary an extra feature which I called the Feature of the Month. Beginning with July, 2005, I suspended these as a regular monthly item, but have since included some extra features as time permits. Following is an index to the Extra Features for 2007. JAN - INDEX TO EXTRA FEATURES FOR 2006 FEB - 2007 TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES for the Northwest Pacific and North Indian Ocean Basins MAR - none APR - WESTERN HEMISPHERE TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES for 2007 MAY - GLOSSARY of ABBREVIATIONS and ACRONYMS JUN - A REVIEW OF THE 2006-2007 TROPICAL CYCLONE SEASON FOR THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE JUL - HISTORY OF THE NAMING OF ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONES PART 1 - THE FABULOUS FIFTIES AUG - HISTORY OF THE NAMING OF ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONES PART 2 - THE SENSATIONAL SIXTIES SEP - SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES 2007 - 2008 SEASON OCT - HISTORY OF THE NAMING OF ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONES PART 3 - THE SUBDUED SEVENTIES NOV - HISTORY OF THE NAMING OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH PACIFIC TROPICAL CYCLONES DEC - A REVIEW OF THE 2007 TROPICAL CYCLONE SEASON FOR THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE NOTE!!! - The October, November and December summaries have not yet been released, but I do plan to include the extra features that I had previously planned. *************************************************************************** ACTIVITY BY BASINS ATLANTIC (ATL) - North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico Activity for February: No tropical cyclones ************************************************************************* NORTHEAST PACIFIC (NEP) - North Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 180 Activity for February: No tropical cyclones ************************************************************************* NORTHWEST PACIFIC (NWP) - North Pacific Ocean West of Longitude 180 Activity for February: No tropical cyclones ************************************************************************* NORTH INDIAN OCEAN (NIO) - Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea Activity for February: No tropical cyclones ************************************************************************* SOUTHWEST INDIAN OCEAN (SWI) - South Indian Ocean West of Longitude 90E Activity for February: 1 intense tropical cyclone 1 very intense tropical cyclone Sources of Information ---------------------- The primary sources of tracking and intensity information for Southwest Indian Ocean tropical cyclones are the warnings issued by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre on La Reunion Island, part of Meteo France (MFR), and the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre for the basin. However, tropical cyclones in this region are named by the Sub-regional Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centres in Mauritius and Madagascar with longitude 55E being the demarcation line between their respective areas of naming responsibility. The La Reunion centre only advises these agencies regarding the intensity of tropical systems. References to sustained winds imply a 10-minute averaging period unless otherwise stated. In the companion tropical cyclone tracks file, I occasionally annotate positions from warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the U. S. Air Force and Navy, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when they differ from MFR's coordinates by usually 40-50 nm or more. The JTWC warnings are also the source of the 1-minute average maximum sustained wind values included in the tracks file. Additionally, information describing details of satellite imagery and atmospheric circulation features included in the narratives is often gleaned from the JTWC warnings. Southwest Indian Ocean Tropical Activity for February ----------------------------------------------------- As the month opened, Tropical Cyclone Gula was weakening and becoming extratropical well to the east of southern Madagascar. Two tropical cyclones formed during early February with both becoming intense storms. Hondo reached the "very intense" stage with 10-min avg winds estimated at 120 kts, but remained in the eastern portion of the basin. After weakening, the remnants drifted westward for many days and flared up again to tropical depression status near the Mascarene Islands. Tropical Cyclone Ivan formed northeast of Madagascar, moved southeastward and described a large loop, then moved westward and intensified, eventually striking northeastern Madagascar as an intense cyclone. A report on Tropical Cyclone Hondo follows--for Ivan, I've deferred to the excellent online report available on the Wikipedia website. TROPICAL CYCLONE HONDO (MFR-10 / TC-16S) 4 – 25 February ------------------------------------------ Hondo: contributed by Zimbabwe A. Synoptic History ------------------- Tropical Cyclone Hondo was a slow-moving cyclone which reached the “very intense tropical cyclone” stage per MFR’s nomenclature, meaning peak 10-min avg winds 120 kts or higher. The storm was also notable for having two lives. Warnings were discontinued on the system on 12 February, but nine days later and about 1500 nm to the west, the system began to regenerate, warranting the issuance of another round of warnings. The first MFR bulletin on Tropical Disturbance 10 was