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.

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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.

Orlando, Florida – July 21, 2009 – Kitty Code, LLC announced the availability of Hurricane 3.0, a hurricane and tropical storm tracker for the iPhone and iPod Touch, in the iTunes App Store. Hurricane, the most popular and best selling hurricane tracker for the iPhone and iPod Touch, returns with a great update for the 2009 hurricane season.

Hurricane introduces a whole new way to track tropical storm systems with a new highly detailed, zoomable map covering storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A dynamic information page for each storm provides you with satellite and radar imagery when available and the latest plots for active storms.

“Hurricane 3.0 will bring information to those in a storm’s path when they need it the most by providing the most comprehensive tropical data available on a mobile device”, said Ilene Jones, Co-Founder and CEO of Kitty Code, LLC.

New features introduced in Hurricane 3.0 include:

• The addition of the Eastern Pacific ocean tracking maps to the existing Atlantic tracking maps
• Pacific historical tracking data has been added to provide past storm information in the Pacific
• A new storm information page has been added to put important storm details such as storm specific satellite, radar, and 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
• Updated satellite images covering both the Atlantic and Pacific
• An enhanced look that makes finding information easier than ever before

Reviews for Hurricane 3.0 are already coming in from our customers:
“Usually you would need several apps or go to many www pages Well organized Thanks” – iTunes Review
“Love the 3.0 update with improved map features and more info on tropical activity/discussions!” – iTunes Review

Minimum Requirements:
iPhone or iPod Touch 3.0 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Hurricane 3.0 for iPhone is only $3.99 (USD) and available exclusively through Apple’s App Store. More information about Hurricane for the iPhone and iPod Touch can be found at the official Hurricane website.

Kitty Code
Hurricane 3.0
Download and Purchase
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
App Icon

Kitty Code, LLC is a privately owned 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. To find out more about Kitty Code, join us on our website. Copyright 2009 Kitty Code, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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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.

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.

  #1 Mexico
  #3 Argentina
  #8 United States
 #11 Canada

Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen!