Draft:Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Tropical weather

This page contains an in-depth guide to writing clear, informative, encyclopedic, and attractive articles on tropical weather. This guide complements the general Manual of Style.

Dates and dialect

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers and MOS:ENGVAR

For consistency, use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when mentioning time.

In the Atlantic and East Pacific basins, American English and MDY dates should generally be used unless another dialect takes obvious, indisputable precedence. For example, a tropical cyclone nearly exclusively impacts Canada. Non-English speaking nations should generally not be considered for input towards date format and dialect.

Most other regions should use DMY dates.

Terminology

All categories of tropical cyclone intensity scales should include a non-breaking space within and be capitalized. Numerical categories of tropical cyclone intensity scales, such as those of the Saffir–Simpson scale, should be used as a proper adjective except when brevity is necessary (e.g. tables, infoboxes).

• N Hurricane Whitney made landfall as a Category 5.
• N Hurricane Whitney made landfall as a category 5 hurricane.
• Y Hurricane Whitney made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane.
• Y Hurricane Whitney made landfall at Category 5 strength.

Individual tropical cyclone articles

Articles are typically divided in the following way:

1. Lead
2. Meteorological history/Records
3. Preparations
4. Impact
5. Aftermath
6. Records
7. See also
8. References
9. External links

The Preparations, Impact, and Aftermath sections may be combined into one if there's not enough content to separate each. Impact and aftermath should generally be merged before impact and preparations. In the former case, the heading should be Impact. If all three are merged, the heading should be Preparations and impact.

Titling conventions for articles

See also: Wikipedia:Retirement does not mean that the topic is primary

As most of the basins have cyclical naming lists and only retire names in some circumstances, there is likely to be several storms of the same name. In this case, WP:PRIMARYTOPIC applies. All instances of a storm having a given name should be considered on some level as classes of storm can overlap, like hurricanes and typhoons maturing from tropical storms and tropical cyclones being a general term for most tropical systems. Intensity alone is not an indication of being a primary topic, though it can help in some cases.

Tropical cyclones should use the category of their most mature state (i.e., hurricane or typhoon status should be used before tropical storm, which should be used before tropical depression). Tropical cyclones that matured from subtropical systems should use the tropical class given even if the system was more intense as a subtropical system. Extratropical systems that changed into tropical systems can retain the name of their extratropical phase like October 2021 nor'easter, assuming the extratropical phase was more notable.

In the Northwest Pacific, PAGASA names storms in the Philippine Area of Responsibility. International names issued by the JMA should generally be used unless the international name clearly violates COMMONNAME (for example, if the system was only a tropical depression and did not receive a proper name from the JMA and instead a numerical designation from the JTWC).

Lead

The lead summarizes the article's topic.

The first sentence should state significant names of the tropical cyclone by tracking agencies. For storms tracked by PAGASA, only state the name assigned by the agency due to past disputes. The first sentence should also mention notable aspects of a tropical cyclone, as cited in reliable sources. These include strength, movement, and destruction. Avoid using more than three, as that can disrupt the sentence's flow and make the sentence hard to read. If a storm is notable for a particular record, it should replace the qualifiers in the first sentence. The first sentence should also include the month that the tropical cyclone occurred. Following the first sentence should describe the ordinality of the tropical cyclone.

Hurricane Whitney was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that formed in September 1730. The twenty-first named storm, eleventh hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 1730 Atlantic hurricane season, Whitney...

Infobox

Individual tropical cyclone articles should always contain an infobox, no matter the size of the lead. If the infobox ends outside the lead, add the table of contents and Template:Clear at the end of the lead sections.

The first part of the infobox uses Template:Infobox weather event. Usually, the first parameter should be |name= unless the article title is equivalent to the |name= parameter.

When describing areas, a rule of thumb is to use the fewest geographical terms while preserving precision. If a tropical cyclone had widespread impacts, do not mention specific cities and low-level administrative divisions. For example, instead of noting every island nation on an article like Hurricane Melissa, broader terms can be used like Greater Antilles, Lucayan Archipelago, and so on. Inversely, if a tropical cyclone did not affect a large part of a region, do not use it. For example, Hurricane Ivan, despite having widespread impacts across the United States, does not list the United States as an impacted area, but instead its regions like the Gulf Coast.

Lead image

The lead image should always be in Template:Infobox weather event if using the template is appropriate. The image should follow the practices outlined below.

Lead images should be oriented in portrait and centered over the cyclone's center of circulation. The image should capture as much of the cyclone's structure as possible. If not necessary, do not use images with overlaid political borders, latitude-longitude grids, or areas with no data, as they interfere with the tropical cyclone's appearance and location. Avoid collages in the lead section due to complications with selection, scope, and clutter.

