[Index]
Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary November 1998
[Summaries and Track Data] [Prepared by Gary Padgett]
| Tropical
Cyclones
[Index] |
Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary November 1998 [Summaries and Track Data] [Prepared by Gary Padgett] |
MONTHLY GLOBAL TROPICAL CYCLONE SUMMARY
NOVEMBER, 1998
(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.)
***********************************************************************
NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
--> Two hurricanes form in Bay of Bengal / one makes landfall in India
--> Three tropical storms affect southern Vietnam
***********************************************************************
CORRECTIONS and ADDENDA to the OCTOBER and Earlier Summaries
I have received from several persons e-mail pointing out some
inaccuracies in the information presented in the October summary, as
well as some additional and/or clarifying information for the October
and earlier summaries. A thanks to all those who wrote and pointed
out these items.
(1) Relationship between NWP cyclones Alex and Zeb--John Wallace
thought it should be mentioned that tiny Alex was absorbed by
the larger and stronger Zeb. I was aware that Alex was indeed
absorbed into Zeb but failed to explicitly mention that fact.
(2) Rainfall in Texas resulting from NEP Hurricane Madeline--John
Wallace also informed me that moisture carried northeast into
Texas from Hurricane Madeline was responsible (at least in part)
for some very heavy rainfall in the San Antonio area. A slow-
moving cold front helped to trigger the rains, which amounted to
330-380 mm during the extended weekend. John also pointed out
that the death toll attributed to the rains of Tropical Storm
Charley in August has been placed at 21--a few more than the 17
reported in the August summary.
(3) Information on Hurricane Georges--Juan Sebastian Lebron Delgado of
Puerto Rico wrote to clarify that not all the information he'd sent
me on Georges' effects came from the newspaper _El Nuevo Dia_.
The interview with a Dominican consul was aired on radio, and some
of the other information came from various television programs.
Juan also mentioned a website which contains some detailed Georges
rainfall amounts from Puerto Rico:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/special/georges2.txt>
(4) Correction to the NCDC website address for Hurricane Mitch--Gert
van Dijken pointed out an error I'd made in reporting this site for
information on Mitch. The correct address is:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/reports/mitch.html> (NOT "htm")
(5) Special "Mitch Fact Sheet" on the UK website--Julian Heming
notified me that he'd prepared a special Fact Sheet on Hurricane
Mitch on the website for the UK Meteorological Office. The
URL is:
http://www.met-office.gov.uk/sec2/sec2cyclone/sec2cyclone.html>
(6) Boundary between Perth's and Darwin's AORs--Geoff Garden wrote to
inform me that the boundary between the areas of warning responsi-
bility of the Perth and Darwin TCWCs was 125E and not 129E as I'd
reported. The boundary between Western Australia and the Northern
Territory is indeed at 129E, but since the major population center
of Darwin lies at about 131E, in order to allow a larger "margin
of comfort" the Darwin TCWC's AOR extends 4 degrees westward along
the Western Australian coast. The coastal area near 125E is
extremely sparsely populated.
(7) Additional tracking information for Mitch--Steve Young passed
along a portion of a U. S. Navy track for Hurricane Mitch which
includes some coordinates for the period when Mitch was overland
and TPC/NHC had ceased issuing advisories. I am including the
relevant portion of that track below. However, keep in mind that
TPC/NHC ceased writing advisories when all indications were that
there was no longer an identifiable surface circulation, so these
positions may just reflect the central area of the weak, upper-
level remnants of the circulation for at least a portion of this
time frame.
MITCH - Track from Nov 02/0000 UTC through 03/1200 UTC
DATE TIME LAT LON MSW (1-min)
--------------------------------------------------
98 NOV 02 0000 16.2 N 92.6 W 25
98 NOV 02 0600 17.2 N 93.0 W 20
98 NOV 02 1200 17.9 N 93.4 W 20
98 NOV 02 1800 18.8 N 93.7 W 25
98 NOV 03 0000 19.2 N 93.4 W 25
98 NOV 03 0600 19.3 N 92.6 W 30
98 NOV 03 1200 19.3 N 92.0 W 30
***********************************************************************
ACTIVITY BY BASINS
ATLANTIC (ATL) - North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico
Activity for November: 1 hurricane
NOTE: Much of the information presented below was obtained from the
TPC/NHC discussion bulletins issued with every regular advisory. All
references to sustained winds imply a 1-min averaging period unless
otherwise noted.
