Number 8, January 7, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

Tropical cyclone activity

• Three tropical cyclones existed in the West Pacific during December. Typhoon Durian (Reming) was the deadliest and strongest of the three, killing over 800 people, in the Philippines and Vietnam and peaking at Category 4 strength. Typhoon Utor lasted formed on December 7 and lasted for 7 days, passing over the Philippines and causing severe floods in Malaysia. The final storm of the year, Tropical Storm Trami, lasted for three days and did not affect land.
• The Southern Hemisphere saw a number of storms develop during December. The most significant was Cyclone Bondo, which hit Madagascar on December 23. Cyclone Anita dissipated early in the month, having formed in November and Cyclone Clovis developed on December 30 before reaching its peak in January. All of these storms were in the Southwest Indian Ocean, the only other cyclone was Cyclone Isobel that formed on December 31 to the north of Western Australia.

The Portal Portal:Tropical cyclones is designed as the entry point to the WikiProject's work and is recognised as a Featured Portal. The structure emulates that of Wikipedia's Main page and needs updating in a similar manner. The following are the key sections that need editorial attention:

• Selected article: This is one of the articles of the project, rotated on a weekly basis. These are selected from the better-quality articles and discussed at Portal talk:Tropical cyclones/Selected article.
• Selected picture: This is chosen from the pictures used in the articles and is rotated monthly. It is selected in a similar manner to the article on Portal talk:Tropical cyclones/Selected picture.
• Did you know: This is rotated as new articles are created and contains an interesting fact from a few of the new articles.
• Active tropical cyclones: The currently active tropical cyclones are listed here, and are linked to appropriately.
• Tropical cyclone news: Recent events in Tropical cyclone activity, such as formation, landfalls and dissipation of storms.
• Anniversaries: This significant anniversaries for each day in the last week. Unlike the others it refreshes automatically, but should be updated if a new significant event occurs.
• Things you can do: Unlike the other sections which are reader orientated, this is aimed at editors to give suggestions of articles to work on.

Please keep all of these sections up-to-date and refresh them as new tropical cyclones develop and articles are created. Also please keep the suggestions to editors current and fresh.

New articles and improvements wanted

These tasks are those listed at Portal:Tropical cyclones/Things you can do:

Main Page content

• Entries from 9 project articles, including Tropical cyclone observation, Bill Proenza, Hurricane Tanya (1995) and Hurricane Erin (2001) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during the past two months.
• 1970 Bhola cyclone and Cyclone Tracy appeared on the Main Page in the On this Day column on November 13 and December 24, respectively.

New articles

November

Storm Articles included: Typhoon Muifa (2004), Hurricane Helene (2006), Hurricane Allison (1995) and Cyclone Heta.

Non-storm articles included: Effects of Hurricane Isabel in New Jersey, South Pacific convergence zone and 1969 Pacific hurricane season.

December

Storm Articles included: Hurricane Tanya (1995), Tropical Storm Dean (1995) and Tropical Storm Beryl (2000)

Non-storm articles included: Storm (novel), Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre, List of fictional tropical cyclones and Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center.

Improved articles

Featured articles: Hurricane Edith (1971), Hurricane Fabian, Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina, Tropical Storm Bill (2003), 1995 Pacific hurricane season, Effects of Hurricane Isabel in North Carolina, Hurricane Erika (2003), Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004) and Tropical Storm Edouard (2002).

Featured lists: List of Baja California hurricanes and List of retired Pacific hurricane names.

Two articles were promoted to A-Class: Tropical cyclone and Effects of Hurricane Isabel in Delaware.

There were a total of 32 new good articles including: Tropical cyclogenesis, Atlantic hurricane reanalysis, Hurricane Keith, Hurricane Fico, Tropical Storm Dean (2001) and Tropical Storm Arlene (2005).

Storm article statistics

Grade	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
FA	15	16	19	23
A	6	7	6	2
GA	33	48	57	74
B	84	83	78	71
Start	201	210	200	193
Stub	13	11	15	16
Total	352	375	375	379
percentage Less than B	60.8	58.9	57.3	55.1

Number 9, February 4, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Cyclone Clovis was named late on December 31 near to Tromelin Island. Clovis strengthened as it moved to the southwest reaching its peak the same day with 60 knot winds (according to Météo-France). The JTWC intensified Clovis more slowly, and assessed that it reached its peak with 65 knot winds on January 2, as it was nearing the Madagascar coast. The JTWC maintained this strength until it made landfall on the island on January 3. The resulting floods damaged a number of structures in Mananjary and about 1,500 people had to be evacuated.^[2]

Other tropical cyclone activity
The only activity during January was in the Southern Hemisphere, with a total of 5 cyclones existing throughout the month.

