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.

Super Typhoon Songda tracked by Hurricane on the iPhone

The long awaited Hurricane 3.5 is finally here, and has some great new features inside. One of the biggest features is the addition of world tracking maps, and bringing all of the information for storms in the West Pacific, South Pacific and Indian Oceans into the same UI as the Atlantic, East Pacific and Central Pacific have enjoyed.

In addition to the great new world tracking maps, we have also added push notifications into the mix, letting you know when a new storm forms.

As with each of our yearly releases, the 2010 data has been moved into the past storms list so you can easily browse through all of the data for each storm.

If you already have Hurricane on your iPhone or iPod Touch, or just want to talk with others who are also tracking hurricanes, feel free to join us on our Facebook Page, where we will be discussing storms, preparedness and other information all season long! Hurricane 3.5 is available in the iTunes App Store now.

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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!