The Hurricane Herald
The Hurricane Herald is the semi-regular newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The newsletter aims to provide in summary the recent activities and developments of the WikiProject, in addition to global tropical cyclone activity. The Hurricane Herald has been running since its first edition on June 4, 2006. If you wish to receive or discontinue subscription to this newsletter, please visit the member list. New members will automatically receive this newsletter. This issue of The Hurricane Herald covers all project related events from March 1–April 30, 2021. This edition's editors and authors are MarioJump83, Chicdat, Super Cyclonic Storm Corona, HurricaneEdgar, Dam222, AwesomeHurricaneBoss, LightandDark2000, LowercaseGuy (one of the editor's picks for Member of the Month), and our Members of the Month, CycloneFootball71, and CodingCyclone! Please visit this page and bookmark any suggestions of interest to you. This will help improve the newsletter and other cyclone-related articles. Past editions, including past MoTMs and SoTMs, can be viewed here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WikiProject Tropical Cyclones: News & Developments
New articles since the last newsletter include:
New GA's include:
New A-Class articles include Cyclone Leon–Eline and Hurricane Olivia (2018). Member of the month (Editor's Pick) – Akbermamps and LowercaseGuy In this edition of Hurricane Herald, I (MarioJump83, one of the Hurricane Herald editors) am going to pick Akbermamps and LowercaseGuy. Both of them contributed to nearly all of the new articles since the publishing of the last issue (and also they contributed to the last issue itself). All of these articles primarily covered the Western Pacific basin, but also they worked on missing Tropical cyclones in xxxx articles and Southern Hemisphere articles. They both were driving factors in some of the greatest growth the WPTC has ever seen since Issues 42, 43, and 44. Both of them are hard workers, who remain civil, and treat others with kindness, despite hardships. Akbermamps also has reverted many nonconstructive edits from many different articles, plus they have made many great edits to tropical cyclone articles, as said above. LowercaseGuy also has made many great edits, per above, plus they have kept the newsletter up to date with all of the new article creations, new GA's, and A-class articles within the project. Because of this, I can only say that I am very proud of them!
None during this period.
Since the last issue of this newsletter, I have noticed that there is an uptick of activity involving 2018 Global FT topic recently. Hurricane Noah came back from almost-retirement, then afterwards improved Hurricane Olivia (2018) into A-class, 2018 Pacific hurricane season within striking distance of it and Timeline of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season potentially became the second featured list we are going to have this year. Meanwhile, I have been focusing all of my efforts in WPTC at improving Cyclone Owen, by Chicdat, into GA status and end all drama between him and all other WPTC editors. Two MoTMs that I have personally picked, Akbermamps and LowercaseGuy, joined the fray (not joining us officially) and improved some 2018 Pacific typhoon season articles that I have created, including the creation of both two articles listed above (and as of right now, Akbermamps is building up Timeline of the 2018 Pacific typhoon season article in his sandbox). I'm very glad to see this happening and I hope this newly found activity could be kept up in the next two months. During these months, I am hoping that Noah might make efforts at improving Hurricane Bud (2018) towards FA eventually. MarioJump83!
