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