Hurricane Nicole (TC #14)
24 November - 2 December
--------------------------
Hurricane Nicole evolved from a non-tropical LOW in the eastern
Atlantic in late November. The Tropical Weather Outlook issued by
TPC/NHC on the afternoon of 23 Nov mentioned that a low-pressure
system about 525 nm west of the Canary Islands was moving southwest
and showing some signs of convective organization. By early on
24 Nov the LOW was located about 625 nm west of the Canaries and
displayed a tightly-wrapped convective band around the center.
Dvorak intensity estimates were 35 kts so the LOW was upgraded to
Tropical Storm Nicole in a special advisory at 1200 UTC. Shortly
afterward a ship (call sign PFSJ) reported winds of 36 kts just
north of the center, thereby confirming the satellite estimate.
Nicole was located near the center of a large upper-level cyclone
where shear was light. Convection was well-organized but was
relatively shallow. Initially, Nicole was a small tropical storm
with tropical storm force winds extending out only 50 nm.
During the afternoon of the 24th an eye-like feature was seen
intermittently in the very small convective cloud pattern accompanying
Nicole. At 1800 UTC the same ship mentioned above reported winds
to 58 kts northwest of the center, so the MSW was increased to 60 kts.
Nicole continued moving to the west-southwest, gradually turning to
a more westerly course. On 25 Nov the storm began to encounter
westerly shear and steadily weakened. Ship reports indicated that
the radius of tropical storm force winds had expanded considerably
out to 125 nm in the northern semi-circle.
Nicole was downgraded to a depression at 26/0900 UTC and was
dropped from advisory status six hours later as the system was moving
into a region with upper-level westerlies of 50-60 kts. However,
the weak remnant survived this hostile shear and by early on the
27th was showing signs of regeneration. Advisories were re-initiated
at 1200 UTC on 27 Nov and Nicole was re-classified as a tropical storm
with 40-kt winds six hours later. The system developed an anticyclone
at upper levels with good outflow and the MSW reached 50 kts by 0600
UTC on the 28th. Nicole had been moving westward but began to curve
around to the west-northwest about this time.
The recurvature continued and Nicole reached the westernmost point
in its track about 1800 UTC when it was centered about 1000 nm east-
southeast of Bermuda. Some upper-level shearing weakened the storm
late on the 28th and early on the 29th, but as Nicole completed its
recurvature and began moving to the northeast, upper diffluent flow
helped to mitigate the effects of the shear and the cyclone began to
slowly re-intensify once more. An eye-like feature began to appear
on the afternoon of 29 Nov, and by 30/0000 UTC a ragged eye had
become visible. With Dvorak T-numbers being 3.5 and 4.0, Nicole
was upgraded to a hurricane at 0300 UTC.
Around 1200 UTC on 30 Nov DMSP microwave data showed a rather well-
defined eye surrounded by fairly deep convection. SSTs in the area
were running about 1-2 degrees C above normal. Nicole reached its
peak intensity of 75 kts MSW at 0000 UTC on 1 Dec a few hundred miles
southwest of the Azores. The hurricane then accelerated to the north
and passed west of the islands as it began to weaken. TPC/NHC issued
the last advisory at 1500 UTC, downgrading Nicole to a tropical storm
located about 150 nm west-northwest of the northwestern Azores. The
storm continued rapidly northward and merged with a baroclinic zone
and developing storm in the North Atlantic.
It is not often that an Atlantic tropical cyclone exists on the
charts during the month of December. The last such occurrence was
Tropical Storm Karen in 1989. Karen formed at the very end of November
in the Northwest Caribbean Sea, being named on the 30th, and meandered
about in the same general area until it dissipated on 4 Dec. The last
hurricane to exist in the Atlantic in December was Hurricane Lili of
1984. Lili evolved from a persistent subtropical storm which described
a large loop in its track east and southeast of Bermuda. After
it had transitioned into a hurricane, Lili moved for a couple of days
in the general direction of the Leeward Islands where a Hurricane Watch
was issued. The storm remained north of the islands and eventually
dissipated near Hispaniola on Christmas Eve.
***********************************************************************
NORTHEAST PACIFIC (NEP) - North Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 180
Activity for November: No tropical cyclones
***********************************************************************
NORTHWEST PACIFIC (NWP) - North Pacific Ocean West of Longitude 180
Activity for November: 3 tropical storms
NOTE: Most of the information on each cyclone's history presented in
the narrative will be based upon JTWC's advisories, and references to
winds should be understood as a 1-min avg MSW unless otherwise noted.
