FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION
VERSION 2004
TITLE: HISTORICAL FLORIDA HURRICANE TRACKS
Geodataset Name: HCANE Geodataset Type: SHAPE Geodataset Feature: LINE 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This dataset contains the 6-hourly (00:00, 06:00, 12:00, 18:00 UTC) center locations and intensities for major hurricanes that made landfall in the State of Florida from the year 1851 through 2000.
DATA SOURCE(S): National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Hurricane Center (NHC) SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS: 1: 2,000,000 DATE OF AUTOMATION OR SOURCE: 2001 GEODATASET EXTENT: State of Florida 
FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:
Datafile Name: HCANE.DBF ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE PRECISION SHAPE 9 SHAPELINE - LENGTH 15 DECIMAL 3 HURMJR1020 11 DECIMAL - NAME 12 CHARACTER - BTID 11 DECIMAL - DATE 8 DATE - WINDSPEED1 11 DECIMAL - PRESSURE1 11 DECIMAL - LOCATION 30 CHARACTER - WINDS_MPH 10 DECIMAL - CATEGORY 6 CHARACTER - DESCRIPT 50 CHARACTER - 
FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:
ITEM ITEM DESCRIPTION SHAPE Data attribute inherent to the ESRI shapefile format, which defines the data as a point, polyline, or polygon. LENGTH The length of the line in coverage units. HURMJR1020 Internal feature number NAME The given name of a storm. Storms are named if they are true tropical storms and attain a sustained wind speed of at least 39 mph. Prior to 1950, storms were not named. Later storms may be unnamed if they were not recognized as tropical storms or hurricanes at the time of their occurrence. BTID The unique event identifier DATE The year, month and day of the storm advisory, in the format yyyymmdd Advisories are issued for storms that have attained at least tropical depression status, and are issued every 6 hours, at 0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800 hours. Advisories are discontinued once a storm makes landfall and all storm warnings are dropped, or when the wind speed drops below 30 knots or 35 mph. The records for each date are listed in order. WINDSPEED1 The measured or estimated windspeed at the time of the advisory, in whole knots. PRESSURE1 The measured or estimated barometric pressure at the time of the advisory, in millibars. A value of 0 indicates the barometric pressure is unknown. LOCATION A code indicating where in the United States the storm made landfall and at what intensity, in the format HR ST#. ST is the two-character State abbreviation, or a location code from the table below, and # is the intensity classification on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. A second code in the string (HR ST# ST#) indicates the location and intensity of the storm when it passed back over water, a third code in the string indicates the location and intensity of a second landfall, etc. Code Location ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AFL NW Florida coast - the Gulf coast down to Tarpon Springs BFL SW Florida coast - Tarpon Springs to the Keys CFL SE Florida coast - north to Cape Canaveral DFL NE Florida coast - north of Cape Canaveral For example, Hurricane Andrew (1992) has a location code of HR CFL4 BFL3 LA3, which means that Andrew made landfall as a category 4 hurricane on the southeast coast of Florida, crossed the peninsula and exited as a category 3 hurricane on the southwest coast of Florida, crossed the Gulf of Mexico and then made final landfall on the Louisiana coast as a category 3 hurricane. WINDS_MPH The measured or estimated windspeed at the time of the advisory, in whole miles per hour. CATEGORY The intensity classification of the storm. Hurricanes are classified according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Class. Description -------------------------------------------------------------------- H1 The storm was classified as a category 1 hurricane at the time of the advisory. A category 1 hurricane is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained surface (10 meter) winds of 64 knots/74 mph to 82 knots/95 mph,inclusive. H2 The storm was classified as a category 2 hurricane at the time of the advisory . A category 2 hurricane is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained surface (10 meter) winds of 83 knots/96 mph to 95 knots/110 mph, inclusive. H3 The storm was classified as a category 3 hurricane at the time of the advisory. A category 3 hurricane is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained surface (10 meter) winds of 96 knots/111 mph to 113 knots/130 mph, inclusive. H4 The storm was classified as a category 4 hurricane at the time of the advisory. A category 4 hurricane is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained surface (10 meter) winds of 114 knots/131 mph to 135 knots/155 mph, inclusive. H5 The storm was classified as a category 5 hurricane at the time of the advisory. A category 5 hurricane is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained surface (10 meter) winds greater than 135 knots/ 155 mph. TD The storm was classified as a tropical depression at the time of the advisory. A tropical depression is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained surface (10 meter) winds of less than 34 knots/ 39 mph. TS The storm was classified as a tropical storm at the time of the advisory. A tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained surface (10 meter) winds of 34 knots/ 39 mph to 64 knots/ 74 mph, inclusive. DESCRIPT FGDL added item based on Name
USER NOTES:
A major landfalling hurricane is one that made landfall in the United States and that was classified on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale as a category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane at the time of landfall. A hurricane is a warm-core tropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface wind is 64 knots/74 mph or more. A landfalling storm is defined as a storm whose center is reported to have either crossed or passed directly adjacent to the U.S. coastline, and which came ashore with tropical storm intensity or greater. For more information on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, please see http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.html. For more information on tropical cyclone advisories, please see http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW/day4/forecast_products.htm. General information on subtropical and tropical cyclones is available from the National Hurricane Center FAQ page at http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html, and from the Hurricane Basics page at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW/basics/hurricane_basics.htm. These data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national level, and for large regional areas. The data should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:2,000,000-scale data. No responsibility is assumed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of these data. An additional note concerning scale: Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale datasets are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modelling purposes. Please be sure you are using the best available data. 1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the county level. 1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such as property parcel boundaries. 1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the multi-county or regional level. 1:250000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the regional or state level or larger. Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data before using it for projects or analyses. Every effort has been made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact section of this documentation. For more information regarding scale and accuracy, see our web pages at: http://www.geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html 
FGDL QUALITY ASSURANCE STATUS:
-Reprojected data to FGDL Albers HPGN (See "Map Projection Parameters" below) -Extent set to the State of Florida -Changed dataset name from huall020 to hcane -DESCRIPT item added based on Name -Upcased all character records
DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:
Data originally released by U.S. Geological Survey in 2001. Data was downloaded by GeoPlan in shapefile format from http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html in 2001, clipped to State of Florida, and projected to FGDL HPGN. When received, data was in Geographic projection, Datum: NAD83, Spheroid: GRS1980, Units: Decimal degrees.
MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:
Projection ALBERS Units METERS Datum HPGN Spheroid GRS1980 1st standard parallel 24 0 0.000 2nd standard parallel 31 30 0.000 Central meridian -84 0 0.000 Latitude of projection's origin 24 0 0.000 False easting (meters) 400000.00000 False northing (meters) 0.00000 
DATA SOURCES CONTACT(S):
Name: Earth Science Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey Abbr.name: USGS Address: 507 National Center, Reston, VA 20192 Phone: 1-888-275-8747 Web site: http://nationalatlas.gov/ Ftp site: http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html Email: atlasmail@usgs.gov Contact Person: Phone: 703-648-5920
FGDL CONTACT:
Name: Florida Geographic Data Library Abbr. Name: FGDL Address: Florida Geographic Data Library 431 Architecture PO Box 115706 Gainesville, FL 32611-5706 Web site: http://www.fgdl.org Contact FGDL: Technical Support: http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html FGDL Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfaq.html FGDL Mailing Lists: http://www.fgdl.org/fgdl-l.html For FGDL Software: http://www.fgdl.org/software.html