• Dora, the second cyclone the Southwest Indian Ocean formed late in January well to the east of Réunion; and reached tropical cyclone strength at the start of February.
• The two storms in the South Pacific, Zita and Arthur followed very similar tracks to the east of the Dateline. The JTWC estimated that Zita reached its peak on January 23 and Arthur briefly had hurricane force winds two days later.
• Cyclone Isobel formed between Indonesia and Australia late in December and headed south, making landfall in Western Australia on January 3 as a minimal Tropical Cyclone.

New articles and improvements wanted

• Articles are wanted for each of the tropical cyclone breakpoints (see this list).
• An article is wanted for Tropical Storm Debbie (1965).
• The Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons articles need splitting into the 3 component basins.
• This sandbox for Typhoon Durian badly needs completion, please help.
• Large chunks of the project's imagery needs proper categorization.
• The number of stubs has markedly increased in the past few months, please improve them.

Member of the month

The January member of the month is Chacor, formerly known as NSLE. Chacor joined the project in November 2005, and has contributed to a wide variety of articles across the project. Recently he has generally focussed on the West Pacific and did most of the work on the first Good article in that basin: Typhoon Ewiniar (2006). He has also started the much needed process of splitting the Southern Hemisphere seasonal articles. Finally, Chacor is probably the user who maintains the quality of the most visible part of the project, the current activity.

Main Page content

• Hurricane Juan appeared on the Main Page as Today's Featured Article on January 29.
• Entries from 3 articles: 2000 Sri Lanka Cyclone, Hurricane Ignacio (2003) and Hurricane Bob (1979) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during June.

New and improved articles

• The WikiProject has its first Featured topic on Retired Pacific hurricanes.
• New Featured articles: Hurricane Ismael, Hurricane Juan and the Effects of Hurricane Isabel in Delaware and Maryland and Washington D.C..
• New Wikipedia:Good articles: 2000 Sri Lanka Cyclone, Hurricane Iwa, Hurricane Alice, Hurricane Kenna and 1936 Atlantic hurricane season.
• New articles include: Hurricane Ignacio (2003), Hurricane Cindy (1963), Hurricane Isaac (2006) and Chris Landsea.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb
FA	16	19	23	25
A	7	6	2	2
GA	48	57	74	75
B	83	78	71	76
Start	210	200	193	195
Stub	11	15	16	16
Total	375	375	379	389
percentage Less than B	58.9	57.3	55.1	54.2

A quick note: When you create a new article please list it in the appropriate section on the project's page and add a fact from the article to the Portal. Thanks.

Number 10, March 4, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Cyclone Favio developed well to the east of northern Madagascar on February 12 and moved to the southwest as it developed. The storm did not significantly intensify until February 19 when it was just off the southern coast of Madagascar, but rapidly intensified soon after to its peak with 185 km/h (115 mph) winds. Favio turned to the northwest and hit Mozambique worsening the floods already occurring in the country. Favio claimed at least 4 lives and destroyed thousands of homes.

Other tropical cyclone activity
There were a total of 6 tropical cyclones in the southern hemisphere during February. Five of these, including Favio, were in the South West Indian Ocean.

• The only other storm in the Australian region was Cyclone Nelson which formed at the end of January in the Gulf of Carpentaria before it hit Queensland.
• Cyclone Dora was active in January and reached its peak as an annular cyclone on February 3 with 185 km/h (115 mph) winds.
• Cyclone Gamede was an unusually large storm that prompted the highest level of cyclone warning on Réunion and brought strong winds to the island on February 27, causing a bridge to collapse.
• Neither Enok towards the start of the month or Humba near its end, had any impact on land.

Member of the month

The February member of the month is Miss Madeline. Miss Madeline is responsible for many of the projects featured lists such as List of Category 5 Pacific hurricanes and List of California hurricanes. She has also put serious work into many of our Pacific hurricane articles since she joined the project as one of its founding members. Recently she has worked on 1996 Pacific hurricane season, bringing it from a stub-class article to a Good article candidate.

