User:Juliancolton/Atlantic guide

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

This is a guide to writing a high-quality article on a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic Ocean.

Notability standards

While there is no strict limit on which storms can receive articles, a cyclone is generally considered notable if it affected land and caused significant damage. Storms that didn't affect land may also have articles, if they occurred within the past few years (eg. Tropical Storm Henri (2009)); are considered meteorologically significant (eg. Tropical Storm Zeta (2005)); or are significant for other reasons (eg. Hurricane Debbie (1969)). Notability also increases with a storm's strength. As a result, tropical depressions are typically considered non-notable, while hurricanes and major hurricanes are probably more noteworthy. Wikipedia's general notability guidelines should always be kept in mind when deciding whether to write an article on a tropical cyclone.

Gathering sources

The tropical cyclones WikiProject is lucky in that there are endless resources that can be used to write articles. Storms between 1995 and the present year have plentiful information in NHC Tropical Cyclone/Preliminary Reports, and also in advisory archives. These sources are crucial to building a comprehensive and coherent account of a storm. For older storms, between 1958 and the 1990s, the NHC also provides storm wallets that include lots of various data and preliminary reports. Storms in the early 1900s often lack sources, so HURDAT can be used to fill in raw statistics, while the Monthly Weather Review details every hurricane season from 1872 through 2006.

For impact information, newspaper reports are usually the most useful. They can be found using a simple Google News search, and also often include information on the preparations that preceded a storm. Media coverage of tropical cyclones increased significantly in the past decade, especially after the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, so nearly any hurricane will be reported on by newspapers.

Aftermath information is more hard to come by, and as a result, only high-impact storms will be able to sustain a section dedicated to it. As with impact, newspapers can be used to find this information. FEMA press releases should be used whenever possible. NCDC reports, going back to the early 1990s, are very helpful and can often be used as a base for the impact section.

Infobox

The infobox is typically the first thing a reader looks at. It should provide a general overview of a storm, including maximum winds, minimum pressures, formation date, dissipation date, and other statistics. It should also include a relevant image of a storm, whether it be a satellite shot or a surface analysis. The code for a standard infobox is:

{{Infobox Hurricane
| Name=
| Type=
| Year=
| Basin=Atl
| Image location=
| Image name=
| Formed=
| Dissipated=
| 1-min winds=
| Pressure=
| Damages=
| Inflated=
| Fatalities=
| Areas=
| Hurricane season=[[    Atlantic hurricane season]]
}}

An example of a page that provides a developed and comprehensive infobox is Hurricane Alex (2004).

Lead

The lead should follow Wikipedia guidelines for length and style, but should, in some ways, be tailored. The opening sentence should summarize the most notable aspect of the storm. The next line should, in most cases, explain the storm's relation to its respective season (eg. "was the nth named storm, nth hurricane, and nth major hurricane of the yyyy Atlantic hurricane season"). The introduction should inform the reader of the storm's most important meteorological features, and summarize its history into a few sentences.

Depending on the article's length, the lead should be between one and three paragraphs long. For example, Hurricane Florence (2000) is a relatively brief article, so its lead reflects that by conveying only the most basic information. Hurricane Isabel is a far more in-depth piece, so its lead goes into more detail. Regardless, the lead should ideally cover all the major aspects of the article, including impact, records, and preparations/aftermath. Tropical Storm Keith (1988) is an excellent example of a well-crafted introduction.

Meteorological history

No storm article can be considered complete without a comprehensive chronology of its history. A good meteorological history should explain the storm's origins, intensification, track, peak intensity, landfalls or indirect strikes, if any, steering currents, surrounding environment, weakening and dissipation. The sources listed above are usually sufficient to build a full synoptic history section. As much information as possible may be added, but care should be taken to avoid excessive jargon and trivial details; remember that Wikipedia is a general-purpose encyclopedia, and should be accessible to as many readers as reasonably possible.

This section should be two paragraphs long at a minimum, and up to six or seven paragraphs if needed. Because of its age, even though it was a major storm, 1893 New York hurricane's history section is short, but it still covers all the basic information. On the other hand – Tropical Storm Alberto (2006), despite being a weak cyclone, has a very broad and substantial storm history. An example of an ideal history section is Tropical Storm Grace (2009).

Preparations

This section, while not as important as meteorological history, should be included whenever possible. It should detail any precautions taken specific to the storm being discussed, including evacuations, businesses, schools, or offices closed, government actions taken, shelters erected, and any other non-trivial information. Pre-storm forecasts, such as how much rain was expected to fall, are usually not notable unless the storm greatly defied predictions. Tropical cyclone watches and warnings, if any, should also be included. An example of a well-written and in-depth preparations section is Hurricane Bonnie (1998).

Impact

This is arguable the most important aspect of a hurricane article. The impact section details a storm's affects on land and at sea, including rainfall amounts, winds, and other meteorological statistics. It should explain what kind of damage the hurricane did, how many people were left homeless or injured, how many deaths occurred, and total monetary damage. It should also outline the extent of the damage, and provide at least some information for all areas affected. Most storms that made landfall will have had some degree of impact on the land it struck, so this section cannot be underdeveloped or incomplete.

Information for this section can usually be found with the sources listed above, most notably newspaper reports and NCDC documents. However, the storm's TCR is a good place to find general statistics and numbers. This section should be reasonably in-depth and lengthy, but many specific details may not be necessary to include. If the section ends be becoming more than around half a screen long, subsections should be used to divide it by region. An example of an appropriately detailed and well-developed impact section is 1910 Cuba hurricane.

Aftermath

The segment of an article covering the aftermath of a storm should explain how residents rebuilt, what efforts were taken to clean up after the event, and what aid was sent to the affected region. It should provide the reader with an idea of what generally occurred after the cyclone passed. An example of an ideal aftermath section can be found at Hurricane Dean.

References

This may very well be the simplest section, as it generally contains only the {{reflist}} template.

External links

This section should provide links to reliable and useful resources that, for whatever reason, were not used in the main article. Extreme care should be taken to avoid this list becoming filled with spam and irrelevant links. At the bottom of this section, place any pertinent navigational templates. For an example of a standard external links section, take a look at Hurricane Arlene (1963).