With an area of interest already being watched off of the eastern seaboard of the US, we have a stark reminder that Hurricane Season is here, and it’s time to be prepared. Forecasters expect another busy Atlantic Hurricane Season, and for people with an iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad, there’s no better way to stay informed than with Kitty Code’s Hurricane and Hurricane HD apps.

Hurricane HD has received a major update for 2011 with many features to keep you informed. The newly updated tracking map now allows for the display of multiple tropical systems simultaneously, while the Hurricane HD Historic Storm Library gives you access to memorable storms of the past and can be displayed along side current storms within the tracking map. With the new Storm Center, active storm bulletins, forecasts, satellites and radar are all at your finger tips, along with the ability to play through storm tracks. Hurricane HD now also includes push notifications, giving you the ability to stay up to date with whats happening in the tropics anytime day or night.

Hurricane for the iPhone and iPod Touch has been updated to include world tropical cyclone, typhoon and hurricane tracking on the interactive tracking map. Hurricane is the first application of its kind to cover tropical systems around the world. We’ve also added push notifications to keep you informed of any critical developments.

Tracking storms since September 2008, Hurricane continues to lead the pack as the innovative and inclusive hurricane tracking option, giving you easy access to everything you need to track a tropical system and keep you informed. Hurricane introduced highly detailed, zoomable maps covering the Atlantic, East and Central Pacific oceans and now tracks the West Pacific, South Pacific and Indian Oceans as well. Receiving continued refinements over the last three years, Hurricane has added distance from your position to any point on the storm track, and the official 5 day Forecast Cone to the broadcast quality maps. Each storm continues to feature animated satellite and radar imagery when available, the latest plots for active storms as well as world satellites, bulletins and more.

“Hurricane was the first complex weather application added to the iTunes App Store, and the latest release of Hurricane builds upon the solid framework that our users have come to know and trust. The mapped forecast cone is an extremely important part of tracking hurricanes, showing you what areas could be affected. Hurricane takes this a step further, allowing you to zoom in on the forecast cone, effectively showing you the exact extent of the cone of uncertainty. Hurricane remains the only app performing this function to date on the iPhone and iPod touch and Hurricane HD is the only iPad app with this critical feature”, said Ilene Jones, Co-Founder and CEO of Kitty Code, LLC.

Hurricane has grown a lot over the last three years, and has been very successful in showing where storms are, regardless of their location in the world.

Features included in Hurricane and Hurricane HD:
* Mapped, zoomable 3 and 5 day Forecast Cone
* Animated satellite and radar imagery
* World wide tracking maps
* Atlantic, Eastern and Central Pacific historical tracking data
* Storm information page and Storm Center puts important storm details such as storm specific animated satellite, radar, forecast images and text at your finger tips
* Fully zoomable tracking maps providing a greater level of detail
* Integrated GPS to inform you of your distance from an approaching storm
* Satellite images covering all tropical seas and oceans
* An enhanced look that makes finding information easier than ever before
* Push notification of new storms

Features exclusive to Hurricane for iPhone and iPod Touch
* iOS 4 Ready
* Multitasking
* Retina Display Images

Features exclusive to Hurricane HD:
* News tab featuring storm news and preparedness information.
* Track and compare multiple current, past and historical systems on the same interactive map
* Designed especially for the iPad’s size
* HDMI output allows for the display of Hurricane HD on a large screen

The world is talking about Hurricane:

“Apps share similarities, but Hurricane HD, Hurricane stand out from this pack.” – Macworld, Rated 4 out of 5 Mice

“This app has everything I need in one handy spot. It’s not a game or a toy, just an app packed full of the latest storm information.”, iTunes US
“I use this app on a daily basis, I highly reccomend it to anyone who is interested in weather or lives in a hurricane prone area.”, iTunes Canada
“Preciso, claro, eficiente, la mejor aplicacion en su naturaleza, al igual la base de datos que incluye”, iTunes Mexico
“Très bonne app qui sert lorsque l’on vit au Antilles ce qui est mon cas meilleure app du genre.”, iTunes France
“Sehr empfehlenswert. Sehr uebersichtlich – man sieht auch sofort auf der 1. Seite evtl. Sturmaktivitaeten und dann gibt es alle wichtigen weiterfuehrenden Angaben. Es ist fuer mich das allerbeste Hurrikane-App!!”, iTunes Germany
“Sehr vielseitges App, grosse Übersicht, viele Ansichten.
So verpasst du garantiert keinen Hurri mehr.” – iTunes Review (Netherlands)

