In September, Hurricane will celebrate 2 years of hurricane tracking on the iPhone – though it feels much longer to the development team!

“We have put in a lot of hard work, time and energy to this project because we’re passionate about it. We have been asked for features like world wide storm tracking, which has turned Hurricane into a year round project, ensuring the data remains available at all times. We continue to focus on the Atlantic, East and Central Pacific, but do our best to ensure that the rest of the Pacific, and Indian Oceans are not left out through Satellite images, Tropical Outlooks and more.”

The look and feel of Hurricane has changed a lot over the last 2 years as well. The interface refinements go a long way to show the progress. Back in 2008, while we waited for Hurricane’s Approval in the App Store, Ike made his debut and devastated parts of Texas. Here are just a few screen shots of Hurricane from that time:

Hurricane as seen in 2008

Even without the Google Maps background, and the ability to easily create an interactive map on the device, Hurricane set the tone for what would become a great adventure for the programmers.

“When we set out to write Hurricane, there were a few things we wanted for ourselves as hurricane trackers. We wanted the ability to see where a storm was, and every detail of every point, not just the current point – which at the time was the norm. Most people just looked to their local TV News, or the Weather Channel to find out where a storm was, and while they gave every detail of the current plot, it was hard to see the progress of the storm, other than through their satellite loops. We wanted to be able to see the data behind the storm and how it was changing with each plot. Nobody else had written a tracker for the iPhone yet, so we made what we wanted to see. We also wanted Hurricane to be useful during the off season, and past storm histories has done a great job of that. I’ve even used Hurricane to win trivia contests based on weather, because I could find the information faster than anyone else!”

“The last two years has been a wild ride, with the iOS 3.0 upgrade, we were able to switch our maps over to MapKit, giving us broadcast quality maps which were just plain awesome. In addition, we could then tell what the distance from the center of the storm to the device was, so we added that in too.

Another great feature added in the 2009 season was the Forecast Cone, allowing you to walk through the forecast cone’s details right on the interactive map. Other interface refinements were added like the Data Feed, adding the East and Central Pacific basins to the Interactive Tracking Map, and allowing the user to toggle between each basin in an intuitive way.”

“For the 2010 season, we added in Hurricane HD, created just for the iPad, with features like the News feed, and a whole new look and feel. A lot of work went into the new version, written almost completely from the ground up. With the extra space, provided by the iPad device, we have been able to reorganize the layout to make information even easier to find.”

While Hurricane is far from feature complete in the developer’s eyes, it is the most complete Hurricane tracking software available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, giving you all of the information you want to know about an upcoming storm. Expect great things to come from Kitty Code while they push the envelope to make your life a little safer, and more informed. Take a look at what Hurricane offers you today in the iTunes App Store today.

We knew this update was going to be awesome for our users, and we can only be happy that Apple also chose to recognize not only our update, but that Hurricane HD is the best way to prepare for Hurricane Season.

News Feed

Hurricane HD contains not only tracking information, but also helpful preparedness information. With preparedness partners like The Great Hurricane Blow Out, Hurricane HD puts the information that the user needs in front of them every day on their News tab.

The news is not nearly as important as the preparedness information, so we have put that information at the top, to ensure that those people who want the information have a great way of finding it.

New Satellite Loops

The main feature of the Hurricane 1.2 update is the satellite loops for the Atlantic and Pacific. The loops moved away from Hurricane for the iPhone’s look, using features specific to the iPad to allow the satellite page to stay in the background while the satellite loops come forward into view – like a popup. Because the satellites are now chosen by a small icon, users can see what area they are going to be looking at rather than trying to understand what each area means. This feature makes it easier for weather novices to get the information they need as well.

This update may seem minor, but it’s one you definitely want to have!

In addition to the TUAW coverage, the National Hurricane Conference was in town this week, enabling our very own Ilene Jones to talk to key players about features she would like to see added to the hurricane feeds in the future. Being part of this conference was something that meant a lot to her both personally and professionally, since hurricane tracking is such a passion for her.