New and improved articles

• New featured content: Hurricane Erika (1997), Effects of Hurricane Isabel in Maryland and Washington, D.C., Meteorological history of Hurricane Wilma, 2000 Sri Lanka Cyclone, Hurricane Isabel and List of Florida hurricanes (pre-1900).
• New Good articles include Hurricane Pauline, Hurricane Isis (1998), 1939 Pacific typhoon season, Typhoon Tip and 1983 Atlantic hurricane season.
• New articles include Hurricane Isis (1998), Hurricane Debby (1982), Hurricane Adolph (2001), Hurricane Alberto (1982) and Tropical Depression One (1992).

Main Page content

• Entries from 6 articles: Hurricane Flossy (1956), Hurricane Able (1951), Meteorological history of Hurricane Wilma, Effects of Hurricane Wilma in the Bahamas, Tropical Depression One (1992) and Tropical cyclone basins appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during February.

New articles and improvements wanted

• Articles are wanted on Pacific typhoon, North Indian cyclone, diffluence, Outflow (meteorology) and Central dense overcast.
• Improvements are wanted to Subtropical cyclone, Japan Meteorological Agency, Intertropical Convergence Zone, 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Andrew.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
FA	19	23	25	28
A	6	2	2	2
GA	57	74	75	80
B	78	71	76	78
Start	200	193	195	194
Stub	15	16	16	16
Total	375	379	389	398
percentage Less than B	57.3	55.1	54.2	52.8

Comments wanted on project talk Many discussions that potentially have far reaching impact for the whole project are carried out on the project's talk page. However, only a fraction of our active contributors actually engage in those discussions. If you add the project page to your Watchlist and keep an eye on discussions there to monitor upcoming changes, even if you don't participate in those discussions it would help both yourself and the project as a whole. For instance, at the moment the primary infobox templates such as {{Infobox hurricane}} are in the process of being deprecated and replaced by new versions which do the role more effectively.

Number 11, April 1, 2007

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Hurricane Will developed from a tropical wave to the east of the Caribbean Sea and intensified. It crossed over Jamaica and re-emerged over water a few days later. The storm intensified into a hurricane and an eye began to develop. Will became a major hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall on the vulnerable Gulf Coast of the United States soon after. To date, Hurricane Will has claimed over 350 lives and is directly responsible for about $5 billion of damages; of which an unknown amount was insured. Despite the damage, it is not expected that the name will be retired by WMO.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• After threatening the Eastern Seaboard for some time, Hurricane Hink has turned away and the NHC has cancelled all warnings associated with the storm.
• The 2007 Pacific typhoon season began with Tropical Storm Kong-rey forming on March 31.
• There were a total of 7 cyclones in the southern hemisphere: Becky in the South Pacific, Indlala and Jaya in the Southwestern Indian Ocean and Odette, George, Jacob and Kara in the Australian region. Indlala killed at least 80 and left over 100,000 homeless; whilst Cyclone George was the worst storm to affect Port Hedland in over 30 years.

Member of the month

The April member of the month is HurricaneIrene. Irene began contributing to tropical cyclone articles on Wikipedia in August 2005, but ran out of steam and left after barely 2 weeks. However, Irene's influence on the project has been wide-reaching. Her efforts led directly to two articles attaining featured status and her legacy inspired many of our most active editors to write a plethora of good articles on a wide range of storms.

New and improved articles

• The was one new featured article: Hurricane Kenna
• New Good articles include: Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, Hurricane Florence (1988), Tropical cyclone observation and 1996 Pacific hurricane season.
• New storm articles include: Hurricane Lili (1990), Tropical Storm Alberto (1988), Cyclone George and Typhoon Durian.
• New non-storm articles include: Tropical cyclone naming, list of cyclones in Western Australia, Hurricane evacuation route and Tropical cyclone rainfall forecasting.