If you are interested in writing new articles, promoting articles to GA, or helping with the FAC review process for the Global 2018 FT project, please reach out to LightandDark2000 or any other member of the 2018 FT task force. WikiProject To-Do
Storms of the month and other tropical activity for March and April SoTM for March – Cyclone Niran Cyclone Niran originated from a developing tropical low off the coast of Queensland on February 27. Afterward, the system slowly began to strengthen, while making a slow clockwise loop, bringing heavy flooding to parts of Queensland. On March 1, the system strengthened into a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian region basin scale, and was given the name Niran by the BoM. On March 3, Niran began to undergo rapid intensification as it began accelerating away from the Australian coast, towards the southeast. On March 5, Niran crossed over into the FMS's area of responsibility, in the South Pacific basin. Soon afterward, the cyclone reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 tropical cyclone on both the Australian region scale and the Saffir–Simpson scale (SSHWS), with maximum 10-minute sustained winds of 205 km/h (125 mph), maximum 1-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), and a central minimum pressure of 931 millibars (27.5 inHg). Several hours later, Niran underwent an eyewall replacement cycle and encountered wind shear, which caused the storm to begin weakening. The storm continued moving towards the southeast at a rapid pace, and on March 6, the storm struck the island of Grande Terre in New Caledonia, as a Category 3-equivalent tropical cyclone on the SSHWS, although the storm's eye stayed offshore. On March 6, Niran transitioned into an extratropical cyclone, and two days later, Niran was absorbed into another larger extratropical storm to the south. Niran caused at least $200 million (2021 USD) in damages, the vast majority of which came from banana crop damage in Queensland. No deaths were reported from the storm. SoTM for April – Cyclone Seroja On March 19, the BoM began monitoring a developing tropical low to the south of Timor, which they designated as 22U. On April 3, the system fully developed into a tropical low. For the next couple of days, the system made a slow counterclockwise loop over a part Indonesia and over Timor, gradually strengthening as it did so, causing torrential floods that killed at least 229 people. On April 4, the system strengthened into a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian region scale and was named Seroja by TCWC Jakarta. On April 5, Seroja began moving southwestward, away from Indonesia. The storm encountered wind shear during this time, but the storm maintained tropical cyclone intensity. On April 7, Seroja began closely interacting with Tropical Low 23U to the northeast, which later became Cyclone Odette, as a result of the Fujiwhara effect. The two storms began closely interacting on April 8, as the two storms drew closer to each other. The interaction initially caused both storms to weaken, though Seroja eventually restrengthen and 23U strengthened into Tropical Cyclone Odette later that day. However, soon afterward, Seroja became the stronger storm and begen to absorb Odette into its circulation. On April 10, Seroja absorbed Odette, before turning to the southeast and strengthening again. The system continued stregthening up until landfall, and the system made landfall on April 12 near Gregory, Western Australia, at peak intensity, as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian region scale and a Category 1-equivalent tropical cyclone on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Afterward, Seroja weakened as it moved inland, and the system transitioned into an extratropical storm, before emerging into the Great Australian Bight. Later that day, Seroja was absorbed by a larger extratropical cyclone to the south. Seroja killed at least 229 people and left another 102 missing, making it the third-deadliest tropical cyclone recorded in the Australian region basin. The storm also caused over $490.7 million (2021 USD) in damages.
Member of the month (edition) – CycloneFootball71 and CodingCyclone In this edition of Hurricane Herald, we present CycloneFootball71 and CodingCyclone as the Members of the Month. Both users joined Wikipedia and WPTC in the year 2020, and they helped us navigate into a better place during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the WPTC conflicts in 2020 and 2021. Their participation lifted and maintained our spirits during the tense situations and what's happening in the world. CycloneFootball71 is the kindest WPTC member we have ever seen, actively giving out barnstars and writing out statements that can be considered as "motivational", never targeting anyone, while also making contributions to articles, and participating in talk-page discussions, and occasionally, reverting vandalism. CodingCyclone, meanwhile, gave Wiki-project Tropical Cyclones the first featured list in years, and she helps out with wording, current cyclones, and other neglected timelines, and all around is kind, and thoughtful to everyone within the Wikipedia community. She is someone who has matured to become a great, and experienced editor here. We thank her for all of her contributions, and hope she continues to keep up the great work, and kindness. Unfortunately, 2020 was not a kind year for the two of them, particularly for CycloneFootball71, as he suffered from numerous illnesses, a few injuries, the loss of a friend (offwiki) and he retired (though he came back, thankfully) numerous times; these troubles even continued into 2021. Meanwhile, CodingCyclone stayed, but she entered a semi-WikiBreak, due to real life matters she had to attend to. However, both of them are editing at full speed now, and helped us realize what 2021 should be, full of hope and a better year than 2020 was. New WikiProject Members since the last newsletter More information can be found here. This list lists members who have joined/rejoined the WikiProject since the release of the last issue. Sorted chronologically.