However, in the accompanying tracking document I have made comparisons
of coordinates with JMA (Japan) and the Philippines (PAGASA) when their
positions differed from JTWC's by usually 40-50 nm or more. Also, as
announced earlier in a separate posting, a column of 10-min avg MSW
is included--the values being obtained from either PAGASA's or JMA's
advisories. A special thanks to Michael V. Padua, owner of the Typhoon
'98 webpage, for sending me the PAGASA tracks. Also some information,
primarily on the pre-depression stages of the various cyclones, was
taken from the Monthly Report of the RSMC, Darwin, Northern Territory,
Australia. A special thanks to Peter Bate for forwarding that report
to me.
In the title line for each storm I plan to reference all the cyclone
names/numbers I have available: JTWC's depression number and name (if
any), JMA's tropical storm numeric designator, and PAGASA's name for
systems forming in or passing through their area of responsibility.
Tropical Storm Chip (TC-21W / TS 9812)
11 - 15 November
---------------------------------------
A monsoon trough had become well-established across the South China
Sea by early November, and a veritable parade of generally weaker
tropical cyclones commenced and continued well into December. The
first of these systems formed following a northeasterly monsoon surge
associated with a subtropical ridge over China. JMA classified the
system as a tropical depression at 0000 UTC on 11 Nov with the diffuse
center estimated to be about 460 nm east-southeast of Ho Chi Minh City
in Vietnam. The depression moved on a west-northwesterly course in
the general direction of Vietnam. The depression reached tropical
storm intensity around 12/0600 UTC and was named Chip by JTWC. A
ship report of 35-kt winds over 100 nm from the center was the basis
for upgrading the system to a tropical storm. The storm was centered
about 325 nm east-southeast of Ho Chi Minh City at this time.
Tropical Storm Chip reached a peak intensity of 50 kts at 1200 UTC
on 13 Nov but significant vertical shear limited any further
intensification. As it approached the Vietnamese coast Chip turned
to more of a westerly course. The center of the storm barely reached
the coast around 14/0000 UTC about 125 nm east-northeast of Ho Chi
Minh City near Phan Rang. Chip then began to weaken and drifted
south along the coast. The last JTWC advisory was issued at 0000 UTC
on the 15th with a MSW of 25 kts reported. The lingering weak
low-pressure area moved westward across the Gulf of Thailand, the
Malaysian Peninsula, and emerged into the Andaman Sea where it began
to re-develop. (See the section of this summary covering the North
Indian Ocean basin.)
Although weak, Tropical Storm Chip brought very heavy rains to
portions of southern Vietnam--a region which had experienced heavy
rainfall with extensive flooding during October. The rains of Chip
were responsible for widespread flooding and at least 17 deaths.
Tropical Storm Dawn (TC-22W / TS 9813)
18 - 20 November
---------------------------------------
Another circulation had appeared in the South China Sea by 16 Nov
adjacent to the southern Philippines. This new LOW became better
organized following another northeasterly surge. JTWC issued a
Formation Alert at 18/0030 UTC after receiving a ship report of 25-kt
winds along the northern periphery of the circulation. The first
warnings classifying the system as a tropical depression were issued at
0600 UTC on the 18th by both JMA and JTWC, placing the broad center
roughly 300 nm east of Ho Chi Minh City.
The depression moved on a west-northwesterly course and was upgraded
to Tropical Storm Dawn at 0000 UTC on 19 Nov. Dawn was a rather large,
monsoon depression-type of tropical cyclone. Gales extended out
150 nm to the west of the center and 130 nm elsewhere. The storm
experienced considerable shear throughout its life and exhibited an
exposed low-level center by the time it made landfall in Vietnam.
Dawn reached the coast of Vietnam near Nha Trang--about 175 nm south
of Da Nang--around 1800 UTC on 19 Nov. The weak storm moved inland and
quickly dissipated. The Monthly Report from RSMC Darwin indicates
that over 100 lives were lost due to the effects of Dawn--presumably
from flooding.
The Darwin Monthly Report implies that only JTWC classified Dawn as
a tropical storm. Several agencies in the Northwest Pacific area
issue warnings independently of each other. I simply do not have the
time to examine all the warnings which may be issued--some are not
always available to me--so I normally consult only warnings from JTWC,
JMA, and PAGASA for the Northwest Pacific basin. In the case of
Dawn, PAGASA did not issue warnings as the system formed west of their
AOR. However, JMA (who is the RSMC for the NWP basin) did classify
Dawn as a tropical storm (TS 9813) with a MSW (10-min) of 35 kts.
