Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Jargon

This page records common tropical cyclone jargon and how to handle it. Individual articles should be self-contained and should not require external reading to understand. Jargon terms should therefore be understood within context - at least well enough to understand the overall meaning - in addition to being wikilinked to articles that provide further reading.

It's important to make sure the basic idea of each term can be understood from context: i.e., without following a wikilink and having to read another article. Some terms may be self-defining or obvious just from the text but should still get a wikilink. Others are less obvious and if they can be explained within context by adding a few words on the first usage, do so.

Acronyms are a special case of jargon. Any acronyms should be written out in full during the first usage and linked to the acronym if you intend to use the acronym later in the article. Avoid using acronyms when possible, however. Example: "The central dense overcast (CDO) was dense and centralized. Later the CDO disappeared altogether."

WP:JARGON and WP:WTF should provide useful reading for all editors of technical articles.

Specific cases

Making Tropical Cyclone articles readable since 2008
Jargon	Wikilink	Comment
Banding eye	Dvorak technique#Pattern types	That article doesn't actually explain the term; needs fixing.
banding features	Rainband
Category (1-5)	Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale or Tropical cyclone scales	This should eiher point at Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale or Tropical cyclone scales, depending on which basin it is used in.
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale	Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale	The first usage should include the SSHS text, such as "reached Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale". Following usages can just list the category, with periodic wikilinks where appropriate.
Central dense overcast (CDO)	Central dense overcast
Circulation
Cold front	Cold front	Likely needs no explanation other than the wikilink.
Deep convection	Atmospheric convection	Can paraphrase as shower/thunderstorm activity or similar
Depression	Tropical Depression	Giving the strength (or relative strength) will make the use of this term obvious. Example "the storm weakened into a tropical depression".
development	Tropical cyclogenesis	This term is self-defining so a wikilink should be sufficient.
Extratropical	Extratropical cyclone
Eye	Eye (cyclone)
Eyewall replacement cycle	Eyewall replacement cycle
Landfall	Landfall (meteorology)
Low	Low pressure area
Minimum central pressure	Atmospheric pressure
Outflow	Outflow (meteorology)
Ragged bands	Tropical cyclone#Banding
Rainband	Rainband#Tropical cyclones	This term should be fairly obvious without any internal explanation.
Rapid intensification	rapid intensification	This term is self-defining so a wikilink should be sufficient.
Ridge	Ridge (meteorology)
Sea surface temperature	Sea surface temperature	This term is self-defining so a wikilink should be sufficient.
Significant wave height	significant wave height	This has a quite technical definition, but surely needs some explanation within the article to be at all understood. Something like "had a significant wave height (average height of the highest waves) of X feet" could make it understood.
Storm surge/tide	Storm surge
Subtropical	Subtropical cyclone	Making it clear in context that it means "partly tropical" should help here. Example: "The storm began to gain tropical characteristics and became subtropical the next day."
Tropical wave	Tropical wave	This is heavy jargon that most people won't know. Perhaps throwing on "low pressure area" would help.
Trough	Trough (meteorology)
Warm front	Warm front	Likely needs no explanation other than the wikilink.
shear	Wind shear	Using some in-article text for explanation would be nice (suggestions anyone?). Avoid mixing terms mid-article like alternating use between "wind shear", "shear", and "vertical shear" as this would confuse the reader into thinking these are different things.