To our new members: welcome to the project, and happy editing! Feel free to check the to-do list at the bottom right of the newsletter for things that you might want to work on. To our veteran members: thank you for your edits and your tireless contributions! Thank you, JavaHurricane JavaHurricane, one of the prominent Wikipedia rollbackers since 2019, decided to quit WikiProject Tropical cyclones in April 7, 2021 after series of arguments regarding how the merger of Tropical storms Amanda and Cristobal was handled (though this was later resolved). This followed a series of events that included numerous edit wars, hostile interactions (involving both members and non-members of the Weather WikiProjects), incompetence issues, and trouble dealing with a number of serial vandals. These issues added on more and more stress to some of our members, with the botched handling of the Amanda/Cristobal merger being the last straw, which culminated in several WPTC members, especially the younger ones, to leave the project. Destroyeraa decided to fully retire from Wikipedia, but LightandDark2000 managed to get him consider rejoining WPTC after a lengthy series of off-wiki discussions, contingent upon the WikiProject improving its conduct. A MoTM of this edition, CycloneFootball71 also decided to retire, following the decision of Destroyeraa to quit WPTC, but quickly reconsidered and instead took an indefinite WikiBreak, which later became a Semi-WikiBreak. LightandDark2000 himself also considered quitting from WPTC and leaving Wikipedia entirely (since WPTC activities are his primary reason for being on Wikipedia in the first place), but he decided to stay for now (unless things continue to grow worse, in which case, a full retirement as a registered user is likely). Another MoTM, CodingCyclone, went on a semi-WikiBreak instead of quitting like some of others did. Although the worst of the turmoil seems to be over now, WPTC is still slowly recovering from the damage. However, it is clear, unfortunately, that JavaHurricane will not return to the project, due to the loss of faith and time. We hope that this will never happen again. To JavaHurricane himself: thank you. Thanks for all the edits you've made in 2020 and in 2021. You are one of the building blocks that led to the WPTC revival last year. Without you, we would have had more difficulty combating some of the LTAs we've recently dealt with. You've made plenty of quality improvements and also carried out a decent amount of anti-vandalism activities. If you ever wish to rejoin the project, you will always be welcome here. We wish you luck in your future endeavors.
From March 1 to April 30, one featured list was promoted. From the Main Page: Documents WikiProject-related materials that have appeared on the main page from March 1–April 30, 2021 in chronological order. March 11 – Typhoon Maemi
There is an article currently nominated as featured list candidate: Article of the Month: Tropical Storm Rolf Tropical Storm Rolf, also known as Tropical Storm 01M, was an unusual Mediterranean tropical storm that brought flooding to Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland in November 2011. Rolf originated from an extratropical system near western France on November 4. For the next few days, Rolf moved eastward into the Mediterranean Sea, before making a slow clockwise loop off the coast of France. Despite the generally unfavorable conditions in the Mediterranean Sea, Rolf transitioned into a subtropical depression on November 7, before becoming a tropical storm later that day and turning northeastward. On November 8, Rolf reached its peak intensity, with 1-minute sustained winds peaking at 85 km/h (50 mph, 45 kn) and a minimum central pressure of 991 mb (29.3 inHg). During the next day, the storm turned westward and made landfall on the island of Île du Levant, in France, and soon afterward, near Hyères in southeastern France. Following its second landfall, Rolf quickly weakened, dissipating on November 10. Rolf was the first tropical cyclone ever to be officially monitored by the NOAA in the Mediterranean Sea. Rolf caused widespread flooding across southwestern Europe, especially in France and Italy, with the majority of the damage from the storm occurring in those two countries. Torrential rainfall from Rolf caused multiple rivers to overflow their banks in France and Italy, flooding multiple cities and resulting in extensive property damage. The storm forced numerous schools and businesses to close temporarily, and also caused significant damage to 300 farms in France. Floodwaters from Rolf's rainfall also cut the power to over 8,000 customers and necessitated thousands of rescues, in addition to forcing thousands of evacuations. The storm also caused the largest flood event seen in Gipuzkoa, in northern Spain since 1983. Rolf killed 12 people, and the storm was also the costliest Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone in the 2010s, with the storm causing at least $1.25 billion (2011 USD, €925 million) in damages. Current assessment table Assessments valid as of this printing. Depending on when you may be viewing this newsletter, the table may be outdated. See here for the latest, most up to date statistics.
Project Goals & Progress The following is the current progress on the three milestone goals set by the WikiProject as of this publishing. They can be found, updated, at the main WikiProject page.
How to Cite Sources on Tropical Cyclone Articles, by LightandDark2000 In my years of experiences here on WPTC (and on Wikipedia, in general), I've noticed that citing sources properly is a skillset that many editors are lacking in. While a good number of the experienced editors are familiar with how to fill out citations on Wikipedia, this is something that the most of the newer editors struggle with, especially those who have never written a research paper before. Given the influx of new members in WPTC over the past year, I've decided to write a simple tutorial on how to properly complete citations in tropical cyclone articles. First of all, lets start with a standard citation template. This format will be used for the vast majority of citations on tropical cyclone articles: For our example, lets use this special "Tropical Cyclone Update" advisory for Hurricane Isaias, which was issued when the storm made landfall in North Carolina, early on August 4, 2020 (UTC time).
