ArcGIS Services Directory

atStormViewer (MapServer)

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Service Description: Hurricane/Tropical Storm Track Forecast Data

Data from this web service uses the data that can be downloaded as shapefiles from the Tropical Prediction Center

Forecast Points represent the official NHC forecast position of the tropical cyclone.

Forecast Tracks are the Forecast Points connected by a line segment

Forecast Cones represents the probable track of the center of a tropical cyclone, and is formed by enclosing the area swept out by a set of circles along the forecast track (at 12, 24, 36 hours, etc). The size of each circle is set so that two-thirds of historical official forecast errors over a 5-year sample fall within the circle. Based on forecasts over the previous 5 years, the entire track of a tropical cyclone can be expected to remain within the cone roughly 60-70% of the time. It is important to note that the area affected by a tropical cyclone can extend well beyond the confines of the cone enclosing the most likely track area of the center.

Past Points The working best track is a subjectively-smoothed representation of the tropical cyclone's location and intensity (maximum 1-minute sustained surface wind speed and minimum sea-level pressure) at 6 hour intervals over its lifetime. The working best track may not exactly match the information contained in the real-time storm advisories because the data in a working best track are subject to modification during the life cycle of the cyclone.

Swaths The working best track wind radii shows how the size of the storm has changed and the areas potentially affected so far by sustained winds of tropical storm force (34 Knot), 50 knot and hurricane force (64 knot) from a tropical cyclone. These data are based on the wind radii contained in the Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting (ATCF) system's best track. Users are reminded that the best track wind radii represent the maximum possible extent of a given wind speed within particular quadrants around the tropical cyclone. As a result, not all locations falling within the radii will have experienced the indicated sustained wind speeds.

WSPDxxThe surface wind field is a smoothed region showing the farthest extent from the center of 34-, 50-, and 64-knot winds in each quadrant of a tropical cyclone at the time an advisory is issued. Consequently, it is not an exact representation of the wind field.

Psurge Tropical cyclone storm surge heights which have a 10% chance of being exceeded.

Tropical Outlooks indicates significant areas of disturbed weather and their potential for development out to 48 hours. The Outlook also provides the chance of development (in percent, from 0 to 100 in ten percent increments) of each disturbance.

Layer Naming convention is AT (for Atlantic and Caribbean basin) followed by a number from 1-5 for the storm number. TPC allows for up to 5 storms at a time. After the fifth storm the next number is one and so forth. An underscore and a name (in bold) from above completes the layer name.


Map Name: Layers

Legend

All Layers and Tables

Layers:

Tables:

Description: Shapefiles from the Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gis/) are used to populate these WMS, WFS services.

Copyright Text: NWS Tropical Prediction Center shapefiles

Spatial Reference: GEOGCS["GCS_Sphere",DATUM["D_Sphere",SPHEROID["Sphere",6371200.0,0.0]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]]

Single Fused Map Cache: false

Initial Extent:
Full Extent:
Units: esriDecimalDegrees

Supported Image Format Types: PNG24,PNG,JPG,DIB,TIFF,EMF,PS,PDF,GIF,SVG,SVGZ,AI,BMP

Document Info:

Supported Interfaces:   REST   SOAP   WMS   WFS      

Supported Operations:   Export Map   Identify   Find   Generate KML