GLOBAL TROPICAL CYCLONE TRACKS/SUMMARY - MAY 2009 !!!! IMPORTANT -- PLEASE SEE NOTE AT END OF FILE !!!! MAY HIGHLIGHTS -------------- --> Two typhoons form in Northwest Pacific--one strikes Philippines --> Deadly cyclone strikes India and Bangladesh GLOBAL OVERVIEW --------------- The most active basin during May was the Northwest Pacific, where two typhoons formed early in the month. Typhoon Kujira (Dante) formed just east of the Philippines and tracked off to the northeast, passing north of the Marianas and not too far south of Iwo Jima. Typhoon Chan-hom (Emong) formed at about the same time in the South China Sea and also moved northeastward, striking northwestern Luzon. Also, during the first week of the month, JMA classified a system well east of the Philippines as a tropical depression. A severe cyclonic storm, Aila, formed in the Bay of Bengal and struck India and Bangladesh, causing a considerable number of fatalities. During the final week of the month, a tropical depression formed over warm Gulf Stream waters off the U. S. East Coast but moved on northeastward and out to sea without reaching tropical storm status. No tropical cyclones nor significant tropical LOWs formed in the Southern Hemisphere during May. ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ATLANTIC (ATL) - North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico Sources of Information ---------------------- The track coordinates, central pressure and 1-minute average maximum sustained wind values were obtained from the operational forecast/advisories issued by the Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center located in Miami, Florida. A 1-minute averaging period is the standard used by all U. S. civilian and military warning services for tropical cyclone warnings. Following is the link to the Wikipedia page for the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season. A detailed report for Tropical Depression 01 is already available. Systems Tracked --------------- Tropical LOW (Invest 90L) 17 - 23 May Tropical Depression (01) 25 - 29 May ************************************************************************* Storm Name: None Cyclone Number: None Basin: ATL (Invest 90L) Date Time Lat Lon Cent MSW MSW Remarks (GMT) Press 1-min 10-min (mb) (kts) (kts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 MAY 17 1800 17.5 N 75.8 W 1013 20 NRL data 09 MAY 18 0000 18.9 N 75.6 W 1013 20 09 MAY 18 0600 20.0 N 75.6 W 1012 20 09 MAY 18 1200 21.0 N 75.7 W 1011 20 09 MAY 18 1800 21.9 N 75.8 W 1010 25 09 MAY 19 0000 22.4 N 76.0 W 1010 25 09 MAY 21 1200 25.5 N 86.3 W 1006 25 Missing data 09 MAY 21 1800 25.6 N 86.5 W 1005 25 09 MAY 22 0000 25.8 N 86.7 W 1005 25 09 MAY 22 0600 26.2 N 87.4 W 1005 25 09 MAY 22 1200 26.6 N 87.5 W 1006 25 09 MAY 22 1800 27.0 N 87.6 W 1006 25 09 MAY 23 0000 27.7 N 87.8 W 1006 25 09 MAY 23 0600 28.6 N 88.4 W 1004 30 Note: The above information was sent to the author by Steve Young and is based on NRL data. This system was not classified as a tropical depression, but was close to depression status as it neared the Gulf Coast. The LOW brought significant rainfall amounts to portions of the southern states. The final data point in the track above is well off- shore. The LOW's center made landfall near the Mississippi/Alabama border around 1500 UTC 23 May. There are also some data points missing between 19/0000 and 21/1200 UTC. ************************************************************************* Storm Name: None Cyclone Number: 01 Basin: ATL Date Time Lat Lon Cent MSW MSW Remarks (GMT) Press 1-min 10-min (mb) (kts) (kts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 MAY 25 1200 24.0 N 75.1 W 1009 20 NRL data 09 MAY 25 1800 25.3 N 74.6 W 1009 20 09 MAY 26 0000 26.7 N 74.6 W 1009 20 09 MAY 26 0600 28.0 N 75.0 W 1009 20 09 MAY 26 1200 29.4 N 75.3 W 1009 25 09 MAY 26 1800 30.8 N 75.5 W 1010 25 09 MAY 27 0000 31.9 N 75.5 W 1010 25 09 MAY 27 0600 32.7 N 75.5 W 1010 25 09 MAY 27 1200 33.6 N 75.2 W 1009 25 09 MAY 27 1800 34.4 N 74.6 W 1008 25 09 MAY 28 0000 35.1 N 74.0 W 1007 25 09 MAY 28 0600 36.1 N 72.9 W 1007 25 09 MAY 28 1200 37.1 N 71.5 W 1007 30 First NHC advisory 09 MAY 28 1800 37.4 N 70.2 W 1006 30 09 MAY 29 0000 37.8 N 68.6 W 1006 30 09 MAY 29 0600 38.5 N 67.2 W 1006 30 09 MAY 29 1200 39.3 N 64.9 W 1006 30 09 MAY 29 1800 39.9 N 63.3 W 1006 25 09 MAY 29 2100 40.3 N 62.3 W 1006 25 Note: The pre-advisory information is based on NRL data and was sent to the author by Steve Young. ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* NORTHWEST PACIFIC (NWP) - North Pacific Ocean West of Longitude 180 Sources of Information ---------------------- The track coordinates and 1-minute average maximum sustained wind values in general were taken from operational warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the U. S. Air Force and Navy, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The central pressure and 10-minute average maximum sustained wind estimates for most systems were obtained from warnings issued by the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA), which is the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Specialised Meteor- ological Centre for the basin. In a few instances, information from warnings issued by other Asian warning centers may have been utilized. The center position coordinates from JMA and other centers were com- pared with those from JTWC and annotations made in the Remarks column when the differences in general amounted to 40-50 nm or more. Michael V. Padua of Naga City in the Philippines, owner of the Typhoon 2000 website, sends me cyclone tracks based upon warnings issued by the Japanese Meteorological Agency and the Philippines' Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). A special thanks to Michael for his efforts. Following is the link to the Wikipedia page for the 2009 Pacific Typhoon Season. Detailed reports for Typhoons Kujira and Chan-hom are already available. Following are links to Michael Padua's storm logs for the two May typhoons, plus a tropical depression (Crising) in late April. PAGASA reported this system's winds at 30 kts, but it was not elevated to depression status by either JMA or JTWC. Systems Tracked --------------- Typhoon KUJIRA (01W / 0901 / DANTE) 01 - 11 May Tropical Depression 01 - 04 May Typhoon CHAN-HOM (02W / 0902 / EMONG) 02 - 13 May ************************************************************************* Storm Name: KUJIRA Cyclone Number: 01W Basin: NWP PAGASA Internal Name: DANTE JMA Tropical Storm Number: 0901 Date Time Lat Lon Cent MSW MSW Remarks (GMT) Press 1-min 10-min (mb) (kts) (kts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 MAY 01 0600 13.2 N 124.5 E 1000 30 PAGASA warnings 09 MAY 01 1200 12.7 N 124.2 E 1000 30 JMA < 30 kts 09 MAY 01 1800 13.0 N 124.5 E 1000 30 09 MAY 02 0000 12.8 N 124.4 E 1000 30 09 MAY 02 0600 13.2 N 124.3 E 1000 30 30 PAGASA: 13.7N/124.5E 09 MAY 02 1200 13.4 N 124.5 E 1000 35 30 09 MAY 02 1800 13.7 N 124.5 E 1000 35 30 PAGASA: 14.2N/124.3E 09 MAY 03 0000 13.9 N 124.6 E 998 45 35 09 MAY 03 0600 13.9 N 124.9 E 990 45 45 09 MAY 03 1200 14.8 N 125.9 E 985 45 50 09 MAY 03 1800 15.2 N 126.5 E 980 55 55 09 MAY 04 0000 15.7 N 127.1 E 975 55 60 09 MAY 04 0600 16.5 N 128.3 E 970 70 65 09 MAY 04 1200 16.8 N 129.6 E 955 100 75 09 MAY 04 1800 17.1 N 131.1 E 945 115 80 09 MAY 05 0000 17.5 N 132.7 E 945 105 80 09 MAY 05 0600 18.4 N 134.0 E 945 105 80 09 MAY 05 1200 19.2 N 135.5 E 950 95 75 09 MAY 05 1800 19.5 N 137.1 E 950 100 75 09 MAY 06 0000 20.4 N 138.4 E 950 100 75 09 MAY 06 0600 21.6 N 139.9 E 960 100 70 09 MAY 06 1200 22.7 N 141.7 E 965 85 70 JMA: 22.6N/141.3E 09 MAY 06 1800 24.2 N 142.9 E 975 65 65 09 MAY 07 0000 26.0 N 143.7 E 985 50 50 09 MAY 07 0600 28.0 N 144.9 E 990 45 JMA warnings 09 MAY 07 1200 