Weather Links: Hurricanes

If  you live along the U.S. Gulf or Atlantic coasts, or just want to keep up with hurricanes or other kinds of tropical cyclones elsewhere in the world, the links below will take you directly to information you need or want.

Atlantic Basin Forecasts and Outlooks

To learn whether a tropical depression, tropical storm, or hurricane has formed over the Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or eastern Pacific, or what such a storm is doing, the first place to check is the National Hurricane Center (NHC) Active Storms page.

If you wonder wheather something might be brewing, check the NHC’s  Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook for a quick check of the Atlantic Basin (The Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico)  The NHC also has an Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook page.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is making changes to many of its products. Broadcasters, reporters, and others who use the various NHC forecasts and graphics should be aware of these. They are described in a PDF file.

NOAA’s May 21, 2009 seasonal outlook sees a relatively light season. This an other seasonal outlooks are nice to know, but should hot have any practical effects on anyone living along the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf of Mexico in the United States or Mexico, or around around the Caribbean Sea. Only one hurricane that hits land in a year is enough to wreck the lives and dreams of those in its path.

Global Tropical Cyclones

Hurricanes are the kind of storm known as tropical cyclones with sustained winds faster than 74 mph that occur in the Atlantic Basin (The Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico) or in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator and east of the International Date Line.

Northern Pacific 74 mph or stronger storms west of the Date Line are called typhoons.

In the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean such storms are called Cyclones.

NASA’s Hurricane Resources Page could really be called a tropical cyclones resources page. When a tropical cyclone is active anywhere in the world, you should find a satellite image and information at the top of this Web page. It also has numerous links to research reports, often by NASA scientists.

Informed Commentary on Current Tropical Cyclones

Dr. Jeff Master’s WunderBlog on the Weather Underground Web site offers informed, detailed commentary on global tropical cyclones.

Flying Into Hurricanes

Anyone who follows hurricane reports and forecasts knows that the men and women who fly into hurricanes supply vital information.  Chapter 10 of The AMS Weather Book uses gaphics and text to explain how and why storm flights collect data that otherwise wouldn’t be available. Souce notes and further reading for the AMS Weather Book are on a Web site. This site’s links for Hurricane Flying takes you to a lot more information.

Climate Change and Hurricanes

The AMS Weather Book Web site Explorations: Hurricanes and Climate Change page is a good place to begin learning about this vexed topic.

Frequently Asked Questions

The best place to start looking for answers to questions about hurricanes and other tropical cyclones is the NOAA Hurricane Research Division’s FAQ.

(More topics and links to come)

Tags: active storms, Atlantic Basin, Atlantic Basin outlook, hurricane forecasts, hurricanes, NASA, National Hurricane Center, NHC, NHC forecasts, NHC graphics, outlook, seasonal hurricane outlook, seasonal outlook, tropical cyclones, tropical weather outlook, typhoon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Weather Links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.