FAQ

Questions and comments that commonly appear in our mailbag, in no particular order.

What are those circles around the storm? Why are they all different shapes sometimes and other times they’re smooth?
UPDATE: We are now labeling these directly on the map.  Go here for more info.
Those circles, which are sometimes broken down into four separate pieces (‘quadrants’) represent the estimated wind fields of the storm. Storms may vary greatly in their strength from side to side and top to bottom. The outer circle represents tropical storm force winds, the next circle represents storm force winds, and the inner circle represents hurricane force winds. Hurricane force wind fields are not available past the 36 hour mark, but hurricane force winds may still be present (look at the forecasted intensity and use common sense). You may want to check out Skeetobite’s excellent visual explanation.

The National Hurricane Center releases two types of advisories (commonly): Forecast Advisories and Public Advisories. Forecast Advisories contain enough information to draw the wind fields in separate quadrants, whereas for simplicity Public Advisories only contain enough information to draw simple circles.

What do all those acronyms (e.g. BAMM, AVNO, XTRP) mean when I turn on Forecast Models?
These are shorthand for the model generating the forecast path. This web page contains a definition of all of the models we show on our map currently: http://wind.mit.edu/~btangy/Home/modellist.txt

To learn more about forecast models in general, this Wunderground write-up is a good starting point.

When are you going to have an i-Phone app?
Not this year. Hopefully next.

Does Stormpulse.com cover the Pacific Basin?
No, but this is a top-priority feature for 2009.

May I use a screenshot of your map in my newspaper/neighborhood flyer/community TV program/PowerPoint presentation?
Absolutely. We only ask that you credit Stormpulse.com.

I don’t see my city on the map!
If it’s a fairly ‘major city’, you might find it by zooming in a bit farther. If you still don’t see it, it’s not there. :-) Our current list of cities has been chosen through a combination of factors including size, spacing, and association with the National Hurricane Center’s Wind Probabilities Product. If you really think your city should be on the map, you can let us know via email and we will duly note it. However, that brings me to the next question …

Can I get local information for my city?
It probably won’t make it out of the gate this year, but next year we are hoping to have much more fine-grained forecast information, beyond those that we’ve labeled. Stay tuned (please?).

What about sea surface temperatures?
This will hopefully be out before the end of the 2008 season.

I can see city names and labels but the background is black (no land/water).
This is almost always solved by 1. clearing your browser cache and trying again, and 2. making sure your corporate firewall allows traffic from stormpulse.s3.amazonaws.com. In technical terms, “stormpulse.s3.amazonaws.com needs to be added to your whitelist.”

Thank you!
You’re welcome!

Can I get a Stormpulse map for my website?
Send us your URL. We’ll review, and if we think it’s a good fit, we’ll send you a key