Tropical Storm Elvis/Miding (TC-23W / TS 9814)
22 - 26 November
-----------------------------------------------
A new LOW formed in the active monsoon trough to the east of the
Philippine island of Mindanao on 20 Nov and tracked west-northwestward
across the archipelago over the next three days. PAGASA initiated
advisories on 22 Nov at 1800 UTC when the system was located in the
vicinity of the Leyte Gulf about 400 nm southeast of Manila. The
depression, named Miding, drifted west-northwestward and into the
South China Sea. The system was upgraded to Tropical Storm Miding
at 0000 UTC on 24 Nov when located about 275 nm southwest of Manila.
(At this time JMA's MSW was 30 kts, and JTWC had not even initiated
warnings--another good illustration of the uncertainties inherent
in tropical cyclone intensity analysis from remote sensing.)
Miding, which was a classic monsoon depression tropical cyclone,
continued moving westward and had moved out of PAGASA's AOR by 1200
UTC. JTWC began issuing warnings at 0600 UTC upon receipt of a ship
report of 20-kt winds (10-min avg) south of the center. JMA
classified Miding as TS 9814 at 1200 UTC with 35-kt MSW (10-min).
JTWC finally upgraded the system to Tropical Storm Elvis at 0000 UTC
on 25 Nov after receiving a ship report of 45-kt winds. The 45-kt
MSW reported in the first JTWC warning represents the peak intensity
of Elvis. The storm existed in an environment of easterly shear and
did not strengthen further.
Tropical Storm Elvis continued on a general west-northwesterly
course and made landfall on the Vietnamese coast about 75 nm south
of Da Nang around 25/0000 UTC. The storm no doubt added to the
already serious flooding problems in the region, but the author has
not learned of any casualty figures directly associated with Tropical
Storm Elvis.
***********************************************************************
NORTH INDIAN OCEAN (NIO) - Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea
Activity for November: 2 tropical cyclones of hurricane intensity
NOTE: The tracking and intensity information for North Indian Ocean
Basin tropical cyclones is based primarily upon operational warnings
from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center of the U.S. Air Force and Navy
(JTWC) on the island of Guam. For weaker systems not in warning
status by JTWC, information gleaned from the twice-daily issuances
of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) was used to complete
the tracks. These bulletins usually give analyzed center positions
at either 0300 or 0600 UTC and 1200 or 1500 UTC.
The MSW are based on a 1-min 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 region,
both 10-min and 3-min average winds are employed, but IMD makes no
attempt to modify the Dvorak scale for estimating tropical cyclone
intensity; hence, a 1-min avg MSW is implied. In the North Indian
basin JTWC usually does not initiate warnings until a system is
well-organized and likely to attain tropical storm status within
48 hours.
In addition to the two cyclones discussed below, there was another
tropical LOW in the Arabian Sea in mid-month which exhibited a somewhat
well-organized appearance in satellite imagery, although it was quite
small. The system tracked westward from the central Arabian Sea near
11.0 N, 64.0 E early on 11 Nov to a location off the Somalia coast near
9.5 N, 54.5 E by 14 Nov. Both JTWC and IMD mentioned this disturbance
in their daily Tropical Weather Outlooks but neither classified it as
a depression.
Tropical Cyclone (TC-06B)
13 - 16 November
--------------------------
A circulation was identified in the North Indian monsoon trough on
10 Nov near 10.0 N, 90.0 E. The system drifted slowly northwestward
over the next few days. IMD first mentioned this system on 13 Nov when
it was located in the west-central Bay of Bengal. By the 14th the LOW
was approaching the upper-level ridge axis and a region of weaker
vertical shear. Early on 14 Nov a period of rapid development ensued,
and JTWC issued the first warning for a 55-kt tropical cyclone at
at 0600 UTC centered about 250 nm southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra
Pradesh state.
The cyclone continued on its northwesterly course and steadily
intensified. The storm made landfall about 25 nm southwest of
Visakhapatnam around 1200 UTC on 15 Nov with the MSW estimated at
85 kts. Once inland the cyclone began to rapidly dissipate as it
continued northwestward across the Indian subcontinent. At least two
deaths were reported as well as extensive crop and property damage in
Andhra Pradesh state. (This information taken from the RSMC Darwin
Monthly Report.)
