Radar at home or work

Radar at home or work – The future today: 

Radar at home or work – The future today Over the past year, Google Earth has been a very useful tool for storm verification. The National Severe Storms Laboratory has set up a webpage (http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff_new/), which enables users to utilize Google Earth as a GIS platform to display multi-sensor severe weather products, including base radar and derived products. References regarding these products can be found at: http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff_new/about.html Maximum Expected Size of Hail (MESH) hail swath product. Hail “blobs” typical of pulse severe storms.

Slide3: 

Verified warning by calling the school Located on Highway 97.

Slide4: 

Hail swath extends from Montgomery county NE to Harpers Crossroads in Chatham County. The darker blue colors within the hail swath, located near the Chatham and Moore county line indicate a maximum hail size of 1.13 inches (surrounding turquoise colors indicate a maximum hail size between 0.69 to 0.88 inches). Public reported penny sized (0.75”) hail in Harpers Crossroads, in southeast Chatham County.

Slide5: 

Numerous severe hail reports of 1” hail were reported by spotters in Raleigh.

NSSL Rotation Tracks: 

NSSL Rotation Tracks The rotation tracks may also be useful for storm verification and warning information. The rotation tracks can be used to find populated areas (businesses, schools, etc.) that lie in the path of the expected track of a tornado, which could be mentioned in the text of a tornado warning. Rotation tracks are also be ideal for damage surveys allowing the survey team to pinpoint exactly where they needed to look for damage. The images could also prove beneficial for surveying the damage by aircraft.

Slide7: 

The rotation track is clearly depicted on the western side of the town of Riegelwood, which is where the tornado damage reportedly occurred.

Best of all it’s all free: 

Best of all it’s all free Download and install Google Earth (free for home use) Go to http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff_new/ Then click on SE under research data (see next slide) Save the kmz file to you desktop and then just open the file in Google Earth. Data will auto update!!

GIS and Google based radar data also available on the NWS radar Webpage: 

GIS and Google based radar data also available on the NWS radar Webpage

Storm Total Precipitation: 

Storm Total Precipitation

Providers are jumping on the bandwagon: 

Providers are jumping on the bandwagon Weather Tap Weather underground The Weather Channel Garmin Universities Numerous private weather companies

http://www.met.utah.edu/jhorel/html/mesonet/: 

http://www.met.utah.edu/jhorel/html/mesonet/

Jeff OrrockNWS Raleigh(919) 515-8209 ext. 223: 

Jeff Orrock NWS Raleigh (919) 515-8209 ext. 223 References http://cimms.ou.edu/%7Esmith/pubs/IIPS_2006_Google_Earth.pdf UTILIZING GOOGLE EARTH AS A GIS PLATFORM FOR WEATHER APPLICATIONS http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge/kmzgenerator.php National Weather Service KMZ Generator http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/geotiff_new/ NSSL Hail, Rotational and other radar KMZ data http://www.met.utah.edu/mesowest/ Mesowest NWS data on interactive map (click on Central NC)