Number 23, June 7
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. This newsletter covers all of April and May 2009.
Please visit this page and bookmark any suggestions of interest to you. This will help improve monitoring of the WikiProject's articles.
Storm of the month
Cyclone Aila was the second tropical cyclone to form within the Northern Indian Ocean during 2009. The disturbance that was to become Cyclone Aila formed on 21 May 2009 about 950 kilometres (590 mi) to the south of Kolkata, in India. Over the next couple of days the disturbance slowly developed before a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert was issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center early on 23 May 2009 and being designated as a depression by RSMC New Delhi. As of 27 May 2009[update], 330 people have been killed by Aila and at least 8,208 more are missing, while about 1 million are homeless. Health officials in Bangladesh confirmed a deadly outbreak on diarrhea on 29 May, with more than 7,000 people being infected and four dying. In Bangladesh, an estimated 20 million people were at risk of post-disaster diseases due to Aila. Damage totaled $40.7 million (USD).
Other tropical cyclone activity
Tropical Depression One was the first tropical cyclone to develop during the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. The depression formed on May 28, out of a disorganized area of low pressure off the coast of North Carolina. However after attaining its peak strength the depression began to weaken due to increasing wind shear and cooling sea surface temperatures with the final advisory being issued on May 29.
- 2009 Pacific typhoon season - In the two month period, there were four tropical cyclones, all within a short time period and small area. Tropical Depression Crising moved through the Philippines but didn't develop. Typhoon Kujira formed over the Philippines, causing 29 deaths and almost $30 million in damage, before becoming the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. While Kujira was active, a tropical depression formed and dissipated over the open ocean, while Typhoon Chan-hom developed and organized in the South China Sea, eventually crossing Luzon and causing 60 deaths and heavy damage.
- North Indian - Aside from Aila, Cyclone Bijli formed in April, making landfall on Bangladesh and killing 7 people.
- South Indian– Cyclone Jade was the final Cyclone to form. Jade formed on April 5th from a tropical disturbance it quickly intensifed and bcame a category one tropical cyclone on the SSHS before making its first of three landfalls on Madagascar. Jade then dissipated on April 11 after causing fifteen deaths.
- Australian Region - Cyclone Kirrly formed on April 25 in the Arafura Sea to the north of Australia within 5 degrees of the equator which is an unusual area of formation. It quickly reached its peak before making landfall on eastern Indonesia.
- South Pacific - As the last newsletter was published Tropical Cyclone Lin was just devloping as Tropical depression 14F. Lin eventually went on to affect Fiji and Tonga causing at least $1000 worth of damage. Tropical Disturbance 15F also formed this month within the Solomon Islands. It moved eventually moved into the Australian Region but was not monitored by TCWC Brisbane as anything higher than an area of low pressure.
Member of the month
The member of the month is Jason Rees, who joined Wikipedia in 2007, and has written nine tropical cyclone GA's. Jason primarily focuses on Southern Hemisphere storms, as well as the Western Pacific. He has plans for featured topics for several seasons, but for now, he is a regular member of the project who adds his input in discussions on the talk page. We thank Jason for his work, and we look forward to more articles!
New members
New and improved articles
- There were no new pieces of Featured content
- New Good articles include: 1973 Pacific hurricane season, Hurricane Kiko (1989), Tropical Storm Carlos (2003)
- New storm articles include: Hurricane Dalilia (1989), Typhoon Wipha (2007)
- New non-storm articles include: 1972 Hurricane Agnes tornado outbreak, Meteorological history of Hurricane Luis, Effects of Hurricane Georges in Louisiana, Timeline of the 2002 Pacific hurricane season
Main Page content
- Hurricane Ismael was Today's Featured Article on April 25
- Facts from the 1924 Cuba hurricane, Hurricane Lily (1971), Hurricane Tara (1961), and Hurricane Cora (1978) appeared in the Did You Know? section of the Main Page during April and May.
- Typhoon Chan-hom (2009) and Cyclone Aila appeared on the Main Page in the In the News section.
Storm article statistics
| Grade | Dec | Feb | Mar | Apr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 FA
|
50 | 56 | 56 | 56 |
 A
|
19 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
 GA
|
202 | 239 | 244 | 244 |
| B | 22 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| C | 122 | 122 | 120 | 123 |
| Start | 210 | 193 | 192 | 195 |
| Stub | 17 | 28 | 34 | 30 |
| Total | 642 | 669 | 678 | 683 |
| ω | 2.87 | 2.80 | 2.81 | 2.80 |
| percentage ≥Less than C |
35.4 | 33.0 | 33.3 | 32.9 |
| percentage ≥GA or better |
42.2 | 46.6 | 46.8 | 46.7 |
Project News
There is debate as usual with regards to notability, as well as the status of the project in general, but nothing new is going on.
During the last week, some editors have organized a page — Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Viewed stats — that has a listing of monthly page views within the project. It is under construction, although it is complete for all Eastern Pacific tropical cyclones, as well as all Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1979 to the present. Interestingly, the top 6 viewed EPAC articles are all featured, and all of the top 16 in the basin are GA's. Unfortunately, the Atlantic, at least from 1979 to the present, is much worse, despite being viewed much, much more. The top eight-viewed Atlantic articles all are viewed more than 10,000 times per month, for a total of 363889 views per month, but only two of them are featured, and none of the others are GA. As always, any help in the retired storms would be greatly appreciated.
Somewhat tying into the bettering of project articles, the basin article challenge is still ongoing. Hurricanehink is currently in the lead with a GA in 2 basins. Cyclonebiskit is in 2nd, with one GA in the EPAC. The challenge is still open to anyone, and it is not so much a race, rather a challenge just to get a fairly important GA in each basin.