Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones

Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better organize information in articles related to Tropical cyclones (referred to interchangeably as hurricanes or typhoons). This page and its subpages contain their suggestions; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list there.

For more information on WikiProjects, please see Wikipedia:WikiProjects and Wikipedia:WikiProject best practices.

Title

WikiProject on Tropical cyclones

Scope

This WikiProject aims to provide a common layout for articles on historical tropical cyclones and seasons thereof. That is, a tropical cyclone that has been given a name (e.g., Hurricane Charley), not for articles just related to tropical cyclones (e.g., tropical cyclone).

Parentage

The parent of this project is WikiProject Meteorology.

Similar WikiProjects

This project is partially inspired by WikiProject Mountains and WikiProject Rivers.

Participants

jdorje (talk)
Baylink
Miss Madeline
Titoxd^(?!?)
Hurricanehink
NSLE
Cuivienen
--Jaranda ^{wat's sup} 00:26, 27 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
CrazyC83
Goobergunch|?
— Hurricane Devon ( Talk ) 01:05, 3 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Counters
--DanielES15 01:45, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Sarsaparilla39 05:56, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
§Hurricane ERIC § archive -- my dropsonde 05:23, 9 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Sarah sofia 02:37, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
juan andrés 00:37, 11 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Fishhead 12:37, 12 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Lionheart Omega 02:56, 28 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Evolauxia 13:13, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Icelandic Hurricane 21:43, 31 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Golbez
Ajm⁸¹
Lkegley9 22:27, 15 February 2006 (UTC) I know a lot about hurricanes. I have studied every year of them, and know most of the major ones, as well as a few minor ones. Also, I research 6the Atlantic Basin the most...just for future reference.[reply]
RattleMan
Yarrah 11:59, 17 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Erebus555
Tcwd 03:49, 20 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Add {{User WPTC}} to your userpage to add this userbox -

This user participates in
WikiProject Tropical cyclones.

Structure

Templates will provide a useful set of features to show information on tropical cyclones and seasons in a consistent format. Guidelines for naming, links, and categorization help keep the vast number of articles properly interconnected.

Basins

Tropical cyclones are separated by basin. Generally each basin has its own categories; all articles for a particular basin are inter-woven using links and categories. It's important that the basin is listed identically (including capitalization) for all articles. The basin is generally passed in to templates to automatically create categorizations and links within an article.

The basins include:

The Atlantic hurricane basin.
The Pacific hurricane basin (this includes both the Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific).
The Pacific typhoon basin (the northwest Pacific).
The North Indian cyclone basin.
The Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone basin (This includes all southern hemisphere activity excluding the south Atlantic. If a storm forms in the south Atlantic, it will be covered in South Atlantic tropical cyclone as storms in the south Atlantic are exceedingly rare.)

Templates

A number of templates exist to make life easier for article writers. See also Category:Hurricane templates.

{{Infobox hurricane}} provides a template for creating an informative table for any hurricane article. {{Infobox hurricane needed}} provides a placeholder template to mark hurricanes that need one of the above templates.
{{HurricaneWarning}} provides a top-of-page warning (disclaimer) useful for active hurricanes.
{{HurricaneActive}} provides a table to show the current status of an active hurricane (still under development).
{{Infobox hurricane season}} is a similar template for hurricane season articles. {{Infobox hurricane season nopic}} is the same but with no picture. {{Infobox hurricane season piconly}} includes only a name and picture. {{Infobox hurricane season needed}} is a placeholder for season articles that need an infobox.
{{Hurricane season links}} creates a list of adjacent hurricane seasons (to be used inside hurricane season articles and particularly inside {{Infobox hurricane season}}.
{{Hurricane season categories}} is a template that can be used inside season articles to provide categorization for that season.
{{Hurricane season category}} is a template that may be used to create hurricane season categories (like Category:2005 Atlantic hurricane season).
{{hurricane}} may be included at the top of talk pages of hurricane-related articles to let potential editors know about these resources.