Once you have done all of this, your completed citation should have the following code: Which should appear as follows in the article:[1] With this tutorial, hopefully you now know how to properly cite sources within tropical cyclone articles. Properly citing sources is a crucial skill on Wikipedia. It allows you to make complete, professional references that can be accessed and reused by just about any other editor. Additionally, creating incomplete or improper citations forces other more experienced users to clean up after you, which not only wastes time, but also prevents an article from becoming a Good Article or Featured Article until these issues are completely resolved. Citing sources is an important skill and one that every experienced editor is expected to master. Citing sources takes time to learn, so don't be discouraged if you don't fully master the art at the beginning. As with everything else in life, new skills require "practice" to perfect, and as you cite more and more sources, you'll find that citing sources becomes easier and faster for you. I hope you find this guide useful in your journey on Wikipedia. May it help mold you into a superb writer, like many other experienced editors who have come before you. Best of luck, and happy editing! ~ LightandDark2000 🌀
Destroyeraa and the Project, by Chicdat, CodingCyclone, CycloneFootball71, MarioJump83, and LightandDark2000 Destroyeraa registered his account on Wikipedia in January 2020. He gained experience like all of us, and received several user rights in the process. He improved several articles to GA status, the first being Hurricane Dolores (2015). He made WikiProject Tropical cyclones a good place to be. He made some mistakes, of course, but learned from them quickly. But by 2021, real life seemed to be catching up to Destroyeraa. He went into periods of semi-wikibreaks. His editing became more sporadic. He has not edited since March 3, 2021. WikiProject Tropical cyclones has experienced plenty of turmoil since then, especially in late March and early April. Some users have been very hostile. There has been copyright problems. Drama is being created. With the exception of a few remarks by LightandDark2000 on-wiki, the project has not heard from him for a long time. I wish that he would come back, and I miss him. When Destroyeraa went, it seems that the short revival of WikiProject Tropical cyclones went with him as well. I came as the renewal of WPTC was beginning, so I knew no other state of the project. To Destroyeraa himself: Please come back. You made the WikiProject a good place to be. I miss you so much; you were like a real life friend. ~ 🐔 Chicdat Bawk to me! Destroyeraa was the person who invited me to the project. Like many others, his hard work and diligence made him a role model to me. Without him, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. He gave me advice when I was trying to improve Hurricane Fran (which I never completed, but would like to do as an honor to him) and helped me realize some of my earlier edits were a bit CIR-y and disruptive (albeit unintentionally). He was always unfailingly civil and helped other editors when they were down. He also created the Cyclone Cup which is actually really fun and something that I personally would never have thought of, and is helping to drive some people to create and improve more articles. To me, he was a symbol of the rebirth of WPTC. When he left, it seemed as though that age disappeared. I know that real life always takes precedence over Wikipedia, but hopefully he can figure out how to balance the two and come back soon. CodingCyclone! 🌀 📘 Destroyeraa has had a profound effect on the WPTC. He has been so helpful and kind throughout his time on Wikipedia, and I want to thank him for that. He has done so much for us throughout his time here, and Wikipedia has not been the same for the project since he left. He has helped me through lots, during some very difficult times, and he has been a great friend. He helped me create my first Opinion piece ever, which helped me get into editing these newsletters for the editors of this project. Despite some mistakes, he overcame these and became even better than before, and he really inspired me to improve myself in the realm of editing tropical cyclones. He did so much for this project, and me and the rest of this Wikiproject want to thank him for all that he has done. I am not sure what else to say, as Chicdat and CodingCyclone said everything that was in my mind. However, he was a great friend. Destroyeraa, you will be missed here on Wikipedia. I hope one day you may return and regain your faith in WPTC again, but for now, I only hope and wish for the absolute best for your life. Thank you again. 