Central Pacific Hurricane Center
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The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
is the official body responsible for tracking and issuing
tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
warnings, watches, advisories, discussions, and statements for the Central Pacific region: from the equator northward, 140°W–180°W, most significantly for Hawai‘i. It is the
Regional Specialized Meteorological Center A Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) is responsible for the distribution of information, advisories, and warnings regarding the specific program they have a part of, agreed by consensus at the World Meteorological Organization as p ...
(RSMC) for tropical cyclones in this region, and in this capacity is known as RSMC Honolulu. Based in
Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
, the CPHC is co-located with the National Weather Service's Honolulu forecast office on the campus of the
University of Hawaii at Mānoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
. The Honolulu forecast office activates the CPHC when tropical cyclones form in, or move into, the Central Pacific region. The CPHC replaced the previous forecaster, the Joint Hurricane Warning Center, starting in the 1970 season.


Area of responsibility

The CPHC's area of responsibility is the Central Pacific (CP) region, which is an administrative region, not a meteorological one. It is not a
tropical cyclone basin Traditionally, areas of tropical cyclone formation are divided into seven basins. These include the north Atlantic Ocean, the eastern and western parts of the northern Pacific Ocean, the southwestern Pacific, the southwestern and southeastern Ind ...
(a distinct area where cyclones form), but is still often referred to as the Central Pacific ''basin'' or Central North Pacific ''basin''. The western edge of the area of responsibility, 180°W, is formally the
antimeridian The 180th meridian or antimeridian is the meridian 180° both east and west of the prime meridian in a geographical coordinate system. The longitude at this line can be given as either east or west. On Earth, these two meridians form a ...
, though this coincides with the
International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...
for tropical latitudes, and thus these are often conflated. Meteorologically, this region covers the western part of the Eastern Pacific basin and the eastern part of the Western Pacific basin, though administratively the
National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 3 ...
is responsible for the Eastern Pacific ''basin'' east of 140°W, and thus the Eastern Pacific ''region'' (EP) typically refers to region east of 140°W, not the whole meteorological basin. The region east of 140°W was formerly the responsibility of the
Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center The Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center was formerly the center responsible for forecasting Pacific hurricanes in the eastern north Pacific east of 140°W. It was part of the Weather Bureau Forecast Office San Francisco and was based in Redwood City. ...
; like the CPHC, it took responsibility in 1970, but it is now folded into the NHC. In this area, the hurricane season lasts from June 1 through November 30. Practically, storms may form in the Eastern Pacific region (east or west of 140°W) and move west, possibly affecting Hawaii, or in the Western Pacific basin and move west, possibly affecting Asia. Smaller islands may also be affected, though this region is otherwise very sparsely populated.


Hurricane naming system

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center uses traditional Hawaiian names for hurricanes that form within its regional sphere of jurisdiction. It has formed four lists of names to choose from. As soon as all the names are exhausted from the first list, it moves on to the second, then third, then fourth, then back to the first and so on. Unlike the name list in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, the names do not start at "A" every year. Four names have been retired, Iwa of 1982, Iniki of 1992, Paka of 1997 and Ioke of 2006. They were replaced by Io (which was later changed to Iona), Iolana, Pama and Iopa respectively. The next name to be used from the list is 'Hone'.


Forecasting system

Since the 1990s, the CPHC has used the
Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System The Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System (ATCF) is a piece of software originally developed to run on a personal computer for the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) in 1988, and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in 1990. ATCF remains ...
to create forecasts, advisories, and their associated graphics.


See also

*
Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...
(JTWC)


External links

* (merged with the NHC's since 2019) {{Authority control National Weather Service Tropical cyclone meteorology
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
1970 establishments in Hawaii Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres Organizations based in Honolulu Organizations established in 1970