ATCF best track, aids, bogus format 8/31/2016 See the notes on missing and deprecated data at the end of this document. Common section, fields 1-36, followed by user-data section which is not predefined. BASIN, CY, YYYYMMDDHH, TECHNUM/MIN, TECH, TAU, LatN/S, LonE/W, VMAX, MSLP, TY, RAD, WINDCODE, RAD1, RAD2, RAD3, RAD4, POUTER, ROUTER, RMW, GUSTS, EYE, SUBREGION, MAXSEAS, INITIALS, DIR, SPEED, STORMNAME, DEPTH, SEAS, SEASCODE, SEAS1, SEAS2, SEAS3, SEAS4, USERDEFINED, userdata COMMON FIELDS BASIN - basin, e.g. WP, IO, SH, CP, EP, AL, LS CY - annual cyclone number: 1 - 99 YYYYMMDDHH - Warning Date-Time-Group, yyyymmddhh: 0000010100 through 9999123123. TECHNUM/MIN- objective technique sorting number, minutes for best track: 00 - 99 TECH - acronym for each objective technique or CARQ or WRNG, BEST for best track, up to 4 chars. TAU - forecast period: -24 through 240 hours, 0 for best-track, negative taus used for CARQ and WRNG records. LatN/S - Latitude for the DTG: 0 - 900 tenths of degrees, N/S is the hemispheric index. LonE/W - Longitude for the DTG: 0 - 1800 tenths of degrees, E/W is the hemispheric index. VMAX - Maximum sustained wind speed in knots: 0 - 300 kts. MSLP - Minimum sea level pressure, 850 - 1050 mb. TY - Highest level of tc development: DB - disturbance, TD - tropical depression, TS - tropical storm, TY - typhoon, ST - super typhoon, TC - tropical cyclone, HU - hurricane, SD - subtropical depression, SS - subtropical storm, EX - extratropical systems, PT - post tropical, IN - inland, DS - dissipating, LO - low, WV - tropical wave, ET - extrapolated, MD - monsoon depression, XX - unknown. RAD - Wind intensity for the radii defined in this record: 34, 50 or 64 kt. WINDCODE - Radius code: AAA - full circle NEQ - quadrants RAD1 - If full circle, radius of specified wind intensity. If WINDCODE="NEQ", then radius of RAD in NE Quadrant. 0 - 999 n mi Set to " 0" if not defined. RAD2 - If full circle, not used. Set to " 0" If WINDCODE="NEQ", then radius of RAD in SE Quadrant. 0 - 999 n mi Set to " 0" if not defined. RAD3 - If full circle, not used. Set to " 0" If WINDCODE="NEQ", then radius of RAD in SW Quadrant. 0 - 999 n mi Set to " 0" if not defined. RAD4 - If full circle, not used. Set to " 0" If WINDCODE="NEQ", then radius of RAD in NW Quadrant. 0 - 999 n mi Set to " 0" if not defined. POUTER - pressure in millibars of the last closed isobar, 900 - 1050 mb. ROUTER - radius of the last closed isobar, 0 - 999 n mi. RMW - radius of max winds, 0 - 999 n mi. GUSTS - gusts, 0 - 999 kt. EYE - eye diameter, 0 - 120 n mi. SUBREGION - subregion code: W,A,B,S,P,C,E,L,Q. A - Arabian Sea B - Bay of Bengal C - Central Pacific E - Eastern Pacific L - Atlantic P - South Pacific (135E - 120W) Q - South Atlantic S - South IO (20E - 135E) W - Western Pacific MAXSEAS - max seas: 0 - 999 ft. INITIALS - Forecaster's initials used for tau 0 WRNG or OFCL, up to 3 chars. DIR - storm direction, 0 - 359 degrees. SPEED - storm speed, 0 - 999 kts. STORMNAME - literal storm name, number, NONAME or INVEST, or TCcyx where: cy = Annual cyclone number 01 - 99 x = Subregion code: W,A,B,S,P,C,E,L,Q. DEPTH - system depth, D - deep, M - medium, S - shallow, X - unknown SEAS - Wave height for radii defined in SEAS1 - SEAS4, 0 - 99 ft. SEASCODE - Radius code: AAA - full circle NEQ, SEQ, SWQ, NWQ - quadrant SEAS1 - first quadrant seas radius as defined by SEASCODE, 0 - 999 n mi. SEAS2 - second quadrant seas radius as defined by SEASCODE, 0 - 999 n mi. SEAS3 - third quadrant seas radius as defined by SEASCODE, 0 - 999 n mi. SEAS4 - fourth quadrant seas radius as defined by SEASCODE, 0 - 999 n mi. USERDEFINE1- 1 to 20 character description of user data to follow. userdata1 - user data section as indicated