🌀CycloneFootball71🏈 |sandbox Destroyeraa brought me to speed during my initial WPTC tenure as SMB99thx, since I was not that active in my first years and also not aware of Wikipedia's changing guards, like newer users having advanced permissions so quickly, having many user scripts, very communicative on-and-off-wiki (i.e. using Discord), and so much more that I don't understand back when I first joined in WPTC. By learning from him, eventually, I did have the same advanced permissions like his up to last month, having many user-scripts, as well as using a custom theme for Wikipedia, which is not Vector, and its very cool! Without him, I may have been going into a path Chicdat is currently taking right now, as Chicdat wasn't able to stay as a page mover and a rollbacker early in his Wikipedia career, then got into several troubles which led me into adopting him. Now, I am going to give him lessons that I learned from Destroyeraa himself. Other than that, I don't have anything much to say about him, but I hope he's back again to help me once more, and bring me further growth as an editor going forward, which could potentially assist me at shepherding Chicdat into a better place. MarioJump83! The others above have pretty much captured what I would like to say, and since Destroyeraa and I have stayed in contact off-wiki, I'll make this brief. Destroyeraa was a one-of-a-kind. I've been here for 12 years now, and I have to say that I've rarely ever come across someone like him; even less so in real life. The work he has done in just one year on Wikipedia (as a registered user) is absolutely astounding; it took me 6 years for my editing to reach that level of professionalism. I have not seen anyone like him show up on WPTC since Hurricane Noah joined in 2017. He is really smart, and he is also one of the nicest people I've ever met. And he's a very good friend as well. Destroyeraa, I bet you were able to guess most of what I said here, but you should know that you're a real gem. Those of us here miss you, and there are others as well. And I did tell you that your absence would be felt, didn't I? Regardless of what you think, what you do here does and will affect us. I'm very happy that you've decided to come back this summer, once you get out of school. I hope to see you around the place then. Your friend, LightandDark2000 🌀 |
I am nominating CycloneFootball71 for Member of the Month. He has edited extensively in tropical cyclones (more than I have) recently, helping to resolve disputes, created several articles, and added well-sourced content to many more. 🐔 Chicdat Bawk to me! 10:33, 19 March 2021 (UTC)
Alongside CycloneFootball71 is CodingCyclone. Her enthusiasm for this project is one of the greatest I have seen so far and recently, she is going to give us the first featured list in years! MarioJump83! 01:46, 23 March 2021 (UTC)
I cannot believe that this edition there will be two MoTMs. 🐔 Chicdat Bawk to me! 11:38, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
I strongly believe that this part should be dropped as CycloneFootball71 had a trouble staying in for Wikipedia (see: mental health issues, life problems, and actual real health issues). I won't give my time to develop this section, and we frequently check on the tropical activity all day off-wiki and on-wiki. I think SoTM section should stay however, as it highlights the most impactful storm of the month. MarioJump83! 06:40, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
What do you all think about this?
Destroyeraa joined Wikipedia in January 2020. He gained experience like all of us, and received several user rights in the process. He improved several articles to GA, the first being Hurricane Dolores (2015). He made WikiProject Tropical cyclones a good place to be. He made some mistakes, of course, but learned from them quickly. But by 2021, real life seemed to be catching up to Destroyeraa. He went into periods of semi-wikibreaks. His editing became more sporadic. He has not edited since March 3, 2021. Since then, WikiProject Tropical cyclones has been in turmoil. Users have been very hostile. There have been copyright problems. Drama is being created. With the exception of a few remarks by LightandDark2000, the project has not heard from him for a long time. I wish that he would come back, and I miss him. When Destroyeraa went, so did the short revival of WikiProject Tropical cyclones. I came as it was beginning, so I knew no other state of the project.
To Destroyeraa himself: Please come back. You made the tropical cyclone wikiproject a good place to be. I miss you so much; you were like a real life friend.
From me, a user who joined the encyclopedia a month after Destroyeraa, though he did mistake me for an administrator once (aka 🐔 Chicdat Bawk to me!)
Yours truly, 🐔 Chicdat Bawk to me! 11:01, 27 April 2021 (UTC)
Well, coincidentally, 1944 Atlantic hurricane season and Cyclone Owen, which are the articles Chicdat targeted to make it GA, finally shined in this edition of Hurricane Herald. Fun fact, you know? MarioJump83! 11:20, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
Please add a note to the part about the copyvios to contact someone experienced in copyright investigations either onwiki or offwiki before jumping in and to also ask for permission on my talk page as this is taking place in my userspace and not projectspace. There are so many ways to do this wrong and this project is massive, confusing, and honestly burning me out. I don't want to have to fix AGF but bad judgment calls. Sennecaster (What now?) 05:28, 1 May 2021 (UTC)