When asked about the features available in the two hurricane trackers, Ilene said “We wrote Hurricane and Hurricane HD because we wanted a hurricane tracking application on the iPhone that we would want to use. So we went out and gathered all of the information we would want to see and added into the app. We are completely open to suggestions for data that you may want that we don’t have right now. After all, this app should cover everything you need to track a hurricane. The best part is, I don’t have to be at my computer or in front of a TV to get this information, I can just open the app on my phone and I have everything I need.”

While Hurricane and Hurricane HD are the most promising hurricane tracking apps in the app store, development continues on new features, some which do not require an app update, others which will. Hurricane has a highly anticipated update coming up to begin the new season, “with revelations this week at the National Hurricane Conference, we believe that a few more days wait will be well worth the patience of our users. We don’t want to give it away just yet, but we have a few things in the works that will be awesome for any avid hurricane tracker – but don’t worry, the storm list can be reset at a moment’s notice, without an app update should the need arise.”

Hurricane HD is $3.99 in the App Store, which is the same price as their current iPhone app Hurricane.

Please help Hurricane and Traveler’s Quest win the 2009 Best App Ever Awards in their categories. Every vote helps, so please take a moment to help us receive this prestegious award!

Voting is open now through Jan 31, 2010.

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Best News App
Best Use of Location Svcs
Best MMO Game

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Hurricane
• Best Road Warrior App
  
• Most Useful App
  
• Most Innovative App
  
• Best News App
  
• Best Feel Like A Local App
  
• Best Use of Location Services
  
• Best Outdoor Use App
  

Traveler’s Quest
• Most Innovative App
  
• Best MMO Game
  
• Best Feel Like A Local App
  
• Best Use of Location Services
  
• Best Outdoor Use App
  
• Best Casual Game
  
• Best Adventure Game
  
• Best Family Game
  

United States: 5
Mexico: 2
El Salvador: 3
Venezuela: 4

Hurricane also made the Top 25 Paid Weather applications list in:

Canada: 16
Deutchland: 24
Espania: 23
Luxembourg: 20
Slovenia: 23
Sweden: 13
Turkey: 18

The biggest coup is being back in the Top 5 US Paid Weather applications. While the weather category is still relatively small compared to other categories, it is definitely tough to stay in the Top 10 apps, and to gain Top 5 notice. As the season progresses, and we release our next version of Hurricane, we hope to continue the trend, giving our users the best hurricane tracking in the Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific.

Living in Central Florida, we have another 15 days to wait until the Atlantic Hurricane Season begins, but we have done a few things to prepare already. A few months ago, we wrote an article asking Are you prepared? which gives you a general, getting started list, as well as common sense tips and tricks that people who have lived in Hurricane prone areas should already know. We know not everyone has lived in Florida all their lives — as a matter of fact, most “Florida Natives” have moved on, giving way to the “snow birds” and people who move here for our wonderful weather. We need to help those new residents understand what it means to live in Florida (or any hurricane prone area) during Hurricane Season.

After Andrew in 1992, South Florida remembered what it was to be in the path of a major hurricane, and became more vigilant in not only their reporting, but in their hurricane preparedness community awareness programs. Central Florida in 2004 was struck by 4 hurricanes, with each storm passing over the center of the state in a criss cross fashion. Louisiana had a perfect storm scenario with Katrina in 2005 which showed the residents why Hurricane Parties were really created – to get the community together, prepare and then wait out the storm.

Each region of the Atlantic and Golf of Mexico coast has its own story. But what about the Caribbean? Last year, no fewer than 4 hurricanes or tropical storms crossed through the Caribbean, striking Cuba multiple times, and flooding the islands. Some of the worst flooding was from Fay, which moved slowly over the region and caused floods from the Caribbean islands to northern Florida. Ike and Paloma were the largest strength storms, both Category 4 hurricanes on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and both were hurricanes which struck Cuba.