by USERDEFINED parameter (up to 100 char). USERDEFINE2- 1 to 20 character description of user data to follow. userdata2 - user data section as indicated by USERDEFINED parameter (up to 100 char). USERDEFINE3- 1 to 20 character description of user data to follow. userdata3 - user data section as indicated by USERDEFINED parameter (up to 100 char). USERDEFINE4- 1 to 20 character description of user data to follow. userdata4 - user data section as indicated by USERDEFINED parameter (up to 100 char). USERDEFINE5- 1 to 20 character description of user data to follow. userdata5 - user data section as indicated by USERDEFINED parameter (up to 100 char). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ userdata - user data section as indicated by USERDEFINED parameter. Examples of USERDEFINED/userdata pairs: - An invest spawned from a genesis area: SPAWNINVEST, wp712015 to wp902015 - An invest area transitioning to a TC: TRANSITIONED, shE92015 to sh152015 - A TC dissipated to an invest area: DISSIPATED, sh162015 sh982015 - A genesis area number: genesis-num, 001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Notes: 1) No missing data allowed for first eight common fields. Missing data for other fields are expected to be blank characters between the comma delimiters. Although the files are not column dependent please insure that the proper number of blank characters is included in missing data so the columns line up. This makes the files easier to read and troubleshoot. 2) The USERDEFINED section is for inclusion of items not already in the common fields. The USERDEFINED parameter is 1 to 20 characters, so there should be sufficient space to include some text describing what comes next. 3) Wind records merged in from preexisting wind files (r-decks) were assigned a TECH of CNTR. Wind records created during normal use of this combined data format are assigned the TECH corresponding to the center name as defined in $ATCFINC/atcfsite.nam. 4) WINDCODE and SEASCODE other than AAA or NEQ exist in older data but have been deprecated. 5) RAD values of 100 exist in old data (earlier than 2005) but have been deprecated. Currently only 34, 50 and 64 are valid for RAD. 6) The fields are not column dependent, but the files are easier to read and troubleshoot if the columns line up. The fields are comma and space delimited. The desired field widths and preferred ATCF application ranges are as follows: field number of chars range ----- --------------- ----- BASIN 2 WP, EP, CP, IO, SH, AL, SL as defined in basin.dat CY 2 01 to 99, 01 to 49 are real storms, 80 to 89 are test storms, 90 to 99 are INVESTS YYYYMMDDHH 10 only valid DTGs TECHNUM/MIN 2 00 <= TECHNUM <= 99, 00 <= MIN < 60 TECH 4 up to four alphanumeric characters TAU 3 -24 <= TAU <= 240 hours LatN/S 4 0 <= Lat <= 900 N/S, in tenths of degrees LonE/W 5 0 <= Lon <=1800 E/W, in tenths of degrees VMAX 3 10 <= VMAX <= 250 kt MSLP 4 850 to 1050 mb TY 2 as defined in tcdevel.dat RAD 3 34, 50, 64 kt WINDCODE 3 AAA, NEW, SEQ, SWQ, NWQ RAD1 4 MRD < RAD1 <= 999 n mi, 64 kt RAD1 < 50 kt RAD1 < 34 kt RAD1 0 for no radius in quadrant, blank for unknown RAD2 4 See RAD1 RAD3 4 See RAD1 RAD4 4 See RAD1 POUTER 4 MSLP < RADP < 1050 mb ROUTER 4 EYE < RRP <= 999 n mi RMW 3 0 < MRD <= RAD1, RAD2, RAD3, and RAD4 GUSTS 3 VMAX < GUSTS < 300 kt EYE 3 RRP < EYE < 120 n mi SUBREGION 3 W,E,C,A,B,S,P,L,Q - basin.dat MAXSEAS 3 0 < MAXSEAS < 200 ft INITIALS 3 DIR 3 0 <= DIR < 360 SPEED 3 0 <= SPEED < 100 kt STORMNAME 10 DEPTH 1 D, M, S, X SEAS 2 0 < SEAS < 100 ft SEASCODE 3 AAA, NEW, SEQ, SWQ, NWQ SEAS1 4 0 < SEAS1 <= 999 n mi SEAS2 4 See SEAS1 SEAS3 4 See SEAS1 SEAS4 4 See SEAS1 USERDEFINED up to 20 1 to 20 characters of alphanumeric data userdata up to 200