Main Page content

• Hurricane Iniki appeared on the Main Page as Today's featured article on March 15.
• Entries from 2 articles: Hurricane Katrina (1981) and Hurricane Guillermo (1997) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during March.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
FA	23	25	28	29
A	2	2	2	2
GA	74	75	80	82
B	71	76	78	80
Start	193	195	194	209
Stub	16	16	16	17
Total	379	389	398	419
percentage Less than B	55.1	54.2	52.8	53.9

The Main Page

The WikiProject has a narrow scope, so it is not surprising that our articles are not frequently selected for Today's featured article. Most destructive cyclones are likely to be mentioned on the In the news column. We have no real control over that, but we should submit suggestions when appropriate.

However, we can do a more lot more to place our content in the other major section of the main page: The Did you know column. In the past month we created over 30 articles. Of these only 2 were even submitted as suggestions for DYK. We can do much better, please submit DYK entries for new articles when you do the initial assessment.

Number 13, February 2, 2008

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Cyclone Gene formed on January 26 over the open south Pacific Ocean. It drifted southward, and strengthened into Tropical Storm Gene on January 28 as it moved across the Fijian archipelago. There, it brought heavy rainfall, which caused the worst flooding in several years. Half of the country was left without power, and the cyclone killed seven people in Fiji. The storm turned southwestward, developing a cloud-filled eye and quickly strengthening by the end of the month.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• One tropical cyclone formed in the Western North Pacific Ocean west of The Philippines, which was analyzed by Japan Meteorological Agency as a depression; it tracked southwestward and did not significantly affect any land areas.
• In addition to Cyclone Gene, Tropical Storm Elisa and Cyclone Fuma occurred in the South Pacific ocean during the month, along with three tropical depressions.
• The only tropical cyclone in Australian region during the month was Tropical Cyclone Helen, which struck Australia.
• Four tropical cyclones, three of which named, existed in the Southwest Indian Ocean during the month. The most notable was Cyclone Fame, which caused twelve deaths after striking Madagascar.

Member of the month

The January member of the month is Ajm81. A tropical cyclone editor since he first joined in October 2005, Ajm81 plays a vital role in the project. Unlike other editors, who mainly edit articles, Ajm81 maintains and updates the track maps across the project. We thank Ajm81 for his timely contributions, and may he have some well-deserved downtime after the last tropical cyclone report is released.

New and improved articles

• There were six new pieces of Featured content : 2003 Atlantic hurricane season, List of storms in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season, List of North Carolina hurricanes (pre-1900), 1983 Atlantic hurricane season, 1988 Atlantic hurricane season, and Hurricane Lane (2006)
• New Good articles include: Hurricane Cleo, Hurricane Gracie, 1821 Norfolk and Long Island hurricane
• New storm articles include: Tropical Storm Danielle (1980), Hurricane Elida (2002), Cyclone Elita, Cyclone Indlala
• New non-storm articles include: 2006 central Pacific cyclone, List of United States hurricanes

Main Page content

• Entries from 8 articles: Hurricane Ava (1973), Cyclone Inigo, Hurricane Greg (1999), Hurricane Henri (1979), Hurricane Kenneth (2005), Hurricane Elida (2002), Cyclone Elita, and Hurricane Naomi (1968) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during January.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
FA	30	31	33	33
A	9	8	9	9
GA	106	109	112	114
B	78	82	86	99
Start	212	211	208	214
Stub	5	6	6	3
Total	440	447	454	472
ω	3.02	3.01	2.98	2.98
percentage Less than B	49.3	48.5	47.1	46.0

Wikiwork and 1000 articles In January 2008, the WikiProject began using a system called Wikiwork, or ω. It weighs the overall quality of the project's articles, and a lower number means a greater total quality. The weighed ω, as used above, is a relative number that can be used to compare groups of this article. As of this publication, the relative ω of the project is 3.404, corresponding to between Start and B class. However, when limiting it solely to storm articles, the number drops to 2.98, which is slightly better than B class. During the month, a new statistics page was created.

Additionally, during the month, Mitchazenia pointed out that we received our 1,000th article with the creation of Cyclone Elita.