History tells us a lot about how to prepare. Learning from our mistakes is a great human trait we all have, which enables us to adjust to our changing environment. Hurricanes are great and wonderfully powerful beasts which can take us from being the most technologically advanced people, back to the equivalent of a third world country, or at best, camping. Preparing like you are going TENT camping for at least a week, with no chance to re-stock or re-supply is the best way to handle preparing for a hurricane. Everything you need should be on hand. Remember: no power means no electronics. Even cell phones only last a very short time until the battery backups at the cellular towers die. You might have extra batteries or power supplies, but if you can’t get a connection, your device will not help you.

Preparing for hurricane season may seem like a waste when hurricanes seemingly never strike. What happens though, if a hurricane does strike this year? Will you be prepared? The government CANNOT be your keeper. When disaster strikes, the best way to get through it is by neighbors helping neighbors.

April 6-10 was the National Hurricane Conference. This year it was held in Austin, Texas and covered a lot of great information including specifics about Ivan and it’s effects on the people of Texas. One of the major subjects of discussion was the Saffir-Simpson scale. Some say that the scale does not accurately portray the storm surge of a hurricane. I feel that the real problem is the lack of understanding of storms which are very strong (major) while out in the Gulf of Mexico, but weaken as they come closer to land.

Scenario – Hurricane WhatsHerName:

Hurricane WhatsHerName is a category 5 hurricane out in the Caribbean and moves into the Gulf of Mexico, hitting no land. The storm remains a category 5 hurricane for greater than 24 hours. The storm surge of WhatsHerName according to the Saffir-Simpson Scale is expected to be greater than 18ft at landfall, if it remains a category 5 hurricane.

WhatsHerName runs into some shear before coming to land in the Gulf of Mexico, dropping her winds and making her a cateogry 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. WhatsHerName is within 36 hours of land, storm warnings are posted. Since her winds have brought her down to a category 3 hurricane, the scale says that her storm surge should be 9-12ft, if you take the scale literally. However, the physics of water tells us that we should really be expecting a greater storm surge because the larger water base has been stirred into action, and water does not slow as quickly as winds. So, in reality, you should be expecting somewhere between category 4 (13-18ft) and category 5 ( greater than 18ft) storm surge with this category 3 storm.

The Saffir-Simpson scale works great when you are going up the scale. However, the flaw is when you come down the scale. It is my belief however that the scale is not at fault, but the understanding of the physics behind storm surge by the media and possibly our models which informs the public of what to expect. The models are getting better however, and we now have experimental storm surge data which will be available for the 2009 hurricane season.

With any luck though, our weather media will be able to do a great job of educating the public on what to expect this year, and hopefully prevent a large amount of the problems we see when the storms come our way this year.

In the mean time, make sure you are prepared for hurricane season this year. You can never prepare too early, only too late.

• Flashlights
• Batteries
• weather radio
• battery/solar/hand crank radio or tv
• canned goods
• one gallon of water per person per day for one week
• water on hand for sanitation (toilets, washing)
• Baby wipes (even if you don’t have babies!)
• non-chlorine bleach and water tablets (to sanitize water & clean)
• camp stove or other non-electric cooking appliance
• propane for the camp stove, or appropriate fuel
• fill your car with gas
• have cash on hand (power out means no ATM)

What all of this really means is – pretend you’re going camping for at least a week in the wilderness.  You will have no access to any of your normal amenities, so you need to have it all on hand.  Some of these things you will use and replenish, but need to make sure to keep on hand.  Usually those are perishable food items like:

• Milk
• Bread
• Dairy products
• Lunch/Sandwhich meats
• ICE — get a few bags to keep your freezer cold!

These are just the things that I am listing off of the top of my head.  I haven’t looked at a list yet this year, but I’ve lived in Florida all my life and prepare every year.  Nothing we buy ever goes to waste, since everything we buy is used at one point or another.  As I was writing the list, I found myself writing ideas in too, for instance how to keep things cold, and when to buy.  These are some of the best practices that I know of:

Ice:

• Get enough ice to keep your freezer cold, and if you have a deep freeze, store the ice there.
• have a container on hand which will fit a block of ice and your refrigerator.  This will keep your cold goods cold a lot longer, and will work even better if you keep the refrigerator shut as much as possible.