Tropical Cyclone (TC-07B)
17 - 23 November
--------------------------
After dissipating off the coast of Vietnam, the remnants of former
Tropical Storm Chip moved westward across the extreme southern tip of
Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand, the Malaysian Peninsula, and emerged
over the Andaman Sea on 17 Nov. The system was initially located in
a region of strong vertical shear and was very slow to re-organize.
JTWC issued three separate Formation Alerts for this system. The LOW
had been moving westward along the periphery of an upper-level
subtropical ridge to the north, but on the 18th its movement slowed and
the disturbance began to track more to the northwest, gradually
accelerating. It also was moving into a region of decreased vertical
shear, and early on 20 Nov reached tropical cyclone status with 35-kt
winds about 550 nm south of Calcutta.
The cyclone continued to steadily intensify as it approached the
west coast of India and gradually began to turn to the north. The
storm passed about 200 nm east of Visakhapatnam around 21/1200 UTC.
Peak intensity of 75 kts was reached about this time as the cyclone
began to recurve toward the northeast. However, as the storm reached
the upper reaches of the Bay of Bengal it began to encounter strong
upper-level southwesterlies which quickly sheared the convection away
from the low-level center. The cyclone began to rapidly weaken and
was at best only a minimal tropical storm, possibly only a depression,
as it made landfall along the Bangladesh coast about 50 nm west of
Chittagong. A storm surge and flash flooding inundated many coastal
communities in Bangladesh and more than 100 fishermen were reported
missing. (This information taken from the RSMC Darwin Monthly Report.)
Normally, whenever a cyclone moves from the Northwest Pacific basin
into the North Indian Ocean basin, JTWC continues to apply the NWP
cyclone number (and name if it were a named storm)--an example being
Typhoon Linda of November, 1997. The connection of TC-07B with
former Tropical Storm Chip perhaps was not quite as obvious. I have
based my report of this connection upon the Monthly Report from the
Darwin TCWC. Also, a gentleman who is a tropical cyclone enthusiast,
Matthew Saxby of Canberra, Australia, sent me some of the JTWC Tropical
Weather Outlooks and Formation Alerts (which I had somehow missed
archiving) which support the connection between Chip and the Indian
Ocean cyclone. (A special thanks to Matthew for bringing this matter
to my attention.)
***********************************************************************
SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN (SIO) - South Indian Ocean West of Longitude 90E
Activity for November: No tropical cyclones
***********************************************************************
AUSTRALIAN REGION (AUG) - From Longitude 90E Eastward to Longitude 160E
Activity for November: 1 tropical cyclone of storm intensity
The primary source of information for Australian Region tropical
cyclones are the warnings and bulletins issued by the three TCWC's
at Perth, Darwin, and Brisbane. Information gleaned from JTWC's
warnings is used as a supplement for times when it was impossible to
obtain Australian bulletins and for comparison purposes. Additionally,
some information came from the Monthly Report of the RSMC at Darwin,
Northern Territory. References to sustained winds should be
understood as being based on a 10-min averaging period unless
otherwise noted.
Tropical Cyclone Alison (TC-04S)
8 - 13 November
---------------------------------
The second early-season tropical cyclone in the Australian Region
developed in a well-defined Near Equatorial Trough and shear line
which had persisted over the South Indian Ocean for several months.
A tropical LOW with a distinct cloud signature was evident to the
northeast of Cocos Island as early as 5 Nov. The system was located
near a ridge axis but there was sufficient vertical shear over the
center to inhibit intensification. However, by 8 Nov the shear had
relaxed enough to allow a separate outflow to form over the LOW and
it intensified quite rapidly into Tropical Cyclone Alison. At 0400
UTC on the 8th the system was located about 130 nm northeast of
Cocos Island and was moving to the south-southwest. Six hours later
the MSW had reached 40 kts and Alison was christened.
The cyclone passed only about 25 nm south of Cocos around 2200 UTC
on 8 Nov. A 10-min sustained wind of 34 kts with gusts to 47 kts was
reported from the island weather station (WMO 96996). Tropical Cyclone
Alison moved on a fairly straight course in a southwesterly direction
throughout most of its life. Peak MSW of 60 kts occurred on 9 and 10
Nov. (JTWC's estimated peak 1-min avg MSW of 70 kts is in excellent
agreement with the Perth TCWC's peak 10-min avg MSW.)