Number 14, March 1, 2008

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Cyclone Ivan formed on February 7 and subsequently executed a loop to the west-southwest. Encountering favorable conditions, it strengthened to attain peak winds on February 17 before striking northeastern Madagascar. It degenerated into a remnant low pressure area as it crossed the island, and briefly re-organized into a weak tropical depression before dissipating on February 22. Ivan caused heavy damage in Madagascar, leaving 190,000 people homeless and causing over 83 deaths.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• In the South Pacific ocean, Cyclone Gene persisted from the previous month; a tropical depression also occurred in the month.
• Tropical Cyclone Nicholas was the only named storm during the month in the Australian region, which struck Western Australia. Two tropical lows occurred during the month, the latter of which later formed into Tropical Cyclone Ophelia.
• Four storms occurred in the Southwest Indian Ocean, including two from the previous month and the aforementioned Cyclone Ivan. Cyclone Hondo became the strongest cyclone worldwide in the month, and after becoming extratropical it regenerated over ten days later about 1750 miles (2800 km) to its west-northwest.

Member of the month

The February member of the month is RattleMan, for his lasting dedication and continual support of the project. During February, the user worked on improving the timeline articles for the previous season. RattleMan often updates the sections on storms in season articles, and helps to maintain the southern hemisphere articles.

New and improved articles

• There were 6 new pieces of Featured content : Hurricane Felix (featured picture), Hurricane Isis (1998), Tropical Storm Alberto (2006), Hurricane John (2006), Tropical cyclone, and Hurricane Isabel (featured picture)
• New Good articles include: Hurricane Gracie, Hurricane Ava (1973), Hurricane Flossy (1956)
• New storm articles include: 1935 Yankee hurricane, Hurricane Ginny, Cyclone Agni, 1917 Pinar del Río hurricane
• New non-storm articles include: List of North Carolina hurricanes (1950-1979)

Main Page content

• Today's Featured Article: Hurricane Isis (1998) appeared on the Main Page in the Today's Featured Article on February 15
• Entries from 3 articles: Hurricane Naomi (1968), Hurricane Darby (1992), and Hurricane Hernan (2002) appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during February.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb
FA	31	33	33	36
A	8	9	9	8
GA	109	112	114	123
B	82	86	99	96
Start	211	208	214	216
Stub	6	6	3	6
Total	447	454	472	485
ω	3.01	2.98	2.98	2.96
percentage Less than B	48.5	47.1	46.0	45.8
percentage GA or better	33.1	33.9	33.1	34.3

Improvements During the month, a total of 15 new articles were added, though the net increase in start or stub articles was only three. The highest quality set of articles for a basin is for the Eastern Pacific Ocean, of which half of its articles are either a good article or better; all of its retired storm articles are good or better. However, the basin has a lower total number of articles, and the Atlantic basin has a higher overall total of good articles.

There is a drive to increase the number of featured topics, which is located on the project talk page.

Number 15, April 5, 2008

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Cyclone Jokwe was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Mozambique since Cyclone Favio struck in the previous year. The tenth named storm of the 2007-08 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season, Jokwe was first classified as a tropical depression on March 2 over the open Southwest Indian Ocean. It tracked west-southwest, crossing northern Madagascar as a tropical storm on March 5 before intensifying into a tropical cyclone on March 6. Jokwe rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 195 km/h (120 mph), before weakening slightly and striking Nampula Province in northeastern Mozambique. It quickly weakened while paralleling the coastline, though the storm restrengthened as it turned southward in the Mozambique Channel. Late in its duration, it remained nearly stationary for several days, and steadily weakened due to wind shear before dissipating on March 16.

The storm caused minor damage in northern Madagascar. In Mozambique, the cyclone affected 165,000 people, and left at least sixteen fatalities. Cyclone Jokwe destroyed over 9,000 houses and damaged over 3,000 more, with the heaviest damage in Angoche and the Island of Mozambique in Nampula Province. The storm also caused widespread power outages and crop damages.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• There were no named tropical cyclones in the South Pacific ocean, though a tropical depression developed near Vanuatu in the third week of the month.
• Late in the month, Cyclone Pancho developed in the Australian region, reaching peak winds of 90 knots. In addition, Cyclone Ophelia lasted from late February through early March.
• In addition to Cyclone Jokwe, there were two named tropical cyclones in the Southwest Indian Ocean; Cyclone Kamba became an Intense Tropical Cyclone over open waters, and Tropical Storm Lola formed and dissipated near Mauritius late in the month.

Member of the month

The March member of the month is CapeVerdeWave, whose first edit was to a tropical cyclone article, back in January 2006. CapeVerdeWave has been a steady and active member of the project, writing several articles on Category 5 hurricanes as well as working on the often forgotten older hurricanes. The user also has contributed to some older season articles, and recently helped update the project after the recent hurricane re-analysis. We thank him for his continued dedication.

