Well, in the wake of Katrina, I figured a hurricane topic was appropriate enough, especially as this looks to be a busy season.
I'll reserve the first few posts of this thread to keep updated information on the hurricane situation in the Atlantic.
Some basic terms, courtesy of wiki.
TROPICAL WAVE (or easterly wave) : A tropical wave is an area of cloudliness and thunderstorms moving off the west coast of Africa during the spring, summer and fall. They often form into tropical cyclones in the atlantic.
TROPICAL CYCLONES : A tropical cyclone is a low pressure system forming over the open sea, which, depending on the exact strength, can be classified as a tropical depression, a tropical storm, or (as if you didn'T know it was coming), a hurricane (or typhoon on the other big pond).
Depressions have winds of less than 38 MPH. At this level they are known by simple numbering (ie, the fifteenth cyclone of the season is "tropical depression fifteen."
Storms have winds up to 73 MPH. A cyclone reaching this level is given a proper name (ie, "Arlene", "Katrina", "Maria", etc)
Category 1 Hurricanes have winds up to 95 MPH
C-2 go up to 110 MPH.
C-3 go up to 130 MPH
C-4 go up to 155 MPH
C-5 is anything above C-4. (These are known as Super-Typhoon in the Pacific)
While hurricanes are the most devastating of the lot, one should not underestimate a tropical storm : Tropical Storm Arlene caused several billions USD worth of flooding damage in Houston only a few years ago. (Of course, it is also an extreme example, and the only tropical storm to have had its name retired).
STORM NAMES
When a cyclone reaches Tropical Storm level, it receives a name.
This name is picked from an alphabetical list, alternatign between male and female name (ie, A is a girl, B is a guy, C is a girl, etc. Hence we now have Katrina, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia.... The male/female order reverse every year).
Each of the existing names list is reused every six years (ie, the present list was used in 1999, 93, 87, 81 - another naming system was used prior), although famous storms or hurricanes have their names retired from the lists and replaced by alternate names.
Frances is a case in point : there were hurricane or tropical storm named Frances (Hurricane in all cases but 1998, actually) in 1980, 86, 92, 98 and 2004. There will NOT be one in 2010, however, as Frances has been retired in the wake of the 2004 Hurricane of that name; the F name for 2010 (and possibly 2016, 2022, etc) will be Fiona. (Needless to say, we're not TOO likely to have Katrina on the 2011 list, either, though the official announcement on retired names will be in spring 2006)
The 2005 names list as it stands (and how they've been used so far) :
(Italic means that the system is a current one. IE, it's forming, changing, moving right this moment. The information is thus liable to change. Capitalized names means an hurricane. Strength listed is the strongest they reached).
Arlene (Storm, mid-June)
Bret (Storm, late June)
Cindy (Storm, early july)
DENNIS (C-4, early july, struck Haiti, Cuba, Florida)
EMILY (C-4, early july, stuck Yucatan, then northern Mexico)
Franklin (Storm, late july)
Gert (Storm, late july)
Harvey (Storm, early August)
IRENE (C-2, mid-august, no landfall)
Jose (Storm, late august)
KATRINA (C-5, late august, Struck Florida, then Gulf Coast)
Lee (Storm, early september)
MARIA (C-3, early September, no landfall)
NATE (C-1, early September, no landfall)
OPHELIA (C-1, early september, North Carolina landfall)
PHILIPPE (C-1, mid-september, no landfall)
RITA (C-5, mid-september, Struck Florida, then the Gulf Coast)
STAN (C-1, early October, Mexico landfall)
Tammy (Storm, early October, Florida landfall)
VINCE (C-1, mid-October, Iberian landfall)
WILMA (C-5, mid-October, Yucatan, Florida Landfall)
Alpha (Storm, late October, Hispaniola landfall)
BETA (C-3, late October, Nicaragua landfall)
Gamma (Storm, mid-November, latin america landfall)
Delta (Storm, late november, Azores landfall)
EPSILON (C-1, late november, no landfall expected)
(If we run out of names, the letters of the greek alphabet will be used)
(Incidentally, yes, that means we have a bad year so far, with 3 C-4 or above hurricanes before september (which is the usual hurricane month)
Other tropical depressions.
So far this year only one tropical depression (ten) failed to achieve storm status. This is debatable, however, as remnants of tropical depression 10 combined with another tropical wave to form tropical depression 12 over the southeastern Bahamas : TD12 would go on to reach storm intensity on August 24, and Hurricane on 25. (For the two of you who haven't picked it up yet : Yes, Tropical Depression Twelve = Katrina)
Tropical Depression Nineteen in late september also did not reach name level.
