The National Hurricane Center (NHC) maintains a climatology of all Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1851, called HURDAT2. For each storm, HURDAT2 contains estimates of the latitude, longitude, 1-minute maximum sustained surface winds, minimum sea-level pressure, and an indicator of whether the system was purely tropical, subtropical or extra-tropical at 6-hour intervals. A limitation of HURDAT2 is its lack of any information about storm structure before 2004. The “extended” best track file was created by supplementing HURDAT2 with additional storm parameters determined by NHC. The additional parameters include the following:
These datasets were designed for easy importation into spreadsheets. The original development of the Extended Best Track datasets was supported by the Risk Prediction Initiative in Bermuda and by the NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research (StAR).
Additional support have been provided by several project that use this dataset, including Joint Polar Satellite Applications (JPSS) Proving Ground Risk Reduction (PG RR), The Time‐Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Small-Satellites (TROPICS), and the Joint Technology Transfer Initiative (JTTI). The files below are routinely updated with data from the previous year, usually in February or March, after NHC finalizes the best track data.
The additional wind structure parameters are estimated in real time during the NHC forecast process. Starting in 2004 the National Hurricane Center produces post-storm best track estimates of the wind radii. The Extended Best Track includes best track radii from 2004 and later and operational radii estimates from 2003 and earlier.
A sample wind swath product based on wind radii estimates from the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
These datasets were designed for easy importation into spreadsheets. The original development of the Extended Best Track datasets was supported by the Risk Prediction Initiative in Bermuda and continued support is provided by the NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research (StAR). The dataset files below are routinely updated with data from the previous year between February and March, after NHC finalizes the best track data. The additional wind structure parameters are estimated in real time during the NHC forecast process. Starting in 2003 the National Hurricane Center produces post-storm best track estimates of the wind radii. The Extended Best Track includes best track radii from 2003 and later and operational radii estimates from 2003 and earlier.
Left click links below to display files in your browser window.
Right click links below, click “save as” to download the files.
Extended Best Track Dataset Files (September 3, 2021)
Extended Best Track Dataset Documentation Files (September 3, 2021)
The above two documentation files are identical except for their differing file formats, UTF-8 TXT and Adobe PDF, both of which are made available to facilitate ease of access when viewed within different operating systems and applications. These documentation files contain important information about the format and units of the data included in the Extended Best Track Dataset.