This is the monthly newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The Hurricane Herald aims to give a summary, both of the activities of the WikiProject and global tropical cyclone activity. If you wish to change how you receive this newsletter, or no longer wish to receive it, please add your username to the appropriate section on the mailing list. This newsletter covers all of October 2008.
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Storm of the month
Deep Depression ARB 02 caused the 2008 Yemen floods. On October 19 the IMD noted that an area of low pressure which located to the south east of Salalah, Oman had intensifed in to a tropical depression and was assigned the number ARB 02. On October 21 IMD updated the system to a Deep Depression while it lay 700 km south of Salalah, Oman near the east coast of Somalia. It lost its strength while crossing the Gulf of Aden due to entry of dry air and land interaction as it passed close to the northeastern coast of Somalia. It later was downgraded to a Depression, named TC 03B by the JTWC. On October 24 it made landfall on the south-eastern coast of Yemen, leaving at least 26 civilians and six soldiers dead while trapping hundreds of people due to flooding and torrential rainfalls. The latest figure of casualties is of 184 persons dead and 100 others missing, mostly from the region of Hadhramawt, where the storm made landfall. A total of 733 houses were destroyed in the governorates of Hadhramaut and Al Mahrah, while 22,000 people were displaced. The Yemeni Government declared the two aforementioned governorates as disaster zones.
Other tropical cyclone activity
Member of the month
The October member of the month is Hurricanehink. Since joining the project near its inception, Hurricanehink has been involved in bringing forty two articles, eighteen lists and six topicstofeatured status. Just this month, Hurricanehink was mentioned in the Signpost Dispatch. Hurricanehink has also been the regular distributor for this newsletter.
New members
New and improved articles
Main Page content
Storm article statistics
| Grade | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 FA
|
42 | 46 | 47 | 48 |
 A
|
18 | 18 | 19 | 19 |
 GA
|
139 | 145 | 161 | 187 |
| B | 15 | 14 | 17 | 12 |
| C | 98 | 99 | 107 | 113 |
| Start | 202 | 197 | 201 | 201 |
| Stub | 10 | 15 | 19 | 20 |
| Total | 524 | 537 | 571 | 600 |
| ω | 2.94 | 2.92 | 2.92 | 2.88 |
| percentage ≥Less than C |
40.5 | 39.5 | 38.5 | 36.8 |
| percentage ≥GA or better |
38.0 | 39.3 | 39.8 | 42.3 |
Project News
Adiscussion concerning sandboxes for next year's articles has begun. Please consider working on sandboxes so they will be ready to publish. As tropical cyclones can form at any time in the western Pacific and northern Indian Oceans, these two season's should be made ready for cyclones by December. Ideally, due to the possibility of pre-season storms, the eastern Pacific and Atlantic seasons should also be ready by then, but they should at least be ready by the northern-Hemisphere antipeak in late February and early March. Seasons for the years 2010 to 2015 should be given the name "Post-2009 {ocean name} {cyclone term} seasons", as in "Post 2009 Atlantic hurricane seasons".
Acategory for tropical cyclone articles of very-low importance has been introduced. Although discussion is still ongoing, a rating of very-low-importance will generally be given to weak cyclones that do not have impact or set any sort of record.
Editorial
This month, our usual editor, Hurricanehink, has been on a semi-wikibreak until further notice. I am filling in as editor and distributor on an interim basis. The newsletter will continue as normal during that time. Thank you. Miss Madeline | Talk to Madeline 00:49, 2 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
