User talk:Pobbie Rarr/Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter archive

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #1
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 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
 * Tropical Storm Aletta existed in the eastern Pacific Ocean from May 25 to May 29, peaking as a 45 mph tropical storm.

New and improved articles
 * New storm articles include: Typhoon Joan (1970), Hurricane Bonnie (1986), Tropical Storm Matthew (2004), Storm of October 1804, Typhoon Chanchu (2006) and Cyclone Olaf.


 * New non-storm articles include: Tropical cyclone rainfall climatology, Dvorak technique and List of Bangladesh tropical cyclones.


 * New Featured articles: 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, Hurricane Mitch, Hurricane Irene (2005) and Hurricane Claudette (2003)


 * Articles which became A/GA class: Hurricane Katrina (A), Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans (A), Hurricane Felix (1995) (GA), Cyclone Percy (A), Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (A), List of New Jersey hurricanes (A), Hurricane John (1994) (A), Tropical Storm Isabel (1985) (GA), Tropical Storm Odette (2003) (GA)

New articles and improvements wanted
 * An article is requested on subtropical ridge
 * The current collaboration of the fortnight is Hurricane Gilbert, please help improve this article.
 * Improvements are requested to Indianola Hurricane of 1886, Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Andrew.
 * The WikiProject is likely to submit Hurricane John (1994) and Hurricane Katrina to Featured Article Candidates in the near future, so please help improve them to featured standard.

Member of the month The May member of the month is Tito XD. The WikiProject awards this to him for his brilliant work in improving articles. Tito XD 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
 * 2005 Atlantic hurricane season appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on June 1.
 * Hurricane Floyd will appear on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on June 17.
 * Entries from Dvorak technique, Typhoon Joan (1970), Typhoon Chanchu (2006), and Storm of October 1804 appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during May.
 * Entries from 5 other articles relating to tropical cyclones had appeared in the Did you know column earlier in 2006.

Storm article statistics

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 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 ( 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 #2
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 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
 * Tropical Depression Two-E briefly existed near the Mexican coast on June 3 to June 4 and brought heavy rainfall to Acapulco.
 * Tropical Storm Jelawat lasted from June 26 to June 29 in the South China Sea and made landfall on China. The storm caused flooding which killed at least seven people.
 * Tropical Storm Ewiniar formed on June 30 east of Palau. It is forecast to reach typhoon strength.

New and improved articles
 * New storm articles include: Tropical Storm Alberto (2006), Typhoon Patsy (1970), Tropical Storm Larry (2003), Cyclone Steve and Hurricane Danielle (1998).
 * New non-storm articles include: Subtropical ridge and List of named tropical cyclones.
 * New Featured articles: Hurricane Nora (1997), List of New Jersey hurricanes, Hurricane John (1994) and Hurricane Katrina.
 * Articles which became A/GA class include: Tropical Storm Allison (A), Eye (cyclone) (GA), Tropical Cyclone (GA), Project Stormfury (GA), Hurricane Lenny (GA), Hurricane Epsilon (2005) (GA), Hurricane Esther (1961) (GA), Tropical Storm Henri (2003) (GA) and Hurricane Camille (GA).

New articles and improvements wanted
 * New article: List of California tropical storms and List of New Jersey hurricanes are both featured lists, so why is there no List of Louisiana hurricanes or List of Cuban hurricanes?
 * The current collaboration of the fortnight is Hurricane Fifi, please help improve this article.
 * Please help to expand and improve the coverage of Tropical cyclones on Wikinews.
 * Improvements are requested to Hurricane Janet, Hurricane Erin (1995) and Pacific hurricane season articles.

Member of the month 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.

Main Page content
 * Hurricane Floyd appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on June 17.
 * Entries from 5 articles: Tropical Storm Larry (2003), Tropical Storm Henri (2003), Typhoon Kate (1970), Typhoon Patsy (1970) and List of named tropical cyclones appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during June.

Storm article statistics

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 #3
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 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
 * Entries from 3 articles: Tropical Storm Bilis (2006), National Weather Service bulletin for New Orleans region and List of South America tropical cyclones appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during July.