29.8 N 147.3 E 998 35 09 MAY 07 1800 32.0 N 151.0 E 998 35 Extratropical 09 MAY 08 0000 34.0 N 151.0 E 1000 35 09 MAY 08 0600 37.0 N 151.0 E 1000 35 09 MAY 08 1200 40.0 N 151.0 E 998 40 09 MAY 08 1800 41.0 N 156.0 E 998 40 09 MAY 09 0000 43.0 N 159.0 E 998 35 09 MAY 09 0600 44.0 N 162.0 E 998 35 09 MAY 09 1200 44.0 N 164.0 E 998 35 09 MAY 09 1800 45.0 N 165.0 E 1000 35 09 MAY 10 0000 45.0 N 166.0 E 1002 35 09 MAY 10 0600 46.0 N 166.0 E 1002 35 09 MAY 10 1200 46.0 N 167.0 E 1002 35 09 MAY 10 1800 45.0 N 169.0 E 1002 35 09 MAY 11 0000 45.0 N 170.0 E 1006 35 09 MAY 11 0600 47.0 N 170.0 E 1008 35 09 MAY 11 1200 48.0 N 172.0 E 1008 35 09 MAY 11 1800 48.0 N 172.0 E 1008 30 ************************************************************************* Storm Name: None Cyclone Number: None Basin: NWP PAGASA Internal Name: None JMA Tropical Storm Number: None Date Time Lat Lon Cent MSW MSW Remarks (GMT) Press 1-min 10-min (mb) (kts) (kts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 MAY 01 1200 14.0 N 138.0 E 1006 25 09 MAY 01 1800 15.0 N 138.0 E 1004 25 09 MAY 02 0000 15.0 N 137.0 E 1006 25 09 MAY 02 0600 16.0 N 139.0 E 1004 25 09 MAY 02 1200 16.3 N 140.7 E 1004 30 09 MAY 02 1800 16.3 N 141.6 E 1004 30 09 MAY 03 0000 16.6 N 141.3 E 1004 30 09 MAY 03 0600 17.2 N 139.8 E 1004 30 09 MAY 03 1200 17.0 N 141.0 E 1002 25 09 MAY 03 1800 18.0 N 141.0 E 1002 25 09 MAY 04 0000 18.0 N 139.0 E 1006 25 09 MAY 04 0600 19.0 N 139.0 E 1004 25 09 MAY 04 1200 20.0 N 139.0 E 1006 25 ************************************************************************* Storm Name: CHAN-HOM Cyclone Number: 02w Basin: NWP PAGASA Internal Name: EMONG JMA Tropical Storm Number: 0902 Date Time Lat Lon Cent MSW MSW Remarks (GMT) Press 1-min 10-min (mb) (kts) (kts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 MAY 02 1800 10.0 N 111.0 E 1006 25 JMA bulletins 09 MAY 03 0000 9.7 N 111.5 E 1004 30 09 MAY 03 0600 9.7 N 111.5 E 1004 30 09 MAY 03 1200 9.9 N 111.6 E 998 30 35 09 MAY 03 1800 10.2 N 111.9 E 996 35 35 09 MAY 04 0000 10.6 N 112.3 E 996 40 35 09 MAY 04 0600 10.9 N 112.4 E 990 45 45 09 MAY 04 1200 11.3 N 112.0 E 990 40 45 09 MAY 04 1800 11.8 N 112.1 E 990 45 45 JMA: 11.3N/112.1E 09 MAY 05 0000 11.6 N 112.0 E 985 55 50 09 MAY 05 0600 12.1 N 111.7 E 985 55 50 09 MAY 05 1200 13.0 N 112.4 E 985 55 50 JMA: 12.7N/111.7E 09 MAY 05 1800 13.3 N 112.3 E 975 55 60 09 MAY 06 0000 13.9 N 113.5 E 975 60 60 JMA: 13.5N/113.0E 09 MAY 06 0600 14.2 N 114.0 E 975 55 60 09 MAY 06 1200 14.6 N 115.0 E 975 60 60 09 MAY 06 1800 14.9 N 116.0 E 970 70 65 09 MAY 07 0000 15.3 N 117.5 E 960 70 75 09 MAY 07 0600 15.8 N 118.7 E 960 85 75 09 MAY 07 1200 16.5 N 120.2 E 960 75 75 09 MAY 07 1800 17.3 N 120.8 E 980 25 55 Inlnd/JMA: 17.0N/122.1E 09 MAY 08 0000 16.9 N 123.5 E 980 55 55 JMA: 17.4N/123.1E 09 MAY 08 0600 17.2 N 124.9 E 985 45 50 JMA: 17.4N/124.0E 09 MAY 08 1200 16.8 N 126.8 E 990 40 45 JMA: 17.3N/125.2E 09 MAY 08 1800 16.9 N 127.2 E 994 30 40 JMA: 17.3N/125.8E 09 MAY 09 0000 17.3 N 127.5 E 998 25 30 JMA: 17.0N/128.0E 09 MAY 09 0600 17.0 N 128.0 E 1000 25 JMA warning 09 MAY 09 1200 18.0 N 129.0 E 1002 25 " 09 MAY 09 1800 19.0 N 129.0 E 1004 25 " 09 MAY 10 0000 18.9 N 127.7 E 1006 25 25 JMA: 20.0N/127.0E 09 MAY 10 0600 19.6 N 128.0 E 1006 25 25 09 MAY 10 1200 20.7 N 127.8 E 1006 25 25 09 MAY 10 1800 20.6 N 127.3 E 1006 25 25 09 MAY 11 0000 21.6 N 127.1 E 1006 25 25 09 MAY 11 0600 21.7 N 126.7 E 1006 20 25 09 MAY 11 1200 22.0 N 126.0 E 1008 20 JMA warnings 09 MAY 11 1800 23.0 N 126.0 E 1008 20 09 MAY 12 0000 24.0 N 127.0 E 1010 20 09 MAY 12 0600 24.0 N 127.0 E 1008 20 09 MAY 12 1200 25.0 N 128.0 E 1008 20 09 MAY 12 1800 25.0 N 128.0 E 1008 20 09 MAY 13 0000 26.0 N 129.0 E 1008 20 ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* NORTH INDIAN OCEAN (NIO) - Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea Sources of Information ---------------------- The track coordinates and 1-minute