New members

Southern Illinois SKYWARN Milk's Favorite Cookie Somerset Squall Stormtracker94

WBOSITG Jj137 Joan97

New and improved articles

• There were 6 new pieces of Featured content : Typhoon Paka, List of wettest tropical cyclones in the United States, Effects of Hurricane Ivan in the Lesser Antilles and South America, List of retired Pacific typhoon names (JMA), Tropical Storm Vamei, and List of New York hurricanes
• New Good articles include: Hurricane Beulah, Hurricane Ione, Hurricane Isidore
• New storm articles include: 1945 Southeast Florida hurricane, Hurricane Fox (1952)
• New non-storm articles include: Effects of Hurricane Dennis in Florida, List of North Carolina hurricanes (1900-1949)

Main Page content

• Today's Featured Article: 1933 Atlantic hurricane season appeared on the Main Page in the Today's Featured Article on March 27
• Entries from 1 article: 1917 Pinar del Río hurricane appeared on the Main Page in the Did you know column during March.

Storm article statistics

Grade	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
FA	33	33	36	38
A	9	9	8	8
GA	112	114	123	130
B	86	99	96	91
Start	208	214	216	211
Stub	6	3	6	9
Total	454	472	485	487
ω	2.98	2.98	2.96	2.94
percentage Less than B	47.1	46.0	45.8	45.2
percentage GA or better	33.9	33.1	34.3	36.1

Project News: Updates on the Best Track - Atlantic and North Indian Ocean, and more
In February, the Hurricane Research Division released its reanalysis for the Atlantic Ocean from 1915 to 1920. Highlights include the addition of eight storms, as well as the removal of one storm. The winds in the 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane were increased to 130 knots, and the 1916 Texas hurricane was increased to a Category 4 hurricane.

According to an email sent to the India Meteorological Department, there will be an online version of the North Indian Ocean best track from 1877 to 2006, scheduled to be released in two months; it is unknown if it will cost money to access.

In unrelated news, the project was featured on the Signpost; Mitchazenia was interviewed, and talked about the past, present, and future of the project.

At the end of the month, there were five different Featured content candidates (FXC's) by five different editors; two were featured article candidates, two were featured list candidates, and one was a featured picture candidate. The have been a few times in which there were four FXC's from four different editors, most recently in February and early March of 2008.

Number 16, May 3, 2008

The Hurricane Herald

Storm of the month

Typhoon Neoguri was the earliest tropical cyclone on record to strike China. It formed on April 13 to the east of the Philippines, and once entering the South China Sea, environmental conditions allowed for quick strengthening. Neoguri attained its peak intensity of 150 km/h (90 mph) as it approached the island of Hainan, though rapidly weakened due to unfavorable conditions. The system made landfall in southern China on April 19, causing three deaths and moderate damage totaling over ¥296 million (2008 RMB, $42 million 2008 USD). The typhoon left 40 fishermen missing in the South China Sea.

Other tropical cyclone activity

• A weak tropical depression formed near New Caledonia in the South Pacific ocean early in the month, and another tropical depression developed in the basin later in the month.
• Two named storms formed in the Australian region during the month, including Tropical Cyclone Durga, which was the first ever cyclone named by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia. Tropical Cyclone Rosie co-existed with Durga for much of its duration.
• Cyclone Nargis developed in the North Indian Ocean late in the month, and reached its peak intensity early in May; further details will be covered in the next newsletter.

Member of the month

The April member of the month is VOFFA. Though not officially a project member, VOFFA is an important user to the project, having maintained and updated the talk page archives on tropical cyclones worldwide; activity includes adding warnings and discussions for all storms. The user is particularly active during the off-season of the Atlantic basin, when article activity on tropical cyclones typically declines.

New members

Chetblong Qst

Cyclonebiskit Pilover819

New and improved articles

• There were six new pieces of Featured content : Cyclone Elita, List of North Carolina hurricanes (1900-1949), Tropical Storm Barry (2007), List of North Carolina hurricanes, Lists of North Carolina hurricanes (FT), and Image:KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2.jpg
• New Good articles include: Tropical Storm Fay (2002), 2006 Atlantic hurricane season,