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 ran on June 4, 2006. If you wish to receive or discontinue subscription to this newsletter, please visit the mailing list. This issue of The Hurricane Herald covers all project related events from July 1–August 31, 2020. This edition's editors and authors are (alphabetically) Chicdat, Destroyeraa, Hurricanehink, Jason Rees, KN2731, Typhoon2013, & Weatherman27.
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 can be viewed here.
As we rapidly approach the 15th anniversary of the project in October, it has been proposed that the Climate, Tropical cyclone, Severe Weather, and Non-tropical storms (defunct) wikiprojects get merged into a single project: Wikipedia:WikiProject Weather. This brand new project would remove the overlap that exists between the projects. It provide us with a better opportunity to develop articles such as List of named storms A, B, C etc; Tornadoes in Fiji/New Zealand/Hawaii/etc; Floods in 2018, 2019, 2020, etc; Floods in Bangladesh/United States/Egypt, etc; Weather of 1997, 1998, 2020, etc; Weather in Tokelau/South Africa/France, etc; Hurricanes in the United States, Hurricanes in Mexico, Typhoons in China, etc. The discussion continues on WP:Meteorology. Any feedback would be appreciated.
There are now more than 1,000 distinct good articles in the project, as of June, when Tropical Storm Sanba (2018) passed its GAR. That doesn't include the articles rated A-class that also passed GA status. There are now 1,299 good or featured articles, which 47.1% of all articles in the project. 80 net more good articles are needed for half of the project to be good or featured.
There are more than 500 articles in the Western Pacific, as of July, when Yellow Evan (talk·contribs) created Tropical Storm Ofelia (1993) and Tropical Storm Percy (1993). The WPAC is the second basin to reach that milestone, after the Atlantic, which crossed that threshold in 2008. In fact, the WPAC is growing at a rate of 33 articles per year (since 2017), while the Atlantic is only growing at a rate of 13.6 articles per year (also since 2017). At that rate, the WPAC would surpass the Atlantic in number of articles in 15 years, when both basins would have about 1,000 articles. The EPAC would only have about 450 articles by that point. At the current rate, the entire WPTC would have 4,632 articles. For reference, there are 2727 articles in the WPTC at the moment, 2,185 of which are a storm/season/timeline article.
There is a discussion to merge the nearly 600 disambiguation/set index article into naming lists by letter, such as List of named storms (I), instead of Tropical Storm Ingrid. This would make sure that the pages are centralized, which would make updating and navigation easier.
WPTC 15th Anniversary push: some goals for the 15th year of WPTC (October 5, 2020!) include the creation or improvement of many other articles listed in the first section on the WPTC talk page.
2018 Featured Topic
Hurricane Noah recently announced an initiative to get a featured topic for the year of 2018 with complete subtopics. The Eastern Pacific portion is very close to achieving a featured topic, and the Atlantic and North Indian Ocean are around a B-class average. The Western Pacific, Southern Hemisphere, and the global article for 2018 need your help! A lot of work is needed to get those three items up to par. For more information on which articles need specifically, please check out the project talk page. Getting a featured topic for an entire year would be an impressive feat for our project.
Storm of the month and other tropical activity for July
Hurricane Isaias caused widespread flooding and wind damage to the East Coast of the United States, spawning a destructive tornado outbreak and killing at least 18 people. Forming from a tropical wave near the Lesser Antilles on July 30, Isaias crossed Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and parts of the Bahamas, before making its final landfall in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. The storm proceeded up the East Coast, spawning 37 tornadoes and causing more than 3 million power outages, with more than half of them in New Jersey. Overall, Isaias caused a total of $4.2 billion in damage and 18 fatalities.
Atlantic - there were five named storms in the North Atlantic in July, tying the record set by 2005. In addition to Isaias, the first storm of the month was Tropical Storm Edouard, which formed near Bermuda and moved quickly across the north Atlantic. A few days later, Tropical Storm Fay became the first storm to hit New Jersey since 2011. Fay caused 6 fatalities and $400 million in damage. Short-lived Tropical Storm Gonzalo threatened the southern Lesser Antilles, but it dissipated while crossing into the Caribbean Sea. Hurricane Hanna formed in the Gulf of Mexico and rapidly intensified as it made landfall in Padre Island, Texas. The storm caused $500 million in damage and 5 fatalities. There was also a short-lived tropical depression near Cabo Verde.
