Invest (meteorology)

An invest on June 15, 2015, which later became Tropical Storm Bill. Note that it already had a cyclonic shape.

An invest in meteorology (short for investigative area, alternatively written INVEST)[1] is a designated area of disturbed weather that is being monitored for tropical cyclone development. Invests are designated by three separate forecast centers: the National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Designation

Invests are designated by three separate forecast centers: the National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The designation of a system as an invest does not necessarily correspond to any particular likelihood of development of the system into a tropical cyclone. Invests are numbered from 90 to 99, followed by a suffix letter "L" in the North Atlantic, "E" and "C" in the East and Central Pacific respectively, or "W" in the West Pacific.[2] The Joint Typhoon Warning Center issues unofficial warnings for the Australian cyclone region, designating tropical invests with the "S" suffix when they form west of 135°E, and the "P" suffix when they form east of 135°E. In addition, the JTWC also uses the "Q" suffix to designate invests which form in the South Atlantic.[3] Invests in the North Indian Ocean cyclone basin are also labelled by the JTWC, and are suffixed with "A" if they form in the Arabian Sea and with "B" if they form in the Bay of Bengal. (These suffix letters, with the exception of "L", are also used with the tropical cyclone numbers, or TC numbers for short, assigned to tropical depressions and cyclones monitored by the NHC, CPHC, and JTWC; North Atlantic depressions are designated by TC numbers without a suffix letter.)[4]

INVEST Numbering (NHC/CPHC/JTWC)
Basin Warning
Center		 Suffix Example
N Atlantic NHC L Invest-90L
NE Pacific
(E of 140°W)		 E Invest-91E
NC Pacific
(E of IDL,
W of 140°W)		 CPHC C Invest-92C
NW Pacific
(W of IDL)		 JTWC W Invest-93W
N Indian O.
(Bay of Bengal)		 JTWC
(unoff.)		 B Invest-94B
N Indian O.
(Arabian Sea)		 A Invest-95A
Australian reg.
(W of 135°E)		 S Invest-96S
Australian reg.
(E of 135°E)
& S Pacific		 P Invest-97P
S Atlantic Q Invest-98Q

Numbers are rotated within the season and are re-used as necessary (the next invest after 99 would be numbered 90); in contrast, TC numbers assigned to cyclones are not recycled until the following year/season. If the system develops into a tropical cyclone, it is reclassified as the next name/number on the list.

References

  1. ↑ Franklin, James (July 31, 2014). "Investing for Meteorologists". Miami, Florida: United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "Glossary of NHC Terms". National Hurricane Center. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  3. ↑ "Rare Tropical Cyclone Forms Off Brazil". EarthWeek. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (May 2017). National Hurricane Operations Plan (PDF) (Report). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
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