I'll reserve the first few posts of this thread to keep updated information on the hurricane situation in the Atlantic.
Some basic terms, courtesy of wiki.
TROPICAL WAVE (or easterly wave) : A tropical wave is an area of cloudliness and thunderstorms moving off the west coast of Africa during the spring, summer and fall. They often form into tropical cyclones in the atlantic.
TROPICAL CYCLONES : A tropical cyclone is a low pressure system forming over the open sea, which, depending on the exact strength, can be classified as a tropical depression, a tropical storm, or (as if you didn'T know it was coming), a hurricane (or typhoon on the other big pond).
Depressions have winds of less than 38 MPH. At this level they are known by simple numbering (ie, the fifteenth cyclone of the season is "tropical depression fifteen."
Storms have winds up to 73 MPH. A cyclone reaching this level is given a proper name (ie, "Arlene", "Katrina", "Maria", etc)
Category 1 Hurricanes have winds up to 95 MPH
C-2 go up to 110 MPH.
C-3 go up to 130 MPH
C-4 go up to 155 MPH
C-5 is anything above C-4. (These are known as Super-Typhoon in the Pacific)
While hurricanes are the most devastating of the lot, one should not underestimate a tropical storm : Tropical Storm Arlene caused several billions USD worth of flooding damage in Houston only a few years ago. (Of course, it is also an extreme example, and the only tropical storm to have had its name retired).
STORM NAMES
When a cyclone reaches Tropical Storm level, it receives a name.
This name is picked from an alphabetical list, alternatign between male and female name (ie, A is a girl, B is a guy, C is a girl, etc. Hence we now have Katrina, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia.... The male/female order reverse every year).
Each of the existing names list is reused every six years (ie, the present list was used in 1999, 93, 87, 81 - another naming system was used prior), although famous storms or hurricanes have their names retired from the lists and replaced by alternate names.
Frances is a case in point : there were hurricane or tropical storm named Frances (Hurricane in all cases but 1998, actually) in 1980, 86, 92, 98 and 2004. There will NOT be one in 2010, however, as Frances has been retired in the wake of the 2004 Hurricane of that name; the F name for 2010 (and possibly 2016, 2022, etc) will be Fiona. (Needless to say, we're not TOO likely to have Katrina on the 2011 list, either, though the official announcement on retired names will be in spring 2006)
The 2005 names list as it stands (and how they've been used so far) :
(Italic means that the system is a current one. IE, it's forming, changing, moving right this moment. The information is thus liable to change. Capitalized names means an hurricane. Strength listed is the strongest they reached).
Arlene (Storm, mid-June)
Bret (Storm, late June)
Cindy (Storm, early july)
DENNIS (C-4, early july, struck Haiti, Cuba, Florida)
EMILY (C-4, early july, stuck Yucatan, then northern Mexico)
Franklin (Storm, late july)
Gert (Storm, late july)
Harvey (Storm, early August)
IRENE (C-2, mid-august, no landfall)
Jose (Storm, late august)
KATRINA (C-5, late august, Struck Florida, then Gulf Coast)
Lee (Storm, early september)
MARIA (C-3, early September, no landfall)
NATE (C-1, early September, no landfall)
OPHELIA (C-1, early september, North Carolina landfall)
PHILIPPE (C-1, mid-september, no landfall)
RITA (C-5, mid-september, Struck Florida, then the Gulf Coast)
STAN (C-1, early October, Mexico landfall)
Tammy (Storm, early October, Florida landfall)
VINCE (C-1, mid-October, Iberian landfall)
WILMA (C-5, mid-October, Yucatan, Florida Landfall)
Alpha (Storm, late October, Hispaniola landfall)
BETA (C-3, late October, Nicaragua landfall)
Gamma (Storm, mid-November, latin america landfall)
Delta (Storm, late november, Azores landfall)
EPSILON (C-1, late november, no landfall expected)
(If we run out of names, the letters of the greek alphabet will be used)
(Incidentally, yes, that means we have a bad year so far, with 3 C-4 or above hurricanes before september (which is the usual hurricane month)
Other tropical depressions.
So far this year only one tropical depression (ten) failed to achieve storm status. This is debatable, however, as remnants of tropical depression 10 combined with another tropical wave to form tropical depression 12 over the southeastern Bahamas : TD12 would go on to reach storm intensity on August 24, and Hurricane on 25. (For the two of you who haven't picked it up yet : Yes, Tropical Depression Twelve = Katrina)
Tropical Depression Nineteen in late september also did not reach name level.
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