Groceries:

• When you go grocery shopping before a storm, make sure you buy food which does not require milk, butter, and other perishable products.  If you use this rule, you will have more food which you can make, even if your refrigerator of food goes bad.
• Do not stock up on extra perishable goods!  Because when a storm hits, the first thing to go is the power, make sure that you do not put a lot of money into your refrigerator or freezer.  When you buy milk, make it powdered milk, or at least have powdered milk on hand for recipes that need it.  Only buy enough perishable goods to last you as long as your extra ice will last.  After that point, your food will go bad and with it, the extra money spent.

Fuel:

• Make sure that you not only fill up your car, but during hurricane season it is a good idea to not let your gas tank get below 1/3 to 1/4th of a tank.  A lot of people use this as a rule, but with tight times, you may want to wait as long as possible before you refill your car.  If you let your car get too low,  you will not have the fuel in your car to get you to where you CAN buy more.  Most gas stations do NOT have generators on hand for the fuel pumps, so when the electricity is gone, so is the gas.
• Have fuel on hand for your chainsaw if you have one.  Even if you do not have trees that fall in your yard, you may want to help your neighbors out who were not so lucky, and maybe do not have their own chainsaw.  What about if you don’t use it for this storm?  If you store the fuel pure (without adding 2cycle oil or other mix) you can always use the fuel later in your car, or compatible gas engine.
• Have fuel on hand for your grill, cook stove or other cooking appliance.  Depending on what you have, this means propane, charcoal or wood.  If there is a storm, there will be plenty of wood.  Find your friend with the chainsaw and axe

Water:

• One of the best ways to store water is in a bath tub.  We usually fill our large bath tub with water as a storm is coming in, and that water can be used for anything from flushing the toilet to drinking water.  We have never had damage to our home, but definitely consider the fact that damage to the house would dirty that water.  It is still good for flushing and maybe washing, depending on the extent of the damage.  Consider using a sheet or other fine material you normally have on hand as a filter if the worst case happens.
• One of the things which I found last year on Bryan Norcross’s site was a Water Safe.  This is a device which fits into your tub or sink, and is then filled with water.  This is a very neat idea which I can see being very useful.

Medical / Emergency:

• Make sure you have all medications filled ahead of the storm, and have at least a weeks supply on hand.
• If you have a condition which requires you to stay at the local hospital to ride out the storm, then please do!  Emergency vehicles are not allowed — for their own safety — to venture out into a storm once it reaches a certain strength (I think sustained tropical storm force winds, but possibly sustained hurricane force winds).  This means that they cannot get to you to get you out.  Downed trees, tree limbs and powerlines could also prevent them from getting to you soon after a storm.  Be safe, and evacuate to a hospital if you know you should.
  • In Miami, the drop in pressure from Hurricane Andrew caused many women in their last trimester of pregnancy to go into labor that night.  If those women would have stayed home, they would have had their babies on their own, where the potential for complications would be much greater, and no medical personnel able to get to them to help.
  • In New Orleans, people who were “in the bowl” were unable to leave their homes once the levees broke right after Katrina.  Even though the storm surge did not affect their homes, they still became trapped.  While the loss of property could not have been prevented that day, the emergency rescues could have been.  The storm surge was larger than anticipated because the winds dropped before Katrina hit land, which made some assume that the storm surge would also recede.  There was a failure to understand that the power of a wall of water cannot be easily diminished, and in the Gulf of Mexico, where the waters are more shallow, the water tends to rise more like a tsunami.  In everything hurricane, even if your local news station tells you not to worry, yet the National Hurricane Center tells you to get out of doge, I would listen to the NHC.  They have MANY more years of study than your local news personality behind the desk.
• In short, be prepared and know your environment and your limitations.
  

