Tropical cyclones are an example of a multihazard event with impacts that can highly vary depending on landfall location, wind speed, storm surge, and inland flooding from precipitation. These storms are typically categorized by their wind speed and pressure, while evacuation orders are typically given based on storm surge. The general public relies on these single hazard assessment parameters ...

Affecting scores of people with seemingly insurmountable and unmanageable costs, tropical cyclones (TCs) are one of the most devastating extreme weather events. In this special issue, we highlight and summarize some of the recent studies that make use of detailed observations and high-resolution numerical models to analyze tropical cyclones from their genesis to post-landfall impacts. Focused a...

This study investigates tropical cyclones of the past two decades (1990–2010) and the connection, if any, between their size and their ability to subsequently undergo rapid intensification (RI). Three different parameters are chosen to define the size of a tropical cyclone: radius of maximum wind (RMW), the average 34-knot (kt; 1 kt5 0.51m s) radius (AR34), and the radius of the outermost close...

A reanalysis of the Atlantic basin tropical storm and hurricane database (‘‘best track’’) for the period from 1921 to 1930 has been completed. This reassessment of the main archive for tropical cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico was necessary to correct systematic biases and random errors in the data as well as to search for previously unrecognized systems. ...

A global climatology for rapid cyclone intensification has been produced from the second NCEP reanalysis (NCEP2), the 25-yr Japanese Reanalysis (JRA-25), and the ECMWF reanalyses over the period 1979–2008. An improved (combined) criterion for identifying explosive cyclones has been developed based on preexisting definitions, offering a more balanced, normalized climatological distribution. The ...

[1] A wavelet-based method is described for incorporating swaths of surface pressure derived from scatterometer measurements into surface pressure analyses obtained from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The resulting modified pressure fields are used to identify low-pressure centers over the Southern Ocean and to build statistics of midlatitude cyclones during 7 y...

Flow in geophysical fluids is commonly summarized by coherent streams (e.g., conveyor belt flows in extratropical cyclones or jet streaks in the upper troposphere). Typically, parcel trajectories are calculated from the flow field and subjective thresholds are used to distinguish coherent streams of interest. This methodology contribution develops a more objective approach to distinguish cohere...

The advance in targeted observations of tropical cyclone movement is reviewed in this article. The targeted observations from DOTSTAR (Dropwindsonde Observations for Typhoon Surveillance near the Taiwan Region) in understanding and improving the tropical cyclone track predictability is highlighted, along with the progress of the field program of THORPEX-PARC in the summer of 2008. The impact of...

abstract

In the past, many objective techniques have been evaluated for severe tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, but little has been done along this line in the Pacific. A computer program was developed at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, to verify 10 separate 24-hr. forecast techniques. During the course of the 1967 season, a total of 14 different techniques were tested on 27 tropical cyclones. All t...