TOC > MSC data > Hurricane trajectories > Hurricane trajectories on MSC Datamart
Data of the hurricane trajectories
This page describes the data of the hurricane trajectories available on the MSC Datamart in shapefile format.
There is four shapefiles (*.shp) formats that are produced and include each a 6-hour forecast bulletin when storms of tropical origin threatens or risks to threaten Canadian territory.
Data location
MSC Datamart data can be automatically retrieved with the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) as soon as they become available. An overview and examples to access and use the Meteorological Service of Canada's open data is also available.
The data is available via the HTTPS protocol. It is possible to access it with a standard browser. In this case, we obtain a list of links giving access to shapefile files.
Data in shapefile format can be found at this address:
With {NAME} : hurricane name in uppercase (e.g. 'BERTHA')
Note: The history is deleted on April 30th for both datasets.
File name nomenclature
File naming convention is:
{YYYYMMDD}_{HHMM}Z_{NAME}.{TYPE}.shp
where:
- YYYYMMDD : Forecast issuance date
- HHMM : Time in UTC
- Z : Constant string, indicating Zulu time (UTC code name)
- NAME : Hurricane name (e.g. BERTHA)
-
TYPE : Type of shapefile:
- "pts" - The forecast locations (points)
- "lin" - The line segments connecting forecast track points
- "rad" - Contains forecast wind radii information (wind quadrants)
- "err" - Contains information on track forecast error ("error cone")
When querying the points (pts) shapefile, the contents of each column are given as follows:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| ADVDATE | Forecast issue time YYMMDD/HHMM format (UTC) |
| BASIN | Region - 'al' for Atlantic (always 'al' for Canadian Hurricane Centre) |
| DATELBL | Label to use on a map |
| ERRCT | Track forecast error radius in nautical miles which, when mapped, represents the zone/cone of average uncertainty in the track (storm centre) forecast |
| LAT | Latitude of storm centre position |
| LON | Longitude of storm centre position |
| MAXWND | Intensity - maximum sustained wind in knots (nautical miles per hour). To get km/h, multiply by 1.84 |
| MSLP | Minimum central pressure in millibars |
| RXXYY Columns | Twelve columns represent wind radii (R) in nautical miles for 3 primary forcast categories: 34 (34 kts gale-force winds), 48 (48 kts storm-force winds), and 64 (64 kts hurricane-force wind speed). NE, SE, SW, NW represent the 4 primary geographcal quadrants around the storm. |
| STORMNAME | Same as in the filename - e.g. BERTHA |
| STORMTYPE | Storm type at forecast issue time: TD = tropical depression; TS = tropical storm; HU = hurricane; PT = post-tropical |
| TAU | Forecast hour from issue time. e.g. 48 = 48 hours / 2 days |
| TCDVLP | Storm status at forecast time TAU (TD,TS,HU,PT) |
| TIMEZONE | Local time zone reflecting geographical region of an active storm |
| VALIDTIME | Time that the forecast at TAU hours is valid for. DD/HHMM format (UTC) |
| TIMESTAMP | ISO format for the VALIDTIME. Format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MMZ |
When querying the 'lin' shapefile, the elements have the same definition as in the 'pts' file.
Support
If you have any questions about this data, please contact us.
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