Number 23,

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Hurricane Paloma
Hurricane Paloma was the second most powerful November hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, behind Hurricane Lenny in 1999. It was the third and final major hurricane to hit Cuba in 2008, being the first time that three major hurricanes have struck Cuba in one season. It also marked the first time that at least one major hurricane formed in every month of the hurricane season from July to November, with only June not having a major hurricane this season.

Hurricane Paloma was also the last Tropical Depression of the 2008 season, and caused at least $1.4 billion in damage and was responsible for at least one direct death.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• Eastern Pacific Ocean– Tropical Storm Polo was the only Tropical Storm to form during November and December.

• Western Pacific Ocean – There were five tropical depressions during the last two months of the 2008 Pacific typhoon season. Though only four of them developed into Tropical storms with only Dolphin becoming a Typhoon.

• North Indian– There were three Tropical Depressions during the last two months of the 2008 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, however there were only two that officially became Tropical Storms being named Khai-Muk and Nisha.

• South Indian– Cyclone Bernard was the first cyclone of the year to move into the Australian Region from the Southwest Indian Ocean. Forming on early on November 19 it quickly intensified into a Moderate Tropical Storm the next day, however as it moved westward it weakened into a Tropical Depression and moved into Australia's Bureau of Meteorology's area of responsibility and dissipated later on November 21.

• Australian - There were four tropical lows during November and December with Tropical Low ex Bernard moving into the Australian Region from the South-West Indian Ocean. Two of the Lows developed into Tropical Cyclones being named Anika and Billy respectively. Anika intensified into a category two cyclone whilst Cyclone Billy became a Severe Tropical Cyclone after it had affected Northern Australia.

• The 2008–09 South Pacific cyclone season got off to an slow start during November and December, with three Tropical Disturbances forming during December. Only one of the tropical disturbances developed into a tropical depression.

Member of the month

The November/December member of the month is Thegreatdr, who has been a steady editor within the project for the past few years. Lately, the user's contributions include improving some of the Pacific Typhoon season articles from the 1980s. Thegreatdr has also tipped us off about going on's at the National Hurricane Center and the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center.

New members

• Aquamelli * DavidWS * Ramisses * Renereynoso * VeronicaPR * Neutralhomer * VOFFA * Catalan * HurricaneSpin * HERB * NuclearWarfare

New and improved articles

• There were new pieces of Featured content : Timeline of the 2005 Pacific hurricane season, Tropical Storm Erick (2007), Tropical Storm Gabrielle (2007), Timeline of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season, Timeline of the 1983 Atlantic hurricane season, Timeline of the 1982 Atlantic hurricane season
  • 1994 Pacific hurricane season became the project's first Good topic.
• New Good articles include: 1981 Pacific typhoon season, 1983 Pacific typhoon season, 1994 Pacific typhoon season, Hurricane Karl (1998), Tropical Depression One-C (2005), Tropical Storm Dorothy (1970), Tropical Storm Hermine (1998), Cyclone Gene
• New storm articles include: Tropical Storm Guchol (2005), Hurricane Paloma (2008), Hurricane Douglas (2002), Hurricane Florence (1994), Tropical Storm Vongfong (2008), Cyclone Rosie (2008), Tropical Storm Becky (1970), Hurricane Hector (2006), Hurricane Karl (1998)
• New non-storm articles include: Timeline of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season, Timeline of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season, Timeline of the 1983 Atlantic hurricane season, Timeline of the 1982 Atlantic hurricane season, 2009 Pacific typhoon season, Timeline of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season

Main Page content

• Facts from 2008's Cyclone Rosie, 1970's Tropical Storm Becky, 2005's Tropical Depression One-C & 1998's Hurricane Lisa appeared in the Did You Know? section of the Main Page during November.
• Hurricane Paloma appeared on the Main Page in the In the News section.
• Facts from 1998's Hurricane Karl, 2006's Tropical Storm Olivia & 1969's Hurricane Holly appeared in the Did You Know? section of the Main Page during December.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
FA	47	49	49	50
A	19	19	19	19
GA	161	187	198	202
B	17	13	21	22
C	107	119	118	122
Start	201	204	210	210
Stub	19	19	16	17
Total	571	613	631	642
ω	2.92	2.88	2.87	2.87
percentage ≥Less than C	38.5	36.4	35.8	35.4
percentage ≥GA or better	39.8	42.1	42.2	42.2

Project News
During the last two months there have been several important discussions of which some are still seeking contributions from members. These include discussions about:

Project Importance - Is it better to rate Storm Importance by basin or by overall importance? - There seems to be a consensus to rate storm importance on a case by case basis, though there still needs to be a bit more discussion on this matter.

Prominent units within TC articles: Imperial or SI? - Which should be the prominent unit outside the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Basins, Knots or MPH? Generally people think that Knots should not be used except in the general science articles and infoboxes.

ACE - Where and how, should it be used? - We have decided that it should not be used outside the Atlantic or the Eastern Pacific hurricane Seasons. A debate is still ongoing with a view too get rid of it all together.

JMA Tropical Depressions Should we include them with the season articles or not? - The general consensus so far seems to be that we should include them in the season articles though this debate is still ongoing.

We discovered during December that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology have started to designate the Tropical Lows that form within their region with letter U. It is unclear whether either TCWC Jakarta or TCWC Port Moresby assign any designations to lows that form within their Area of Responsibility.