ATLANTIC BASIN VISIBLE |
ATLANTIC BASIN INFRARED |
ATLANTIC BASIN WATER VAPOR |
STORM TRACKS & FORECASTS |
VIS "FLOATER" W-ATL E-ATL |
IR "FLOATER" W-ATL E-ATL |
NEWS & UPDATES:
THE 2012 LIST OF ATLANTIC STORM NAMES (with dates of activity & peak intensity):
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TROPICAL ATLANTIC WEATHER RESOURCES:
- NOAA National Hurricane Center
- RSMAS Meteorology & Physical Oceanography
- CIRA Tropical Cyclones
- US Navy Meteorology
- CIMSS Tropical Cyclones
- West Atlantic SHEAR and VORTICITY
- East Atlantic SHEAR and VORTICITY
- MIMIC TPW
- AMSU TC Products
- Real-Time ADT
- FSU Meteorology
- Weather Underground
- NOAA/NESDIS
- NOAA/EMC
- NCAR/RAL Tropical Cyclone Guidance Project
- ECMWF
- NASA/GHCC GOES Interactive Viewer
- COLA Maximum Potential Intensity
- Tropical Atlantic Aircraft Reconnaissance
- NOAA/NDBC Buoy Observations
- NOAA/CSC Historical Hurricane Tracks
- NOAA/HPC Historical Hurricane Rainfall
- NOAA/AOML Tropical Cyclones FAQ
- Unisys Tropical Cyclone Data
- ICAT Damage Estimator
- Hurricanes: Science and Society
- CSU Seasonal Forecasts
THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE WIND SCALE:
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Category
TD TS CAT1 CAT2 CAT3 CAT4 CAT5 |
Max Winds (kts (mph))
<35 (<40) 35-63 (40-73) 64-82 (74-95) 83-95 (96-110) 96-113 (111-130) 114-135 (131-155) >135 (>155) |
U.S. Landfall Examples
- Allison '01, Erin '07 Dolly '08 Frances '04, Ike '08 Ivan '04, Katrina '05 Hugo '89, Charley '04 Camille '69, Andrew '92 |
ACRONYMS & COMMONLY USED ABBREVIATIONS:
- C: Celsius (a commonly used temperature scale, used for describing sea-surface temperature or cloud-top temperature)
- CAT: Category (a number between 1 and 5, this is the category on the Saffir-Simpson Scale assigned to a storm based on its maximum winds)
- CDO: Central Dense Overcast (the high, cold shield of clouds over the center of a cyclone... caused by deep convection)
- IR: Infra-Red (a frequency commonly used in satellite data to help determine cloud-top temperatures... can be used at all times of day)
- ITCZ: Intertropical Convergence Zone (area of enhanced convection encircling the globe where the Northern and Southern Hemisphere tropical winds collide)
- kts: knots (used to describe storm motion and wind speeds... 1 knot equals 1 nautical mile per hour, or 1.15 statute miles per hour)
- mb: millibars (a unit of pressure... 1013 mb is standard sea-level pressure) MSLP: Minimum Sea-Level Pressure (the lowest pressure found at the cyclone's center... either by aircraft recon or by satellite estimation techniques)
- NHC: National Hurricane Center (the governing US agency responsible for issuing forecasts, advisories, watches, and warnings for all Atlantic and East Pacific hurricanes)
- RMW: Radius of Maximum Winds (distance from the center of circulation where the winds are the greatest... i.e., the eyewall radius)
- SST: Sea-Surface Temperature (the skin temperature of the ocean... found using ships, buoys, and satellites)
- STS: Subtropical Storm (a cyclone with 35kt+ winds, but having both tropical and extratropical characteristics)
- TC: Tropical Cyclone (general term for any warm-core weather disturbance with cyclonic winds)
- TD: Tropical Depression (a low-pressure tropical system with closed circulation and MWS of less than 35 kts)
- TS: Tropical Storm (a low-pressure tropical system with maximum winds between 35-63 kts)
- VIS: Visible (a frequency used in satellite data to view storms during daylight hours... has higher resolution than IR, but only works during daylight hours)
- Z: Zulu (this means Zulu time --or GMT or UTC--... it is placed after a time, like 12Z or 2315Z. During the summer months, EDT is 4 hours behind UTC, CDT is 5 hours behind UTC, etc.)
