After the dissipation of every tropical cyclone occurring in the Atlantic and eastern north Pacific basins, all of the data and relevant materials related to that cyclone are collected by the NHC staff. The materials are placed in a “storm wallet” which currently takes the form of an expandable binder, or series of binders. These storm wallets have proven to be extremely useful in the post-analysis of many tropical cyclones, both near-term and in some cases, decades later.

The procedure for storing this data dates back to well before the routine use of computers in the office environment. In the Atlantic, the wallet series begins in 1958 and proceeds continuously through the present. In the eastern north Pacific, wallets begin in 1988, the year in which operational responsibility for that basin was assumed by NHC.

In an effort to make this material more accessible, the NHC is currently engaged in a project supported by the NOAA Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP) to optically scan the entire wallet archive and post it on-line. As the project is currently underway, scanned material will be posted as it becomes available.