Eastern Pacific - Tropical Storm Cristina nearly reached hurricane intensity as it moved to the southwest of Mexico, affecting Socorro Island. After two short-lived tropical depressions, Hurricane Douglas became the basin's first hurricane on July 23, which was the fourth-latest on record. Douglas would go on to strengthen into the season's first major hurricane, briefly attaining Category 4 status before weakening as it passed north of Hawaii. Damage in Hawaii was minor.
Western Pacific - For the first time on record, there were no tropical storms or typhoons during the month of July in the western Pacific. There were two nondeveloping tropical depressions during the month, as well as two tropical depressions in late July that would reach peak intensity in August. Tropical Storm Sinlaku formed on July 31 and made landfall in Vietnam, causing significant flooding and killing 6 people. Typhoon Hagupit formed east of the Philippines and later made landfall in Wenzhou, China, killing 12 and causing more than ¥2.858 billion (US$411 million) in damage.
ChessEric first joined Wikipedia in April of this year, and has quickly become a prolific weather editor. In addition to his work on tornado and severe weather articles, ChessEric helped write the bulk of the Hurricane Laura article (the storm of the month), in addition to making sure the article stayed free of vandalism, with 224 edits to the article as of this newsletter. ChessEric was one of 190 editors who worked on the Laura article. We thank ChessEric for his edits, and hope we can build on more collaborations in the future between the severe and the tropical cyclone Wikiprojects.
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!
A few weeks ago, I created an article, Hurricane Isaias, as it threatened much of the East Coast. I've created several articles already, but Isaias is one that stood out to me. First of all, it affected me, my town and my state of New Jersey, along with millions of other people. Two months ago, I learned about Wikipedia's In The News section of the main page, which documents recent events that are in the news. I nominated Isaias' article on August 1 here, and the discussion was closed quickly after Isaias had weakened significantly after impacting the Bahamas. As Isaias made landfall in the Carolinas, spawned 36+ tornadoes and killed 18 people, I re-nominated Isaias [1], got rejected again, and I learned a few lessons that I want to share to other editors:
When posting
If you post something that isn't in the news or isn't notable at all, then it would be quickly closed without much discussion.
Don't feel upset when someone opposes your nomination. It is almost guaranteed that someone will oppose your nomination.
Keep improving the article. An article that is a stub won't likely be posted.
When posting about a person, make sure the article complies with BLP policies, and is adequately referenced and well-written.
I also learned a few lessons about which tropical cyclones to post. In July, someone nominated Hurricane Hanna (2020)here, and it was also rejected because it didn't meet the notability requirements. Also, keep in mind that damage estimates and death reports often come out several days after the storm, which makes passing the nomination for a storm like Isaias, a storm that caused $4.2 billion and 18 deaths, somewhat hard.
My opinions on when to nominate an article (this list mainly refers to tropical cyclone articles)
The storm should affect more than two countries. However, if the storm causes a lot of death and destruction in one country (such as Tropical Storm Imelda), see the requirements below
The storm should cause more than $1 billion in damage. However, if the storm causes less destruction and less death, see the requirements below
The storm should cause at least 10 or 20 deaths. Most ITN nominations about a disaster that have less than 10 deaths are usually rejected/closed.
The storm should break at least 1 notable record (such as the deadliest storm to hit a country in 20 years, or something like that).
There is currently a discussion on the WPTC project page about this topic.
