Well now that the New Year is arriving, I have written this review of the Northern Hemisphere cyclone seasons.
Atlantic:
The Atlantic Basin in 2007 saw 15 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. An average year, defined by NOAA, sees 9-12 named storms, 5-7 hurricanes, and 1-3 major hurricanes (or basically 11, 6, and 2). This means that the number of named storms was above average, the number of hurricanes was average, and the number of major hurricanes was average. The average ACE for the Atlantic basin is 102.3 (mean average...median average is 89.5). In 2007, the ACE was approx. 68.1. This means that the ACE was below the mean average, however, using NOAA's classification system for ACE, the season would be in the "near-normal" category.
Season classification: Near Average
Northeast Pacific:
The Northeast Pacific basin in 2007 saw 11 named storms, 4 hurricanes, and 1 major hurricane. An average year, defined by NOAA, has 15 named storms, 9 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes. This means that the number of named storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes were below average. The mean average ACE is 130. This year, the ACE was 34.2, which is far below the mean average for the ACE in this basin.
Season classification: Below average
North-central Pacific:
The North-central Pacific saw a total of 2 tropical cyclones in the basin. Both of these cyclones came from and developed in the Northeast Pacific basin. These cyclones were Cosme and Flossie. Both of these systems made a close pass to Hawaii, but no direct landfalls occured. The average number of tropical cyclones that exist within the North-central Pacific during the hurricane season is 4 to 5. This means that the tropical activity in this basin was below average. The ACE was 17.6.
Season classification: Below average
Northwest Pacific basin:
The official RSMC for this basin is the JMA, and it should be noted that the information below is based upon information from the JMA. The total number of named storms that occured this season were 24, with a total of 14 of those being typhoons. The average number of named storms in this basin is 26, with on average 16 of those being typhoons. Compared to the averages, the basin saw tropical activity that was slightly below average. Also of note, several of the storms this season were relatively short lived.
Season classification: Slightly below average
North-Indian Ocean:
The official RSMC for this region is the IMD. All the information below is based upon the IMD data. A total of 4 named storms formed in this basin during the year. On average, 4 to 6 named storms form each year. Compared to the averages, this year saw average activity. It is important to note that Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu, which formed in the Arabian Sea, formed and rapidly intensified in an area that is historically less favorable than the Bay of Bengal. The system made landfall on the coast of Oman in June. Another storm of note, is Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr, which made landfall in Bangladash and devastated the region causing thousands of deaths and significant floods.
Season classification: Average
I will post a full review of the 2007-2008 Southern Hemisphere Cyclone seasons after the season ends on April 30th. Feel free to post comments of corrections that to be made. Thank you.
-extreme236
Page: 1 — Blog Index
It would be cool to get a satellite image of the strongest storm of each basin.
Gonu was the strongest cyclone ever in Arabian Sea and also the only cyclone in history registered in G.Oman and the only known cyclone who made landfall in Iran.
Strongest storms for each basin:
ATL: Dean 145 kts(1 min) 906mb
EPAC: Flossie 120 kts(1 min) 946mb
WPAC: Sepat 110 kts(10 min) 910mb
NIO: Gonu 130 kts(3 min) 920mb
Strongest storm of the year was George 110 kts(10 min) 902mb in late february in S-E Indian Ocean.
It raised a couple of questions in my mind. Firstly is the 'mean' for ACE and number of storms rising or falling in recent years? What would a five year moving average look like?
What is the standard deviation for numbers quoted?
It is also interesting to note that some anecdotal reports I read suggested that Central Vietnam had the worst floods in 40 years. This was directly the result of several TC's which made landfall in Vietnam.
Viewing: 1 - 3
Page: 1 — Blog Index