Weather systems
- Invest : It is a disturbed area under surveillance.
- xxL : This is the number of the disturbed zone under surveillance (between 90L and 99L in the Atlantic).
- TDxx: Tropical depression, it is a tropical depression and its number in the season.
- TS : Tropical Storm, this is a named Tropical Storm.
- Hurricane : Named hurricane.
- Major Hurricane: Major hurricane of category 3 or higher.
- LO : Low: it is an area of low pressure.
Wind and pressure
- kt ou kts : unit of wind (knot or nautical knot). 1 kt = 1.852 km / h. For a quick approximate calculation, multiply by 2 and subtract 10%.
- Windshear / Shear : It is the difference between the surface wind and the altitude wind. The greater the difference, the less the risk of cyclones.
- hPa : hectopascal, it is the unit of measurement of atmospheric pressure which replaced the milibar and which is equivalent.
Weather services and forecast models
- NHC : It's the National Hurricane Center, the American weather forecasting service dedicated to cyclone risk. Depends on NOAA.
- NOAA : Domestic Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the American service for the study of the atmosphere and the oceans
- NRL : Naval Research Laboratory, it is the division of marine meteorology of the US Navy. NRL : Naval Research Laboratory, it is the division of marine meteorology of the US Navy.
- GFS : Global Forecast System, It is the best known and most used global weather forecast model in the world. It runs 4 times a day (00h 06h 12h 18h UTC) and gives forecasts on a multitude of parameters up to 384h.
- ECMWF extension : European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, it is the European equivalent of GFS. It runs twice a day (2h and 00h) and gives forecasts at 12h.
- CMC, NAVGEM, ICON, JMA are other global digital models but less relevant than the first 2.
- WW3 : It is a forecast model dedicated to swell and waves. : It is a forecast model dedicated to swell and waves
- HWRF : It is a forecasting model dedicated to cyclone tracking
- SHIPS : It is a statistical forecast model dedicated to the intensity of cyclones. It is widely used by forecasters of the NHC
- Floater : Satellite imagery centered on a weather system.
Contact details and zoning
- xx, xN and xx, xW : a GPS position. For example Fort-de-France is located on 14,36N by 60,03W.
- MDR : the Major Development Zone of weather systems in the Atlantic, between 10N and 20N from Africa to Mexico.
- ITCZ : Intertropical convergence zone. It is a very humid and disturbed barometric marsh area (pressure stable) a little north of the equator in the Atlantic.
- S, N, SE, SW, NE, NW : These are the cardinal points that determine a direction.
Climate
- ENSO : Southern oscillation which can have 3 types of phase: ElNiNO, THE GIRL or Neutral Phase.
- AMO : Atlantic Oscillation Multidecenal. It takes place over several decades and is responsible for a large part of the temperature variations in the North Atlantic Ocean, which greatly impacts the hurricane situation.
- SST : These are the ocean surface temperature anomalies. This is very important data for the intensity of cyclones over a season.