Around six months ago, I joined Wikipedia after seeing many articles on tropical cyclones and their seasons. Being someone who has studied (and been through) multiple storms, I realized I could help make a difference, bring more attention to tropical cyclones and that Wikipedia was the perfect place to do that. Soon after, I came across the WikiProject Tropical cyclones page, and after seeing what they did, I decided to sign my name and join the project. I really enjoyed how they gave to-do lists of tropical cyclone pages that needed work among other things. One of the great things about this WikiProject is the warm welcome I received when I joined and I got to know some of the more veteran editors, and they really helped me get around on Wikipedia, such as helpful tips and great advice to make better edits. As I have become comfortable editing and helping other users, some things came to mind that I thought other new users should know when they join the WPTC:
If you are new and have questions, don't be afraid to ask someone. There are plenty of helpful editors who know what they are doing, and who would be happy to give some great tips to get you used to editing weather articles on Wikipedia.
Don't be afraid to start editing. You can edit tropical cyclone pages as much as you want, just make sure you use the proper sources and citations.
Be kind. It is simply the Golden Rule, if you use it, others will too.
If you see something wrong, do something! If you see vandalism or any strange edits, make sure you revert them.
Help improve. There are plenty of tropical cyclone articles that need improvement and we need all the help we can get.
If you have any ideas but you're not sure if they would be right for an article, you can discuss them with fellow users on a talk page.
I am sure I missed some tips, but these are important for getting started with WPTC. This WikiProject has some amazing people and articles and I am sure new users (and veteran users as well) enjoy this as much as I do and will continue to make great edits as well as informative articles.
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. As of this issue, there are 157 featured articles and 70 featured lists. There are 135 A-class articles, and 1,002 good articles. There are only 65 B-class articles, perhaps because because most articles of that quality already passed a GA review. There are 369 C-class articles, 736 start-class articles, and 151 stub-class articles, with 31 lists, and 8 current articles. These figures mean that slightly more than half of the project is rated a GA or better. Typhoon Warren was the 1000th GA in the project.
Storm of the month and other tropical activity for August
Hurricane Laura tied the 1856 Last Island hurricane as the strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in the U.S state of Louisiana, as measured by maximum sustained winds. It moved across the Lesser and Greater Antilles as a tropical storm, killing 35 people on the island of Hispaniola due to flooding and landslides. Laura rapidly intensified once it reached the Gulf of Mexico, becoming a powerful Category 4 hurricane on August 26 with peak winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) early the next day. On August 27, Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana at peak intensity, producing wind gusts of 137 mph (220 km/h) in Lake Charles, and leaving at least $8 billion in damage. Overall, Laura killed more than 57 people, with more missing.
Atlantic - the basin continued its record pace of activity. In the middle of the month, Tropical Storm Josephine formed east of the Lesser Antilles and eventually dissipated north of the islands. Tropical Storm Kyle originated off the east coast of the United States and moved to the east-northeast. Hurricane Marco formed in the Caribbean and briefly strengthened into a minimal hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. For a few days, the NHC forecast back-to-back hurricane landfalls from Marco and Laura within two days of each other; however, Marco dissipated near the Louisiana coastline without causing significant damage. Toward the end of the month, Tropical Depression Fifteen formed off the southeastern United States.
Eastern Pacific - Hurricane Elida was the season's second hurricane, which brushed the Baja California Peninsula while moving northwestward. In the middle of the month, a series of storms formed, including a long-lived tropical depression, Tropical Storm Fausto, and Hurricane Genevieve, the last of which passed near the Baja California Peninsula. Genevieve killed two people, and its moisture spread into the southwestern United States. Toward the end of the month, Tropical Storm Hernan caused flooding and landslides in southwestern Mexico, and Iselle formed around the same time farther west over open water.
Western Pacific - after a quiet July, the basin became more active in August. Tropical Storm Jangmi brushed western Japan and South Korea with heavy rainfall. A short-lived tropical depression existed south of Japan. Severe Tropical Storm Mekkhala formed in the South China Sea and struck Guangdong, resulting in heavy rainfall and $154 million in damage. About a week later, Severe Tropical Storm Higos struck the same region, leaving eight deaths. Typhoon Bavi formed east of Taiwan and moved northward through the Yellow Sea, eventually striking North Korea, where it caused one fatality. Toward the end of the month, Typhoon Maysak formed east of Taiwan and followed a similar path to Bavi, becoming a powerful typhoon as it moved through the Ryukyu Islands. Another tropical depression formed between the Marianas Islands and Japan on August 31.
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.
