Wikipedia:Notability (weather)

The notability of weather events is different from the normal notability of events. Unlike events needing to have a lasting impact, weather articles do not always have to have a lasting impact to be considered notable or even be denied notability on Wikipedia.

This page will detail general notability guidelines for different types of weather events. That said, a weather event could be notable for Wikipedia, even if it is not detailed here, so common sense and discussions should be used often if notability is in question.

Inclusion criteria

Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia, which means that there is no practical limit to the number of topics we can cover or the total amount of content. That said, not every drop of rain is considered notable for Wikipedia. The inclusion criteria for weather events varies based on the types of weather.

Tornadoes

• A tornado that is considered “rare” by meteorologists can be notable for inclusion on Wikipedia, but not always. An example of this is the 2021 South Moravia tornado.
• A “rare” tornado does not have to kill or injure people as notability can be established based on rarity. An example of this is the 2018 Port Orchard tornado.
• If a tornado breaks a state/country/world record, it can be notable enough for Wikipedia, regardless of rating or casualties. An example of this is the 2013 El Reno tornado.
• The vast majority of tornadoes do not qualify for a stand-alone article, however, tornadoes that some might consider "notable" tornadoes of an outbreak can be given a subsection in an outbreak's article.

Tornado outbreaks

Tornado outbreak notability for a split article is based on impact. Below is some points and progressions of how a tornado outbreak article can be split.

Tornado outbreak sequences

• All tornado outbreak sequences are considered notable for an article. An example of a tornado outbreak sequence is the tornado outbreak sequence of March 24–28, 2021.

Tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclones, also called tropical storms, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons, occur mostly in seven formally delineated basins, each of which have defined yearly seasons and are monitored by one or more warning centers. For the seven basins, since the start of the satellite era in 1970, each yearly season has its own article listing all the tropical cyclones that received a name or numerical designation from a warning center during the season. Other systems that pop up either outside of a formal warning center's area of responsibility, or are given a very high chance of becoming a tropical cyclone or moving into a basin but ultimately did not, are be noted where applicable in an "Other systems" section. The rare systems that form outside the seven basins are covered in articles describing overall tropical cyclone formation within these regions, such as South Atlantic tropical cyclone and Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone.

In order to be split off, the basic rule of thumb is that a system should have had a significant impact on land. This can be determined in a number of different ways, including the intensity of a system at landfall, the number of deaths that occurred, the amount of damage that occurred, or if a state of emergency is declared or international aid is immediately requested. However, it is worth looking at the overall weather event at times and seeing if the content is best served elsewhere. For example: January 2009 Fiji floods instead of Tropical Depression 04F (2008–09) and Tropical Depression 05F (2008–09).

The notability of individual tropical cyclones are based on the coverage of a particular cyclone. Coverage for tropical cyclones may come in different forms: academic coverage brought upon by multiple analyses of a cyclone by the academic community, or coverage on a storm's overall impact towards a specific region.

• A storm is considered to be notable if there is significant coverage of the storm.
  • For most storms, this will be in the form of news reports and official damage or preparation reports.
  • There is no minimum number of casualties or amount of damage required to make a storm notable. However, some amount of either helps establish notability.
  • Storms whose names have been retired for being especially deadly and/or destructive are automatically considered notable.
  • For record-breaking storms or storms which are otherwise historical however non-impactful, academic coverage of the event or an analysis by a weather agency helps establish notability. Examples of this include Hurricane Sam, Hurricane Hector (2018), Typhoon John, and Hurricane Genevieve (2014). Using records to justify the existence of a standalone article should be done with caution: the more qualifiers there are to a record, the less the record contributes to the storm's notability.
• The existence of coverage of storm preparations does not help with proving notability as preparations are considered routine events prior to a storm's impact. Notability should be based on the storm's impact and aftermath, not on preparations alone. Likewise, an article purely consisting of non-significant meteorological history also does not help in proving notability, as meteorological data on a storm is also routinely produced by weather agencies from formation until dissipation.
• Newly formed storms in the middle of the ocean with no threat to land, either active or forecasted, are not notable.
• For storms expected to impact land, a draft should be made instead while the storm is not yet notable. The draft should only be moved to article space when information about the storm's impact begins to roll in, which is usually around the time of landfall or closest approach to land.

Should an article be created on a storm that is thought to be insufficiently notable for a standalone article, a merge request should be initiated on the talk page of that article. The articles for deletion process should not be immediately used here as there is a clear alternative to deletion—that is, redirecting to the parent season article. Articles on obviously non-notable storms with no significant history nor good-faith edits may be immediately blanked and redirected to the parent season article without prior discussion. Attempting to reinstate a blank-and-redirect when reverted is considered edit warring and may be sanctioned.

If the storm is notable enough for an article based on the criteria above, the sources used in the article need to be reliable. The use of self-published sources (which includes videos from unofficial YouTube channels) should be kept to a minimum; any subject-matter experts directly cited should have a history of being published in other reliable, independent publications, as per current Wikipedia guidelines on self-published sources. Further details into acceptable sources that can be used to help to contribute to notability of a system can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Acceptable sources, Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Project resources, and at Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Force Thirteen.

Extratropical cyclones

Extratropical cyclones, which include bomb cyclones, nor'easters, and European windstorms, can be considered notable from any one of the following:

• They have an international impact, meaning they impact more than one country.
• They cause fatalities.
• They reach hurricane-force strength.

This list does not guarantee notability for extratropical cyclones, but this can be used as a general rule-of-thumb to help determine what is clearly not notable.

Winter storms/blizzards

• Winter storms and blizzards can be considered notable if they:
  • Have an international impact.
  • Break state/country records.
  • Are the direct cause of a fatality, though this point is normally supported by one of the points above.

Floods

• Flood articles can be considered notable if they do not originate from a tropical cyclone.
  • Floods originating from a tropical cyclone should be combined into the tropical cyclone article until a discussion agrees otherwise.
• Floods from the same cause should be combined into the same article.

These guidelines do not give or take away notability from any flood. They can used to help determine some general rules-of-thumb, but common sense and discussions should take place to help determine notability of a unique article vs merging it into another article.

Landslides

• Landslides are normally part of a broader event (floods, tropical cyclone, etc.), so landslides should be merged into the overall cause article, unless a discussion occurs to split the landslide out from the overall cause article (e.g. multiple causes).

Droughts

• Drought articles can be considered notable if they are multi-state and/or international.

Heat/Cold waves

• If a cold wave or heat wave sets multiple state/country records, it is probably notable for an article.

Wildfires

These are some general rule-of-thumbs to help determine a wildfire's notability.

• • Stubs should be merged into the seasons article, but if an article is a start class or higher, it can stay as a unique article until a further discussion would merge it.
  • If a wildfire does not break a state record or cause fatalities, it should be merged into the "(Year) (State) wildfires" article, unless a discussion occurs to have it be a stand-alone article.