average maximum sustained wind values in general were taken from operational warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the U. S. Air Force and Navy, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Occasionally some information may have been gleaned from the daily tropical weather outlooks and other bulletins issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), which is the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Specialised Meteor- ological Centre for the basin. The reported maximum sustained winds are based on a 1-minute averaging period, which is used by all U. S. civilian and military weather services for tropical cyclone warnings. For synoptic observations in the North Indian Ocean region, both 10-minute and 3-minute average winds are employed, but IMD makes no attempt to modify the Dvorak scale for estimating tropical cyclone intensity; hence, a 1-minute average MSW is implied. Following is the link to the Wikipedia page for the 2009 North Indian Ocean Cyclone Season. A detailed report for Severe Cyclonic Storm Aila is already available. Systems Tracked --------------- Severe Cyclonic Storm AILA (02B) 23 - 26 May ************************************************************************* Storm Name: AILA Cyclone Number: 02B Basin: NIO Date Time Lat Lon Cent MSW MSW Remarks (GMT) Press 1-min 10-min (mb) (kts) (kts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 MAY 23 0600 16.5 N 88.0 E 998 25 IMD bulletins 09 MAY 23 1200 16.5 N 88.0 E 994 25 09 MAY 23 1800 17.0 N 88.5 E 996 25 09 MAY 24 0000 18.1 N 88.5 E 996 35 JTWC warnings/IMD-25 kts 09 MAY 24 0600 18.4 N 88.4 E 35 IMD: 30 kts 09 MAY 24 1200 18.3 N 88.4 E 986 45 Named CS Aila 09 MAY 24 1800 19.4 N 87.7 E 45 JTWC satellite bulletin 09 MAY 25 0000 20.3 N 88.1 E 55 09 MAY 25 0600 21.6 N 88.3 E 65 IMD: 50-55 kts 09 MAY 25 1200 22.9 N 88.2 E 980 55 09 MAY 25 1800 24.2 N 88.5 E 40 09 MAY 26 0000 26.2 N 88.5 E 1000 30 NRL data 09 MAY 26 0600 26.8 N 88.9 E 1004 25 " ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* 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: *************************************************************************** ************************************************************************* !!!!!! IMPORTANT NOTE - PLEASE READ !!!!!! To repeat the caveat which is included in the Author's Note at the end of the cyclone summaries--the tropical cyclone tracks I prepare are based upon the operational warnings/advisories/ advices/bulletins which are issued by the various tropical cyclone warning agencies around the world. Users of these tracks should be aware that they are preliminary and subject to revision during post-seasonal analyses of the cyclones by the forecasters and analysts at the several warning centers. For the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific basins, official tropical cyclone reports and "best tracks" can be found at the website of the Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov> The Joint Typhoon Warning Center's website contains links to their Annual Tropical Cyclone Reports which include that agency's "best tracks" for tropical cyclones in the Northwest Pacific basin, the North Indian Ocean, and the Southern Hemisphere: https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php> SPECIAL NOTE: Back issues of the global tropical cyclone summaries and monthly cyclone track files can be obtained at the following websites: ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/landsea/padgett/> http://australiasevereweather.com/cyclones/> http://www.typhoon2000.ph/archives.htm> http://mpittweather.com> PREPARED BY: Gary Padgett garyp@alaweb.com SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS BY: Michael V. Padua supertyphoon@gmail.com webmaster@typhoon2000.ph ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* Posted: 07.21.09 / Typhoon2000.ph, Typhoon2000.com