Tropical cyclone article naming

Hurricanes should only receive a separate article if they are long enough not to be considered a stub. If there isn't enough to write about, the text can go inside the article for the hurricane season.
When creating a new article for an active storm when it may or may not be appropriate (i.e. a major hurricane currently threatening land), it is generally best to put a request up in the discussion forum for that hurricane season (e.g. Talk:2006 Atlantic hurricane season) and discuss it with others.
Named hurricanes generally do not have unique names. The name for the most infamous hurricane may take its name for the main article (e.g., Hurricane Charley, Tropical Storm Allison, Typhoon Haitang, Cyclone Tracy); use the prefix appropriate for the tropical cyclone's basin.
Less infamous hurricanes may have a separate page distinguished by year (e.g., Hurricane Bertha (1996)), especially if it must be differentiated (e.g. Tropical Storm Bret (1993) and Hurricane Bret (1999)). The general rule is that if the name is retired or is likely to be retired (for a current storm - e.g. Hurricane Katrina), it should have the main article.
All tropical cyclones of the same name should be visible through a disambiguation page (e.g., Hurricane Diana (disambiguation)). If none of the disambiguated storms are particularly infamous the main name may be used for the disambiguation (e.g., Hurricane Danielle). The disambiguation should be basin-independent and should cover all storms in all basins with the same name. If in doubt use "Tropical Storm" or "Tropical Cyclone" as the prefix for the disambiguation when multiple basins are involved.
If a name has been used only once (or is being used for the first time) and is not warranting an article, it should be created as a redirect to that season (e.g. Hurricane Tanya redirects to 1995 Atlantic hurricane season).
Never hesitate to add a redirect when there is no article for a particular hurricane. Redirects help users to find information if it's "hidden" in a season article, and prevent spurious creation of new articles. This is particularly useful for active hurricanes, as users will otherwise often jump at the chance to write a "new" article about the event. Articles should be redirected to disambiguation pages or (only when there is no ambiguity) to the season article that includes the hurricane. Do not redirect to the season article when a disambiguation page exists, as there is then no way for readers to find the disambiguation.
- This is also helpful for people who wish to provide links to WP for current storms: they can do it once, and the redirect will catch the in-links unless and until a separate page is created. Question: should the redirect go to the season page, or the section thereon for that specific storm?
Unnamed (including numbered) hurricanes (used for older tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Pacific basins, and for all tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean basin) should be distinguished by location, type, and year. Three naming conventions are possible: Galveston Hurricane of 1900, 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, or Hurricane 12 (1975). All unnamed hurricanes should always have a year in the name. Again, create redirects wherever necessary to avoid confusion or duplicate articles.

Tropical cyclone article guidelines

Use one of the infobox templates above. Other templates may also be useful for active hurricanes.
Add {{hurricane}} at the top of the talk page of tropical cyclone articles.
Tropical cyclone articles should always link to the season they are a part of (included in the templates). For instance, Hurricane Camille links to the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season.
Make sure the season article also links to the hurricane article. For instance, 2004 Atlantic hurricane season should link to Hurricane Ivan.
Tropical cyclone articles should be categorized by basin ("Category:Atlantic hurricanes"), strength ("Category:Category 5 hurricanes"), and season ("Category:2005 Atlantic hurricane season"). Parent categories ("Category:Tropical Cyclones") should be reserved as meta-categories.

Tropical cyclone season article guidelines

Seasons are separated by basin. Compare 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, 2005 Pacific hurricane season, 2005 Pacific typhoon season. There are generally six basins (N Atlantic, NW Pacific, NE Pacific, SW Pacific, N Indian, S Atlantic) but not all may justify articles.
Use {{Infobox Hurricane Season}}, as mentioned above.
Add {{hurricane}} at the top of the talk page of season articles.
Link to other appropriate season articles. For instance 2005 Atlantic hurricane season links to the articles for the 2005 NW and NE Pacific seasons and to the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008 N Atlantic season articles.
Season articles should include an overall summary plus a short summary for each storm, with a link to the storm page where appropriate. See 2004 Atlantic hurricane season for an example. If a storm's summary becomes too long it may be moved into a separate article.
Seasons should be categorized by year ("Category:2005 Atlantic hurricane season") and basin ("Category:Atlantic hurricane seasons"). {{Atlantic hurricane season categories}} , {{Pacific hurricane season categories}}, or {{Pacific typhoon season categories}} templates should be used at the end of the article to automatically include these and other appropriate categories.

Tropical cyclone categories

These guidelines show how existing storms, disambiguations, and seasons are categorized. Categorizing all articles consistently makes it easier for readers to navigate through related articles.