issued at 0600 UTC on 4 February with the center located about 550 nm east-southeast of Diego Garcia. After some wobbles, the center began to pursue a southeasterly track as it rather quickly intensified. JTWC initiated warnings on TC-16S at 04/1200 UTC, and Tropical Storm Hondo was christened by the Meteorological Service of Mauritius at 05/0600 UTC with the center then located about 625 nm southeast of Diego Garcia. The storm quickly intensified, reaching cyclone (i.e., hurricane) intensity six hours later. The intensity remained steady for about 24 hours, after which Hondo underwent a fairly rapid intensification episode. The storm reached its peak intensity of 120 kts at 1800 UTC 7 February while located approximately 860 nm west-southwest of the Cocos Islands. The minimum CP estimated by MFR was 906 hPa, and JTWC’s peak 1-min avg MSW was 125 kts. Based on MFR’s warnings, gales extended outward from 70-90 nm from the center while JTWC’s gale radii were somewhat larger. After peaking in intensity Hondo slowly began to weaken, although the winds remained pegged at 105 kts for about 30 hours on 8-9 February. The cyclone, which had been moving on a slow southeasterly course, began to turn to a more southerly track as it weakened. Winds had dropped below cyclone intensity (per both warning agencies) by 11/0000 UTC, and the system was reduced to tropical disturbance status at 12/1200 UTC while centered about 1250 nm east-southeast of Rodrigues Island. (JTWC had issued their final warning on Hondo at 12/0600 UTC.) Over the next nine days ex-Hondo degenerated into a very weak low pressure area with essentially no convection. Initially drifting west- northwestward, the system turned to more of a westward track around the 17th. The disturbance gradually began to show signs of life on the 20th, and MFR began issuing bulletins once more at 21/0000 UTC with the center located about 180 nm northeast of Mauritius. MFR upgraded ex-Hondo to a 30-kt tropical depression at 21/1800 UTC, but that represented the peak intensity during Hondo’s second round (per MFR). JTWC, however, estimated that the system reached a peak 1-min avg MSW of 45 kts at 23/1200 UTC while located only about 50 nm north-northeast of Reunion Island. During this second phase of Hondo’s life, the system drifted west-southwestward, passing very near the northern end of Mauritius, thence bending a little more to the southwest and crossing Reunion Island. After that the system accelerated to the southwest and weakened. The final MFR bulletin placed the center about 525 nm south- southwest of Reunion at 0600 UTC 25 February. B. Synoptic Observations ------------------------ The following information was sent to the author by Derrick Herndon: Buoy 53948 was located 30 nm southwest of the developing center at 2200 UTC on the 4th and reported 999.5 mb, suggesting that the pressure was around 996 mb at the time. Hondo passed close to other buoys over the next few days but with no direct hits. It was not until the system was devoid of convection that it passed over another buoy on the 19th at 1100 UTC which reported 1005.8 mb. The environmental pressure was about 1010 mb and the swirl appeared to be producing winds of 30-35 kts. Rodrigues to the south of the buoy reported winds of 29G41 kts at 1600 UTC on the 19th. Hondo then passed over Mauritius on the 23rd when Plaisance (FIMP) reported winds of 130@27G41 kts at 0100 UTC and a lowest pressure of 1003 mb at 0200 UTC. The center then passed over La Reunion Island where St Pierre (FMEP) reported winds 120@30G44 kts at 1000 UTC and a lowest pressure of 1002 mb at 1300 UTC. C. Damage and Casualties ------------------------ No damage or casualties have been reported in association with Tropical Cyclone Hondo. (Report written by Gary Padgett with contributions by Derrick Herndon) TROPICAL CYCLONE IVAN (MFR-11 / TC-18S) 7 - 22 February ------------------------------------------------- Ivan: contributed by Tanzania Tropical Cyclone Ivan was an intense tropical cyclone which made a very destructive and deadly strike in northeastern Madagascar with at least 93 persons killed. The cyclone reached a peak intensity of 100 kts on 16 February (115 kts per JTWC--in good agreement with MFR) and weakened only slightly prior to making landfall. An excellent and detailed report covering Ivan is available on Wikipedia at the following link: My original report on Ivan, which was lost due to a hard drive crash, contained some observations collected by Derrick Herndon. If I am successful in getting Derrick to resend those, I will include them in a later summary. (Report written by Gary Padgett) ************************************************************************* NORTHWEST AUSTRALIA/SOUTHEAST INDIAN OCEAN (AUW) - From 90E to 135E Activity for February: 1 tropical LOW ** 1 overland tropical LOW ++ 1 severe tropical cyclone ** - classified as a minimal tropical cyclone by JTWC ++ - became a tropical cyclone in March (TC Ophelia) Sources of Information ---------------------- The primary sources of tracking and intensity information for Northwest Australia/Southeast Indian Ocean tropical cyclones are the warnings and advices issued by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres at Perth, Western Australia, and Darwin, Northern Territory. References to sustained winds imply a 10-minute averaging period unless otherwise stated. In the companion tropical cyclone tracks file, I occasionally annotate positions from warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the U. S. Air Force and Navy, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when they differ from the Australian centres' coor- dinates by usually 40-50 nm or more. The JTWC warnings are also the source of the 1-minute average maximum sustained wind values included in the tracks file. Additionally, information describing details of satellite imagery and atmospheric circulation features included in the narratives is often gleaned from the JTWC warnings. TROPICAL LOW (TC-17S) 4 - 10 February ----------------------------------- TC-17S was a tropical LOW which was treated as a minimal tropical storm by JTWC but was not upgraded to tropical cyclone status by BoM Perth. The Perth TCWC initiated gale warnings on the LOW at 0000 UTC 4 February with the center located about 375 nm southwest of Christmas Island. It was anticipated that the LOW might develop into a tropical cyclone, but later on the 4th the system began to weaken and the final shipping warning was issued at 2200 UTC with the center approximately 450 nm southwest of Christmas Island. Over the next couple of days the system drifted eastward, and late on the 6th began to exhibit signs of intensification. JTWC issued their first warning on TC-17S at 0000 UTC 7 February, placing the center 350 nm south of Christmas Island. The 1-min avg MSW was estimated at 35 kts. Six hours later BoM Perth re-initiated gale warnings on the LOW, estimating the mean central winds at 30 kts with peripheral gales in the western quadrant. Over the next three days TC-17S drifted slowly east-southeastward as it was steered by a near-equatorial ridge, reaching a point approximately 450 nm south-southeast of Christmas Island by 09/0000 UTC. Thereafter, the system turned to the north-northeast and began to weaken. The gale warning was cancelled and the final warnings by both Perth and JTWC were issued at 0000 UTC 10 February. The peak mean winds near the center were estimated at 30 kts by Perth, while JTWC's peak 1-min avg MSW reached 40 kts at 1200 UTC 8 February. TC-17S formed and existed in an environment of moderate to high vertical shear which inhibited significant development. According to some information sent by Derrick Herndon, ship P3PB9 was located about 100 nm northwest of the center at 08/1800 UTC and reported winds 260@37 kts and a pressure of 1001 hPa. (It is unknown if this represents a 1-min or 10-min avg--likely the latter.) Dvorak ratings from SAB peaked at T3.0/3.0 from 07/0830 and 07/1430 UTC and also at 08/1430 UTC. The lack of naming of this system is probably due to the particulars of BoM's basic definition of a tropical cyclone, namely that gales surround more than 50% of the center for at least six hours. This criterion was created to provide a somewhat objective method of distinguishing gale-bearing monsoon depressions from systems exhibiting a more normal tropical cyclone structure. During the previous season, two operationally-named systems, Isobel and Odette, were later downgraded due to not having met this requirement. No damage or casualties are known to have resulted from TC-17S. (Report written by Gary Padgett) SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE NICHOLAS (TC-19S) 12 - 20 February ---------------------------------------------------- Severe Tropical Cyclone Nicholas formed in mid-February from a tropical LOW off the Kimberley coast. During the time that the system was strengthening into a tropical cyclone it described a clockwise loop well to the northwest of Broome. Nicholas moved somewhat erratically on a general southwesterly track which later became southerly and carried the cyclone inland approximately 30 nm south-southwest of Coral Bay. Nicholas' peak intensity of 80 kts--Category 4 on the Australian Cyclone Severity Scale--was reached at 1800 UTC on 16 February while the cyclone was centered approximately 190 nm northwest of Port Hedland, Western Australia. JTWC's estimated peak 1-min avg MSW was also 80 kts, although occurring slightly earlier than BoM Perth's peak. The minimum CP was estimated at 944 hPa. A report with a track graphic for Cyclone Nicholas may be found on BoM's website at the following URL: (Report written by Gary Padgett) ************************************************************************* NORTHEAST AUSTRALIA/CORAL SEA (AUE) - From 135E to 160E Activity for February: Several monsoon LOWs ** ** - one of these was briefly classified as a minimal tropical cyclone by JTWC Sources of Information ---------------------- The primary sources of tracking and intensity information for Northeast Australia/Coral Sea tropical cyclones are the warnings and advices issued by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres at Brisbane, Queensland, and Darwin, Northern Territory, and on very infrequent occasions, by the centre at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. References to sustained winds imply a 10-minute averaging period unless otherwise stated. In the companion tropical cyclone tracks file, I occasionally annotate positions from warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the U. S. Air Force and Navy, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when they differ from the Australian centres' coor- dinates by usually 40-50 nm or more. The JTWC warnings are also the source of the 1-minute average maximum sustained wind values included in the tracks file. Additionally, information describing details of satellite