New articles and improvements wanted
 * New articles are wanted for Fiji Meteorological Service and Papua New Guinea National Weather Service.
 * While the individual storm articles are generally quite good, the project's core articles are quite poor. Please help improve tropical cyclone and its subpages.
 * Cyclone Tracy has recently had featured status removed, please help improve this article back up to FA standards again.

Member of the month 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.

New and improved articles
 * New storm articles include: Typhoon Aere (2004), Cyclone Vance, Hurricane Karl (2004) and 1916 Texas Hurricane.
 * New non-storm articles include: List of Canadian hurricanes and National Weather Service bulletin for New Orleans region.
 * New Featured articles: Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricane Esther (1961), Hurricane Irene (1999). Also, List of South America tropical cyclones became a Featured list.
 * Articles which became A/GA class include: Tropical Storm Henri (2003) (A), Typhoon Vamei (GA), Cyclone Rosita (GA), Tropical Storm Harvey (2005) (GA) and Storm of October 1804 (GA).

Storm article statistics

Useful sources of tropical cyclone information

The following organizations provide helpful information for writing about tropical cyclones, both past and present.
 * National Hurricane Center - Official forecasts for the Atlantic and East Pacific and a massive archive starting in 1958.
 * Central Pacific Hurricane Center - Official forecasts for the Central Pacific and summaries of past storms.
 * Joint Typhoon Warning Center - Unoffical forecasts for storms in the West Pacific and other regions. Has an archive of storm reports back to 1959.
 * Japan Meteorological Agency - Official forecasts for the West Pacific.
 * Naval Research Laboratory - A great source for satellite imagery of tropical cyclones.
 * Hydrometeorological Prediction Center - Forecasts of weakening tropical cyclones in the United States and information and maps of rainfall in the US.
 * National Climatic Data Center - Lots of information is available here, including satellite imagery. The Storm events archive is very useful for information on storms in the US and its territories.

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 #4
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 (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.

Main Page content
 * Hurricane Mitch appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on August 16.
 * Entries from List of Delaware hurricanes, Fiji Meteorological Service, Tropical Storm Helene (2000), Atlantic hurricane reanalysis and Hurricane Kyle (2002) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during August.
 * Hurricane Katrina appeared on the Main Page in the On this Day column on August 29.

New articles and improvements wanted
 * Landfall (meteorology) and Rapid deepening should be expanded.
 * Direct hit (meteorology) and Cyclogenesis should be created.
 * 2006 storm articles should be updated in light of the Tropical Cyclone Reports.

Member of the month 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.

New and improved articles
 * New storm articles include Cyclone Thelma, Typhoon Ewiniar (2006), Tropical Storm Otto (2004), Cyclone Heta (2003), Hurricane John (2006), Hurricane Kyle (2002), Hurricane Ioke and Hurricane Ernesto (2006).
 * New non-storm articles include List of Delaware hurricanes, Fiji Meteorological Service and Atlantic hurricane reanalysis.
 * New featured articles, lists and pictures: 2003 Pacific hurricane season, List of Delaware hurricanes and Global tropical cyclone tracks.

Storm article statistics

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: 



Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #6
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 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
 * Articles are wanted for Hurricane Flossy (1956), Tropical Storm Debbie (1965) and Tropical Storm Beryl (1994).
 * The articles on the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres, such as those on the NHC, JMA and CPHC, all need work.
 * Likewise the articles on meteorologists such as Lixion Avila are poor.

Member of the month 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.

Main Page content
 * Global tropical cyclone tracks appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Picture on October 3.
 * Entries from Hurricane Alberto (2000), Typhoon Xangsane (2006), Tropical Storm Bertha (2002) and Hurricane Bob (1985) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during October.

New and improved articles
 * New storm articles include: Hurricane Alberto (2000), Tropical Depression Nine (2003), Hurricane Paul (2006) and Tropical Storm Peter (2003).
 * A non-storm article was made on Pacific hurricane.
 * New featured content: List of Delaware hurricanes, 2004 Atlantic hurricane season and 2004 Atlantic hurricane season.
 * Significantly improved articles include: Hurricane Erika (2003) (A), Hurricane Linda (1997) (GA), Hurricane Ophelia (2005) (GA), Subtropical Storm Nicole (2004) (GA) and Hurricane Danny (2003).

