The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season is summarized and the year's tropical cyclones are described. Sixteen named storms formed in 2008. Of these, eight became hurricanes with five of them strengthening into major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale). There was also one tropical depression that did not attain tropical storm strength. These totals are above the long-term means of 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The 2008 Atlantic basin tropical cyclones produced significant impacts from the Greater Antilles to the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as along portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma hit Cuba, as did Tropical Storm Fay. Haiti was hit by Gustav and adversely affected by heavy rains from Fay, Ike, and Hanna. Paloma struck the Cayman Islands as a major hurricane, while Omar was a major hurricane when it passed near the northern Leeward Islands. Six consecutive cyclones hit the United States, including Hurricanes Dolly, Gustav, and Ike. The death toll from the Atlantic tropical cyclones is approximately 750.A verification of National Hurricane Center official forecasts during 2008 is also presented. Official track forecasts set records for accuracy at all lead times from 12 to 120 h, and forecast skill was also at record levels for all lead times. Official intensity forecast errors in 2008 were below the previous 5-yr mean errors and set records at 72-120 h.
The 2002 Atlantic hurricane season is summarized. Although the season's total of 12 named storms was above normal, many of these were weak and short-lived. Eight of the named cyclones made landfall in the United States, including Lili, the first hurricane to hit the United States in nearly 3 yr.
A summary of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season is given, and the individual tropical storms and hurricanes are described. This was the second active year in a row with a large number of intense hurricanes. Hurricane Fran, which hit the coast of North Carolina, was the strongest system to make landfall, and also the most destructive.
A summary of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season is given, and the individual tropical storms and hurricanes are described. This was the second active year in a row with a large number of intense hurricanes. Hurricane Fran, which hit the coast of North Carolina, was the strongest system to make landfall, and also the most destructive.
Tropical cyclone track forecasts issued by the Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center for the Atlantic basin have improved over the period 1970-98. Improvement is shown at 24, 48, and 72 h. Although this improvement can be shown without any preconditioning of the data, the question of accounting for forecast difficulty is addressed, building upon the work of Neumann. A decrease in the initial position errors over the same period is also shown. Track forecast errors generated by the Atlantic climatology and persistence (CLIPER) model (run in "best-track" mode) are used as a measure of forecast difficulty. Using the annual average CLIPER errors in a regression against the official forecast errors yields an equation giving an expected error for each year under consideration. The expected error (representing forecast difficulty) is then subtracted from the observed official errors. The resulting set of differences can then be examined for long-term trends, difficulty having been accounted for. Fitting a straight line to these differences (1970-98) yields the result that official forecast errors have decreased by an average of 1.0% per year at 24 h, by 1.7% per year at 48 h, and by 1.9% per year at 72 h. A second-order fit, however, suggests that the rate of improvement has increased during the latter half of the period.
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