Images from satellites in geostationary orbit are preferred over polar orbiting satellites. The latter cannot provide continuous coverage of a given area due to the limited swath width it can image at a time. This can result in areas with missing data and "splits" in the image.

The following list contains the most preferred satellite images first (at the top) and the least preferred last (at the bottom):

1. True-color visible imagery (example). These images use red, green, and blue channels to depict what a human would see.
2. Approximate true-color visible imagery (example). These lack either a red, green, or blue channel and instead use a similar colored channel to simulate what a human would see.
3. Grayscale visible imagery overlaid on a true-color basemap (example). These are not true color, as the grayscale imagery does not use RGB channels, but they do simulate it.
4. Grayscale visible imagery (example). These measure the intensity of visible light reflected from Earth at that time. These images can be superimposed over a true-color template of Earth.
5. Other false color visible imagery (example). Although these use colors not typically seen by a human, they still use reflected sunlight to show features of Earth.
6. Infrared imagery overlaid on a true-color basemap (example). These only measure the heat radiated from clouds. As they do not measure reflected light, these images are strongly discouraged and are used as a last resort.
7. Infrared imagery (example). The same principles from #6 apply here, except the infrared imagery is not superimposed over a true-color basemap. These are more strongly discouraged than #6 and are also used as a last resort.

If the lead image is a satellite picture, it should show the tropical cyclone at the tropical cyclone intensity scale category its highest maximum sustained winds reached as determined by the respective Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC). For example, if a hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 105 kn (121 mph; 194 km/h), a Category 3 on the Saffir–Simpson scale, any image where the tropical cyclone was a Category 3 hurricane is appropriate for the lead section. This is because in infoboxes, the category from the appropriate RSMC is shown shortly below the lead image in bright colors. This likely catches the reader's attention, and the reader may subconsciously associate the category with the intensity of the storm depicted in the lead image.

If no satellite imagery can be found at or near peak intensity, other points of meteorological significance, such as landfall, should be used following the order of precedence above, so long as their intensity is not more than one category weaker. For example, an image of a Category 4 hurricane as a Category 2 hurricane should not be used). Otherwise, use surface analyses of the system. If there are no images of the storm or its impacts, its track should be used as the infobox image. This will typically be track images generated using the WPTC track generator, but may also be unofficial tracks from studies such as those associated with tropical cyclones outside official track databases.

Meteorological history

The meteorological history should include Template:Storm path using the map colors approved in Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Weather/Colour discussions#Modification whenever possible. The template is typically positioned on the left. Any times listed in this section should be in UTC.

Any material relating to climate change or meteorological records belongs here, often separated into a subsection.

Preparations

The preparations section includes actions taken before a storm's impacts. Generally, affected areas should be ordered chronologically. Any regions that would consist of a very small paragraph should be merged into other subsections if appropriate. Otherwise, create a subsection at the end titled Elsewhere, or Other states if a subsection in the United States has its own subsections. In general, if a subsection is a single medium-length paragraph with several sentences or several small paragraphs with only a couple of sentences each, it should be merged into another. If any times are used in this section, the timezone should be added in not already in UTC.

The preparations should begin with watches and warnings issued for a given region.

Impact

The impact section details the storm's effects on people, the environment, and the economy. As with the preparations section, affected areas should be ordered chronologically and small subsections should be merged into other sections. If any times are used in this section, the timezone should be added. Disease outbreaks, despite being a somewhat long-term issue, should be included here and not the aftermath section.

Aftermath

This section discusses the recovery process of a tropical cyclone. Relief efforts and long-term effects (at the very least, further out than a month after the hurricane) are topics that can be included in this section. Disease outbreaks belong in the impact section.

See also

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout § "See also" section

Articles with a see also section should include links to related articles. Links to stand-alone lists are strongly preferred, rather than individual cyclones (analogues), as they reduce overcrowding the section with excessive links. They also often cause disputes over what really is an analogue. As with other articles, see also sections are not required. See also sections that consistently attract controversy and unproductive edits may be removed. These sections are ordered as follows, assuming neither of the following links is repeated in the article:

• Weather of (year)
• Tropical cyclones in (year)
• Other storms named Y
• List of hurricanes in (relevant location)

Seasonal articles

Systems

Systems should be ordered chronologically.

Other systems

Depending on the season, this may be used for one of two reasons. In some, often older seasons, this section is used to list out any non-notable tropical depressions and other weak systems. In others, often more modern, this is a collection of non-tropical systems (potential tropical cyclone or hybrid systems). In the latter case, generally use restraint when added systems. Not every invest should be included in the section.

Names

A list of names used in the season is found in this section.

For the Atlantic and East Pacific basins, a full list of names scheduled to be used in a season (whether or not used) should be included. Unused names should be noted.

Seasonal effect

This section is a table of all the systems, their longevity and strength, locations they impacted, and damage information.