Alison continued on its southwesterly course and by 11 Nov moved
through a weakness in the upper-level ridge, subsequently encountering
stronger vertical shear and cooler SSTs. The cyclone steadily
weakened during 11 and 12 Nov. Visible satellite imagery at
1030 UTC showed a tightly-wrapped exposed low-level circulation center.
By 1300 UTC essentially all the deep convection had been sheared away
to the southeast. Perth issued the last warning at 1600 UTC on the
12th, placing the weakening cyclone with 40-kt peak winds about 575 nm
southwest of Cocos Island. JTWC issued one more warning (at 13/0000
UTC), tracking the weak center west-northwestward across 90E and into
the South Indian Ocean basin. However, the system was rapidly falling
apart and the author is not aware of any bulletins concerning Alison
released by the TCWC's at La Reunion and/or Mauritius.
***********************************************************************
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (SWP) - South Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 160E
Activity for November: No tropical cyclones
***********************************************************************
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 July summary.
Since this summary is considerably shorter than the previous two have
been, I am repeating the glossary at the end of this issue following
the Author's Note.
***********************************************************************
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
in the following manner:
(a) FTP to: hrd-type42.nhc.noaa.gov [140.90.176.206]
(b) Login as: anonymous
(c) For a password use your e-mail address
(d) Go to "data" subdirectory (Type: cd data)
(e) Set file type to ASCII (Type: ascii)
(f) Transfer file (Type: get remote_file_name local_file_name )
(The files will be named with an obvious nomenclature--using
November as an example: nov98.tracks)
(g) To exit FTP, type: quit
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. If anyone wishes to retrieve any of the previous summaries,
they may be downloaded from the aforementioned FTP site at HRD. The
summary files are catalogued with the nomenclature: nov98.sum, for
example.
Back issues can also be obtained from the following websites
(courtesy of Michael Bath, Michael V. Padua, and Tom Berg):
http://australiansevereweather.com/cyclones/>
http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/6825> (since January only)
http://www.hcane.com/tropcl.html>
Another website where much information about tropical cyclones may
be found is the website for the UK Meteorological Office. Their site
contains a lot of statistical information about tropical cyclones
globally on a monthly basis. The URL is:
http://www.met-office.gov.uk/sec2/sec2cyclone/sec2cyclone.html>
The preliminary storm reports for all the 1997 Atlantic and Eastern
North Pacific tropical cyclones are available on the Tropical
Prediction Center's website: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov> . These
reports include the analyzed best-track for each cyclone. The staff
of JTWC is also working on an on-line version of their Annual Tropical
Cyclone Report for 1997. It is still under construction, but the
best-track files are already available for 1997 Northwestern Pacific
and North Indian Ocean cyclones. The URL is:
http://www.npmocw.navy.mil/npmocw/prods/jtwc.html>
Prepared by: Gary Padgett
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 334-222-5327 (nights & weekends) / 850-882-2594 (weekdays)
***********************************************************************
GLOSSARY of ABBREVIATIONS and ACRONYMS
AOML/HRD - Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory/
Hurricane Research Division, located on Virginia Key, Miami,
Florida, U.S.A.
AOR - area of responsibility
CDO - central dense overcast
CPHC - Central Pacific Hurricane Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
FLW - flight level winds
FTP - file transfer protocol
IMD - India Meteorological Department (RSMC New Delhi, India)
JMA - Japanese Meteorological Agency (RSMC Tokyo, Japan)
JTWC - Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Guam
kt - knot = 1 nautical mile per hour
m - meter, or metre
mb - millibar, numerically equivalent to hectopascal
mm - millimeter
MSW - maximum sustained wind(s) (either 1-min avg or 10-min avg)
nm - nautical mile = 6076.12 feet or 1852.0 meters
NPMOC - Naval Pacific Meteorological and Oceanographic Center, Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, U.S.A.
PAGASA - Philippines' Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Services
Administration
RSMC - Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre
SST - sea surface temperature
STS - severe tropical storm (MSW greater than 47 kts)
TC - tropical cyclone
TCWC - Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre (generic term)
TD - tropical depression
TPC/NHC - Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center, Miami,
Florida, U.S.A.
TS - tropical storm
WMO - World Meteorological Organization, headquartered at Geneva,
Switzerland
UTC - Universal Time Coordinated, equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time
or Zulu (Z)
***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
|
Document: summ9811.htm
Updated: 18th March 2008 |
[Australian Severe Weather index] [Copyright Notice] [Email Contacts] [Search This Site] |