Storm article statistics

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 #7
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 #8
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 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.

New articles and improvements wanted

These tasks are those listed at Portal:Tropical cyclones/Things you can do:

 Requests: Original-content tropical cyclone articles: Papua New Guinea National Weather Service, Herbert S. Saffir, Hurricane Ginny (1963)  Copyedit: Rapid deepening  Wikify:  Merge: See here  Cleanup: Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Wilma, Cyclone Leon-Eline  Expand: Indianola Hurricane of 1886, Hurricane Carla, Hurricane Gilbert, Typhoon Nina (1975), 1970 Bhola cyclone, Typhoon Tip </li> <li>Stubs: Intertropical Convergence Zone, Kamikaze (typhoon), Typhoon Paka, Harry Cane of 1667, Hurricane Edna, Hurricane Janet More...</li> <li>Update: Tropical Storm Beryl (2006) </li> </li> </ul>

Main Page content
 * Entries from 9 project articles, including Tropical cyclone observation, Bill Proenza, Hurricane Tanya (1995) and Hurricane Erin (2001) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during the past two months.
 * 1970 Bhola cyclone and Cyclone Tracy appeared on the Main Page in the On this Day column on November 13 and December 24, respectively.

New articles
 * November
 * Storm Articles included: Typhoon Muifa (2004), Hurricane Helene (2006), Hurricane Allison (1995) and Cyclone Heta.
 * Non-storm articles included: Effects of Hurricane Isabel in New Jersey, South Pacific convergence zone and 1969 Pacific hurricane season.
 * December
 * Storm Articles included: Hurricane Tanya (1995), Tropical Storm Dean (1995) and Tropical Storm Beryl (2000)
 * Non-storm articles included: Storm (novel), Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre, List of fictional tropical cyclones and Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center.

Improved articles
 * Featured articles: Hurricane Edith (1971), Hurricane Fabian, Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina, Tropical Storm Bill (2003), 1995 Pacific hurricane season, Effects of Hurricane Isabel in North Carolina, Hurricane Erika (2003), Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004) and Tropical Storm Edouard (2002).
 * Featured lists: List of Baja California hurricanes and List of retired Pacific hurricane names.
 * Two articles were promoted to A-Class: Tropical cyclone and Effects of Hurricane Isabel in Delaware.
 * There were a total of 32 new good articles including: Tropical cyclogenesis, Atlantic hurricane reanalysis, Hurricane Keith, Hurricane Fico, Tropical Storm Dean (2001) and Tropical Storm Arlene (2005).

Storm article statistics

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #9
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." 

Storm of the month 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. 

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
 * Articles are wanted for each of the tropical cyclone breakpoints (see this list).
 * An article is wanted for Tropical Storm Debbie (1965).
 * The Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons articles need splitting into the 3 component basins.
 * This sandbox for Typhoon Durian badly needs completion, please help.
 * Large chunks of the project's imagery needs proper categorization.
 * The number of stubs has markedly increased in the past few months, please improve them.

Member of the month 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
 * Hurricane Juan appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on January 29.
 * Entries from 3 articles: 2000 Sri Lanka Cyclone, Hurricane Ignacio (2003) and Hurricane Bob (1979) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during June.

New and improved articles
 * The WikiProject has its first Featured topic on Retired Pacific hurricanes.
 * New Featured articles: Hurricane Ismael, Hurricane Juan and the Effects of Hurricane Isabel in Delaware and Maryland and Washington D.C..
 * New Good articles: 2000 Sri Lanka Cyclone, Hurricane Iwa, Hurricane Alice, Hurricane Kenna and 1936 Atlantic hurricane season.
 * New articles include: Hurricane Ignacio (2003), Hurricane Cindy (1963), Hurricane Isaac (2006) and Chris Landsea.

Storm article statistics

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.