Kids:

• Consider this:  you have kids who are accustomed to having TVs, video game consoles, computers, hand held game devices and other immediate gratification for entertainment.  What happens when that is not available?  For most parents, it means insanity – not for the kids but for the parents!
• Make sure that you have things to do, on hand which do not require batteries, or any sort of electricity. Some samples:
  • Card games
  • Playing cards, as well as games like Fluxx, Chrononauts, Burn Rate, Uno, Pokemon, and Yugio. This could be the only chance you get to truly unplug with your family
  • board games
  • puzzles
  • books
  • word games
  • other non-electronic “things to do” should be on hand for your own personal sanity.
• Be prepared to sit down and talk to your family!  Your kids will have their fears, let them talk to you about them, even if it drives you a little batty.  Your kids have probably never gone through anything like a major hurricane, and if you’re lucky, you haven’t either.  Your child’s fears may seem small compared to yours, but helping them get through those fears could save them a lot of therapy later, and it could save you too!

Fans:

• It is a great idea to have a battery, solar, human or other powered fan available after the storm. 
  • When hurricane Andrew came through Broward county in 1992, power at my house was knocked out for a week.  There was little to no breeze and it was the end of August — the hottest part of the summer.  I had a hand held fan that I used constantly, which added to my comfort in a big way.  Just the little bit of a blowing breeze was enough.  I’ve grown up with having air conditioning my whole life, and parents that like to set the thermostat to what seems to be sub-zero.  I do not deal well with heat at all, yet I live in Florida.  Go figure.

The most important thing to do is to have a plan, and follow through with it.  During Hurricane Season, you can never be too prepared.  It is a personal responsibility that each person must take upon themselves.  Help will not arrive the morning after a storm, so being prepared for the storm is always the right course.

There are lots of things which are not listed here, like generators, ductape, and more.  Let us know how you prepare for hurricane season, and don’t forget to mention where you live so others in your area can relate to your ideas!

• Hurricane Preparedness Week by The National Hurricane Center
• Create a Family Hurricane Plan with OneStorm
• Max Mayfield’s Hurricane Blog

Hurricane turns your iPhone into a cutting edge storm tracker

With the iPhone moving beyond gaming, music, Wi-Fi, lifestyle and entertainment, a new series of apps are emerging. For instance, with the help of some innovative apps, you can now track the tremors of the earth or, if you are living near the Hurricane Alley, you can chase the progress of Hurricane Ike.

This year, if you have an iPhone and internet connectivity, you can now track the trajectories of [Nickolas, Grace, Bill, Rose] and others when the Atlantic warms up during the hurricane season.

By making smart use of the iPhone’s unique capabilities, Kitty Code has now turned the iPhone into one sleek storm tracker. With this app in your iPhone, you will be able to keep track of hurricanes right from the time they originate in the Atlantic to the time when they smash coastal America.

Information organization: The interface makes this potentially complex app very easy to use. The vast information is organized under three simple categories – Hurricanes, Past Hurricanes and Satellite. You need the Internet for using the first and third features. However, the second feature, the scrollable hurricane memoranda does not need any connectivity. Just see it and check the history of storms that have hit in the past.

Storm Data: Once you open the app it will feed in live data to your iPhone from satellites. The storm data will be displayed with the along with the satellite image and the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Hurricane activities in the Atlantic, Caribbean sea, Gulf of Mexico and Northeast Pacific are [currently] covered in this app.

Interactive map: The interactive map allows the user to navigate between different tracks and plots, latitudes and longitudes, wind speed, wind pressure, time, intensity and most importantly, the path of the hurricane. Just tap along on the right and left arrows to track any particular hurricane track and its speed at various points along its path.

Plus the app also provides a detailed list of the following features:

1. Forecast Image Maps
2. Tropical Outlooks, Summaries & Discussions
3. Storm Bulletin
4. Storm Forecast/Advisory
5. Storm Discussion
6. Storm Probabilities

An interesting goody: However, all of that is for tracking current storms. What if you want to know about the stormy history of say, Ike? For that, the app provides something special for storm chasers and interested people – a storm archive dating back to 1851. This archive works offline and provides the details of every unrest in the Hurricane alley in a chronological archive.

Great interface, terrific navigational facilities and the ease of tracking hurricanes activities from your iPhone. I think this app will be of great help during the hurricane season this year.