Each storm article (but not season articles) should be categorized by basin; see Category:Tropical cyclones by basin for a complete list of basins. Disambiguation pages are also categorized by basin (sometimes into multiple basins); see Typhoon Nina for an example. An example basin category is Category:Atlantic hurricanes.
All storm articles should be given a strength category like (Category:Category 3 hurricanes). See Category:Tropical cyclones by strength for a full list of category choices.
Season categories like Category:2003 Atlantic hurricane season are used to categorize both storms and seasons. Each season article should be categorized into its own season (see the provided templates for this). Each storm is also categorized according to the season it is in. Disambiguation pages are categorized by season as well (see Tropical Storm Hazel for an example). See the child categories of Category:Tropical cyclones by season for a complete list of season categories.
Basin season categories are used to categorize season articles (like 2005 Pacific typhoon season) and categories (like Category:2005 Pacific typhoon season); see Category:Tropical cyclones by season for a complete list of season categories. The provided templates will generally do this automatically.
Storms should be categorized by region where appropriate; see Category:Tropical cyclones by region. Hurricanes impacting the United States should generally go into a category "<state> hurricanes" (like Category:North Carolina hurricanes). Nations follow a different standard; the category is called "Hurricanes in <nation>" (like Category:Hurricanes in Mexico. Obviously a storm should only be categorized into a particular region if it had a strong impact on that region (as opposed to all regions affected as the infobox will show).
When there are multiple articles about a particular storm, that storm should have a category identical to its article name; in this case the storm category should be categorized the same way the article is. See Category:Hurricane Katrina for an example.
Only top-level categories should be categorized within Category:Tropical cyclones. Articles don't go into this category but fall into sub-categories.
Storm disambiguation articles (like Hurricane Gordon (disambiguation)) should be in the Category:Tropical cyclone disambiguation category. Using {{hurricane disambig}} in the article will accomplish this automatically.

Images and image names

To make uploading and categorization easier, season and storm articles should have consistent types of images and those images should have consistent names.

Season track images. Each season should have a track image if possible. The image should probably have the name <season>_map.png, where <season> is the name of the season article.
Storm peak-intensity visible-light pictures. Most storms have a satellite picture of the storm at peak intensity. Higher resolution is always better.
Storm landfall visible-light pictures. Other storms have a satellite picture of the storm at landfall. Again higher resolution is always better.
Non-visible-light storm images. Many storms may have IR, doppler, or other types of meteorological pictures.

Hierarchy definition

Tropical cyclones are categorized by basin, strength, season, and region. Seasons are categorized by basin and year.

Goals

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Portals

Template:Tcportal

Portal:Tropical cyclones

Tasks

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : WikiProject Tropical cyclones article requests
Expand : Indianola Hurricane of 1886, Typhoon Nina (1975)
Stubs : Expand Tropical cyclone stub articles
Wikify : Make sure tropical cyclone lists, such as List of Texas hurricanes, have storm articles properly linked

Finish up "List of records broken by the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season" as the Final Reports come in.

Adopt an article

Similar to the Collaboration of the week, but on a smaller scale, you might want to "adopt" an article. This would involve doing the research, writing, and picture-taking (if possible) for either a non-existent article or a stub. Of course, everyone else can still edit an adopted article, and you can work on other things too, but the idea is to find a focus for a while, to try and build up the number of quality articles the Project has produced.

Example article: User:Example

General strategy and discussion forums

Currently all discussion is on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tropical cyclones.

Lists

See also Category:Lists of tropical cyclones. Where possible these should be complemented by or replaced by categories.

Articles

Wikipedia articles on Tropical Cyclones

These generally don't fall under the scope of the project but are useful reading for anyone interested.

New Wikipedia articles related to Tropical Cyclones

Please feel free to list your new Tropical Cyclones-related articles here (newer articles at the top, please). Any new articles that have an interesting or unusual fact in them should be suggested for the Did you know? box on the Main Wikipedia page. DYN has a 72 hr. time limit from the creation of the article.

1959 Mexico hurricane Also suggested for DYN. Miss Madeline
Typhoon Vamei Also suggested for DYN. Hurricanehink
List of Category 5 Pacific hurricanes Miss Madeline