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Subject: F1) What regions around the globe have tropical cyclones and who is responsible for forecasting there?

There are seven tropical cyclone "basins" where storms occur on a regular basis:

WMO

Contributed by Chris Landsea (NHC)

  1. Atlantic basin (including the North Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea)
  2. Northeast Pacific basin (from Mexico to about the dateline)
  3. Northwest Pacific basin (from the dateline to Asia including the South China Sea)
  4. North Indian basin (including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea)
  5. Southwest Indian basin (from Africa to about 100E)
  6. Southeast Indian/Australian basin (100E to 142E)
  7. Australian/Southwest Pacific basin (142E to about 120W)

The National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, USA has responsibilities for monitoring and forecasting tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific basin east of 140W. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu has responsibilities for the remainder of the Northeast Pacific basin to the International Dateline. The Northwest Pacific basin is shared in forecasting duties by China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. The North Indian basin tropical cyclones are forecasted by India, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, and Sri Lanka. Reunion Island, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, and Kenya provide forecasts for the Southwest Indian basin. Australia and Indonesia forecast tropical cyclone activity in the Southeast Indian/Australian basin. Lastly, for the Australian/Southwest Pacific basin Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Zealand forecast tropical cyclones. Note also that the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issues warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northwest Pacific, the North Indian, the Southwest Indian, the Southeast Indian/Australian, and the Australian/Southwest Pacific basins, though they are not specifically tasked to do so by the WMO. The US Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii does the same for the Pacific Ocean east of 180E. (Neumann 1993)

Note that on rare occasions, tropical cyclones (or storms that appear to be similar in structure to tropical cyclones) can develop in the Mediterranean Sea. These have been noted to occur in September 1947, September 1969, January 1982, September 1983, and, most recently, during 13 to 17 January, 1995. Some study of these storms has been reported on by Mayengon (1984) and Ernest and Matson (1983), though it has not been demonstrated fully that these storms are the same as those found over tropical waters. It may be that these Mediterranean tropical cyclones are more similar in nature to polar lows.

The recent hurricane that formed in the South Atlantic was handled by the Brazilian weather service. Since tropical cyclones are so rare in this region, the WMO has not designated a forecast center with responsibility for there.

The following are the addresses of tropical cyclone centers listed above that are responsible for issuing advisories and/or warnings on tropical cyclones (thanks to Jack Beven for these):

World Meteorological Organization WWW: http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/TCP/rsmcs.html

NHC

Mail: 11691 SW 17th St. Miami, FL 33165-2149 USA
WWW: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.html

Central Pacific Hurricane Center

Mail: National Weather Service Forecast Office Central Pacific Hurricane Center 2525 Correa Rd. Suite 250 Honolulu, HI 96822 USA WWW: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc

Joint Typhoon Warning Center

Mail: NAVPACMETOCCEN/JTWC 425 Luapele Rd. Pearl Harbor, HI 96860 USA
WWW: http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/

Regional Specialized Meteorological Center Tokyo, Japan - Typhoon Center

Mail: Japanese Meteorological Agency 1-3-4 Ote-machi, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo Japan
WWW: http://www.goin.nasda.go.jp/GOIN/JMA/

Hong Kong Observatory

Mail: 134A Nathan Road Kowloon Hong Kong
WWW: http://www.info.gov.hk/hko/index.htm

Bangkok Tropical Cyclone Warning Center - Thailand

Mail: Director Meteorological Department 4353 Sukumvit Rd. Bangkok 10260 Thailand

Fiji Tropical Cyclone Warning Center

Mail: Director Fiji Meteorological Services Private Mail Bag Nadi Airport Fiji

New Zealand Meteorological Service

Mail: Director Met Service PO Box 722 Wellington New Zealand
WWW: http://www.metservice.co.nz/index.asp

Port Moresby Tropical Cyclone Warning Center

Mail: Director National Weather Service PO Box 1240 Boroko, NCD Paupa New Guinea

Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Center

Mail: Regional Director Bureau of Meteorology GPO Box 413 Brisbane 4001 Australia
WWW: http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld

Darwin Tropical Cyclone Warning Center

Mail: Regional Director Bureau of Meteorology Northern Territory Regional Office PO Box 40050, CASUARINA, N.T. 0801 Australia
WWW: http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/nt

Perth Tropical Cyclone Warning Center

Mail: Regional Director Bureau of Meteorology GPO Box 1370 West Perth,WA 6872 Australia
WWW: http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/wa

Philippines: Manila

Mail: PAGASA Director Science Garden Complex Agham Road, Dillman, Quezon City PHILIPPINES 1100

WWW: http://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/contactus_agency.shmtl
EMAIL: pilas@pagasa.dost.gov.ph>
TELEPHONE : 63(632)434-2696
CABLE : WEATHER MANILA

Jakarta, Indonesia

Mail: Director Analysis and Processing Centre Jalan Arief Rakhman Hakim 3 Jakarta Indonesia

Regional Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centre - Reunion

Mail: Director of Meteorological Services PO Box 4 97490 Sainte Clotilde Reunion
WWW: http://www.meteo.fr (Le temps/ Outre-mer/ La Reunion)

Sub-Regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Center - Mauritius

Mail: Director of Meteorological Service Vacoas Mauritius

Sub-Regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Center - Madagascar

Mail: Director of Meteorological Service PO Box 1254 Antananarivo 101 Madagascar

Nairobi, Kenya

Mail: Director of Meteorological Services PO Box 30259 Nairobi Kenya

Maputo, Mozambique

Mail: Director of Meteorology PO Box 256 Maputo Mozambique

The following cities are also mentioned as tropical cyclone warning centers, though I don't have the addresses for them.

China:        Beijing 
              Dalian
              Shanghai
              Guangzhou

Korea:        Seoul

Vietnam:      Hanoi

India:        New Delhi
              Calcutta 
              Bombay

Bangladesh:   Dhaka

Burma:        Rangoon

Sri Lanka:    Colombo

Maldive Islands: Male

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