Hurricane Minimum Requirements:
iOS 4.0 or later

Hurricane HD Minimum Requirements:
iPad with iOS 3.2 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Hurricane and Hurricane HD are only $3.99 (USD) and available exclusively through Apple’s iTunes AppStore. More information about Hurricane for the iPhone and iPod touch and Hurricane HD for the iPad can be found at the official Kitty Code website.

Kitty Code
Hurricane HD
Hurricane HD 2.0 [iTunes]
Hurricane 3.5 [iTunes]
Hurricane HD Screenshot
App Icon

About Kitty Code Kitty Code, LLC is a privately held startup in Orlando, FL, which writes innovative applications for hand held devices. With over 30 combined years of experience in weather, web technologies and game development we are able to create games and applications which are robust, fun to play, technically savvy and yet easy to use. Representatives from Kitty Code will be available at WWDC in June to speak to media in person regarding all of their apps. To find out more about Kitty Code, join us on our website. Copyright 2011 Kitty Code, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Hurricane HD 2.0 tracking former Super Typhoon Songda

Hurricane HD 2.0, the highly anticipated update to our flagship Hurricane HD product was released to the App Store today. Hurricane HD 2.0 has been rewritten from the ground up and now tracks not only storms in the Atlantic, East Pacific and Central Pacific, but also includes the West Pacific, South Pacific and Indian Oceans on the same map! Active storms are added to the tracking map automatically, and now you can add multiple storms to the map, to track current storms, compare past storm tracks to a current storm and more! A world of new information has been brought to your fingertips. In addition, the tracking maps have received a great update, adding a storm center with all of the pertinent storm information available in a single location, as well as the ability to switch between standard and metric units. All of the information you need available at a glance.

Hurricane HD 2.0 - World Wide Tropical Outlooks and more!

One of our best updates is making the outlooks and bulletins more accessible for all oceans. At a glance, find out if there are storms brewing in your area through the official graphics, or read the details from the National Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The outlooks give you a great heads up view of an up coming storm, and will let you know if that storm will affect you in the next 48 hours. The outlooks are just that, a great way to understand what might be heading your way.

Hurricane HD 2.0 boasts World Satellites, separating the East and Central Pacific from the rest of the world.

No update would be complete without great satellite images and radar. Previously Pacific was all inclusive, however now that we have a World satellites page, we have moved the West Pacific, South Pacific and Indian Ocean over to their own area. The new icons even show you the area that the satellite images cover, making it easier for anyone to find and view the area they are looking for at a glance.

If all of this storm tracking isn’t enough, we have also added in the highly anticipated push notifications for newly forming storms, keeping you even more informed of the weather around you.

With the sleek new interface, broadcast quality graphics, and interactive tracking map, Hurricane HD 2.0 is the definition of the ultimate storm tracker on the iPad – and it’s only going to get better.

Did you know that these two great apps also track Tropical Cyclones and Typhoons? With the South Pacific’s Tropical Cyclone season in full swing, and the West Pacific’s season nearing the start, it is great to know you can track these storms quickly and easily. From Satellite images that cover vast areas of the ocean, to the floater satellites which get you up close and personal with the storm, the tools you need to keep your family and friends informed are at your fingertips.

Did you know that Hurricane and Hurricane HD include text bulletins, JTWC forecast graphics and more? There’s lots of information at your fingertips!

Did you know that Satellites and Radar animated loops are available all year long, and anywhere that tropical systems are known to form? We include world wide satellites which can be used all year long, in the highest resolutions available.

Now, while it’s quiet in the Atlantic we are working on the latest updates, to help keep you informed, and prepared during the 2011 Hurricane Season. We look forward to another great year of storm tracking with you!

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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 grown up 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!

The release of the iPad last April brought with it the release of Hurricane HD in the iTunes App Store. Hurricane tracking is an important part of life for those in the way of these devastating storms, and as such, we were recognized by TUAW in their First Look Feature back in April 2010. We would like to graciously thank them for their help in getting the word out about this great tool!