imagery and atmospheric circulation features included in the narratives is often gleaned from the JTWC warnings. MONSOON LOWs 11 - 20 February ------------------------------------ Stormy weather associated with an active monsoon trough prevailed over much of the Coral Sea and eastern Australia for the middle third of the month of February. BoM Brisbane issued gale warnings for almost a continuous 10-day period from the 11th to the 20th, excepting only the 14th. At 1200 UTC on 11 February a monsoon LOW was located inland about 185 km south-southwest of Townsville, Queensland, producing gales to 40 kts over the eastern semicircle. The LOW moved southeastward, moving out over the Pacific at a point about 275 km north of Brisbane around 12/1200 UTC. Winds increased to storm force for a time after the LOW had entered the Pacific, but the system began to weaken on the 13th as it sped away toward the southeast. It was last mentioned at 13/0600 UTC when located about 375 nm east of Brisbane near 28S/160E. The Brisbane TCWC issued gale warnings non-stop from 0000 UTC on 15 February through 1800 UTC on the 20th for various LOWs associated with the monsoon trough. None of these gave much indication of tropical cyclone development. Michael Bath, of McLeans Ridges, New South Wales, writes that one of the systems brought extraordinary rainfall to Mackay on the morning of the 15th with some locations receiving 600 mm in four hours. Localized flooding was extreme with homes and businesses inundated even though the main river was not the cause--it was purely from the volume of rain falling and unable to drain away. Additional information may be found at the following link: TROPICAL LOW (TC-20P) 28 February - 1 March ----------------------------------------- Yet another tropical LOW formed at the end of the month, being located at 0600 UTC 28 February about 100 nm northeast of Townsville. This LOW moved in an east-southeasterly direction, entering Wellington's AOR on 1 March. At 01/0600 UTC the system was located near 26.1S/162.4E, or about 525 nm east-northeast of Brisbane. The LOW was referred to in the warnings as a 'tropical' LOW, suggesting that it perhaps had some potential to develop into a tropical cyclone, but this never happened. Peripheral gales occurred at various times from the northeastern to southwestern quadrants. JTWC issued two warnings on this system as TC-20P. Following is a short table highlighting the two JTWC warnings on TC-20P: Date Time JTWC Position MSW (1-min) Brisbane Position --------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Feb 0600Z 21.2 S 154.3 E 30 kts 20.5 S 152.5 E 29 Feb 1800Z 25.0 S 159.7 E 35 kts 23.8 S 157.6 E As can easily be seen, the JTWC coordinates were significantly different from BoM's. It seems likely that JTWC was following another LOW center within a larger area of disturbed weather. (Reports written by Gary Padgett) ************************************************************************* SOUTH PACIFIC (SPA) - South Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 160E Activity for February: 1 tropical depression 1 tropical cyclone ** ** - system formed in January and was treated as a January cyclone Sources of Information ---------------------- The primary sources of tracking and intensity information for South Pacific tropical cyclones are the warnings and advisories issued by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres at Nadi, Fiji (for waters north of latitude 25S), and Wellington, New Zealand (for waters south of latitude 25S). References to sustained winds imply a 10-minute averaging period unless otherwise stated. In the companion tropical cyclone tracks file, I occasionally annotate positions from warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the U. S. Air Force and Navy, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when they differ from the Southern Hemisphere centres' coordinates by usually 40-50 nm or more. The JTWC warnings are also the source of the 1-minute average maximum sustained wind values included in the tracks file. Additionally, information describing details of satellite imagery and atmospheric circulation features included in the narratives is often gleaned from the JTWC warnings. South Pacific Tropical Activity for February -------------------------------------------- As the month began, Tropical Cyclone Gene was at its peak intensity southeast of Vanuatu. This tropical cyclone was unusual in that it maintained tropical cyclone status for several days after it had crossed 25S into Wellington's AOR. A report on Tropical Cyclone Gene may be found in the January summary. One other system was designated a tropical depression by RSMC Nadi. This system formed near the border with Brisbane's AOR on the 17th and was numbered as TD-13F by Nadi. The depression subsequently moved southward and crossed into Wellington's AOR the next day without developing. ************************************************************************* SPECIAL FEATURE - SOURCES OF TROPICAL CYCLONE INFORMATION The purpose of this section is to list some websites where many and varied types of tropical cyclone information are archived. Many readers will know about these already, but for the benefit of those who don't, I wanted to include them. (1) Aircraft Reconnaissance Information --------------------------------------- Various types of messages from reconnaissance aircraft may be retrieved from the following FTP site: Information regarding how to interpret the coded reconnaissance messages may be found at the following URL: Links are also included to websites with further information about the U. S. Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the NOAA Air- craft Operations Center. (2) Archived Advisories ----------------------- All the advisory products (public advisories, forecast/advisories, strike probabilities, discussions, various graphics) issued by TPC/NHC are archived on TPC's website. For the current year (using 2004 as an example), the archived products can be found at: Links to tropical products archives for earlier years are available at the following URL: JTWC warnings for past storms are archived on the NRL Monterrey website: On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left corner of the screen. I am not aware at the moment of any other TCWC which archives all its tropical cyclone warning/advisory products for public access, but if I learn of any, I will add them to this list. (3) Satellite Imagery --------------------- Satellite images of tropical cyclones in various sensor bands are available on the NRL Monterrey and University of Wisconsin websites, courtesy of Jeff Hawkins and Chris Velden and their associates. The links are: On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left corner of the screen. For the CIMSS site, a link to data archives is located in the lower left portion of the screen. Additional tropical satellite imagery, along with looping ability for composite microwave imagery for the Western Hemisphere north of the equator, can be found at: (1) For the Eastern North Pacific: (2) For the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea: (4) Cyclone Tracking Information -------------------------------- There is a U. S. Navy site that tracks tropical cyclones at 6-hourly intervals which often includes pre and post-advisory positions. The link to the site is: Steve Young has compiled many of these tracks onto a single webpage which is very user-friendly: I'm sure there are other sites with available imagery available, and as I learn of them, I will add the links to this list. ************************************************************************* EXTRA FEATURE In order to shorten the amount of typing in preparing the narrative material, I have been in the habit of freely using abbreviations and acronyms. I have tried to define most of these with the first usage in a given summary, but I may have missed one now and then. Most of these are probably understood by a majority of readers but perhaps a few aren't clear to some. To remedy this I developed a Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms which I first included in the August, 1998 summary. I don't normally include the Glossary in most months in order to help keep them from being too long. If anyone would like to receive a copy of the Glossary, please e-mail me and I'll be happy to send them a copy. ************************************************************************* AUTHOR'S NOTE: This summary should be considered a very preliminary overview of the tropical cyclones that occur in each month. The cyclone tracks (provided separately) will generally be based upon operational warnings issued by the various tropical cyclone warning centers. The information contained therein may differ somewhat from the tracking and intensity information obtained from a "best-track" file which is based on a detailed post-seasonal analysis of all available data. Information on where to find official "best-track" files from the various warning centers will be passed along from time to time. The track files are not being sent via e-mail. They can be retrieved from the archive sites listed below. (Note: I do have a limited e-mail distribution list for the track files. If anyone wishes to receive these via e-mail, please send me a message.) Both the summaries and the track files are standard text files created in DOS editor. Download to disk and use a viewer such as Notepad or DOS editor to view the files. The first summary in this series covered the month of October, 1997. Back issues can be obtained from the following websites (courtesy of Michael Bath, Michael V. Padua, Michael Pitt, and Chris Landsea): Another website where much information about tropical cyclones may be found is the website for the UK Meteorological Office. Their site contains a lot of statistical information about tropical cyclones globally on a monthly basis. The URL is: TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORTS AVAILABLE JTWC now has available on its website the Annual Tropical Cyclone Report (ATCR) for 2006 (2005-2006 season for the Southern Hemisphere). ATCRs for earlier years are available also. The URL is: Also, TPC/NHC has available on its webpage nice "technicolor" tracking charts for the 2007 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific tropical cyclones; also, storm reports for all the 2007 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific cyclones are now available, as well as track charts and reports on storms from earlier years. The URL is: A special thanks to Michael Bath of McLeans Ridges, New South Wales, Australia, for assisting me with proofreading the summaries. PREPARED BY Gary Padgett E-mail: garyp@alaweb.com Phone: 334-222-5327 Kevin Boyle (Northwest Pacific) E-mail: newchapelobservatory@btinternet.com ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* Posted: 06.11.08 / Typhoon2000.ph, Typhoon2000.com