A Open Thread Talking About Weather!
After putting this idea to Slab he thought it would be a great idea for me to share some information about weather on CDC. Normally due to the rules of CDC we are not allowed to share or provide some of the information that I will be covering without Slabs ok. Slab has been nice enough to provide me with enough rope to hang myself!
During the time I have been away from CDC I have been doing some volunteer work for Greene County Missouri Skywarn's Facebook page. Mainly I have been involved with their Facebook page as I am an administrator on the page. I have been a trained weather spotter for several years after my folks we stuck by a tornado at Preston, MO on one of the family farms. Best I remember it was a F2 or F3 tornado. I went back to class again and got caught up on some of the new information that the weather service is doing now. With Greene County Missouri Skywarn's Facebook page we try to provide additional information to the general public and also help the National Weather Service by providing volunteer spotters that are out in the field during storms.
I will be sharing different links from web sites to phone apps, how to get spotter training, different facts about weather, I will be covering a lot of information on this thread. Some of it will be for Southwest Missouri, some will cover the whole state of Missouri and some of the information will help you if you travel to other states fishing. I will be trying to answer questions, if I am not able Patti the senior administrator for Greene County Skywarn's Facebooks page will help me answer them. Some of the folks I have been working with like Patti are also trained storm chasers so I will be providing information from them too.
I feel it is important to share this information as it might safe a life during a storm.
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Understanding Severe Thunder Storm Risks
Do you know what to expect if we say there's a marginal risk for severe storms? Or an enhanced risk? These terms can mean different things to different people and can be somewhat confusing, so we made this chart to help you understand what we mean by these categories.
Credit NWS Kansas City, MO
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Lightning Myths and Facts, Credit NWS
Myth: If you're caught outside during a thunderstorm, you should crouch down to reduce your risk of being struck.
Fact: Crouching doesn't make you any safer outdoors. Run to a substantial building or hard topped vehicle. If you are too far to run to one of these options, you have no good alternative. You are NOT safe anywhere outdoors.
Myth: Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
Fact: Lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially if it’s a tall, pointy, isolated object. The Empire State Building is hit nearly 100 times a year.
Myth: If it’s not raining or there aren’t clouds overhead, you’re safe from lightning.
Fact: Lightning often strikes more than three miles from the center of the thunderstorm, far outside the rain or thunderstorm cloud. “Bolts from the blue” can strike 10-15 miles from the thunderstorm.
Myth: Rubber tires on a car protect you from lightning by insulating you from the ground.
Fact: Most cars are safe from lightning, but it is the metal roof and metal sides that protect you, NOT the rubber tires. Remember, convertibles, motorcycles, bicycles, open-shelled outdoor recreational vehicles and cars with fiberglass shells offer no protection from lightning. When lightning strikes a vehicle, it goes through the metal frame into the ground. Don't lean on doors during a thunderstorm.
Myth: A lightning victim is electrified. If you touch them, you’ll be electrocuted.
Fact: The human body does not store electricity. It is perfectly safe to touch a lightning victim to give them first aid. This is the most chilling of lightning Myths. Imagine if someone died because people were afraid to give CPR!
Myth: If outside in a thunderstorm, you should seek shelter under a tree to stay dry.
Fact: Being underneath a tree is the second leading cause of lightning casualties. Better to get wet than fried!
Myth: If you are in a house, you are 100% safe from lightning.
Fact: A house is a safe place to be during a thunderstorm as long as you avoid anything that conducts electricity. This means staying off corded phones, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, computers, plumbing, metal doors and windows. Windows are hazardous for two reasons: wind generated during a thunderstorm can blow objects into the window, breaking it and causing glass to shatter and second, in older homes, in rare instances, lightning can come in cracks in the sides of windows.
Myth: If thunderstorms threaten while you are outside playing a game, it is okay to finish it before seeking shelter.
Fact: Many lightning casualties occur because people do not seek shelter soon enough. No game is worth death or life-long injuries. Seek proper shelter immediately if you hear thunder. Adults are responsible for the safety of children.
Myth: Structures with metal, or metal on the body (jewelry, cell phones,Mp3 players, watches, etc), attract lightning.
Fact: Height, pointy shape, and isolation are the dominant factors controlling where a lightning bolt will strike. The presence of metal makes absolutely no difference on where lightning strikes. Mountains are made of stone but get struck by lightning many times a year. When lightning threatens, take proper protective action immediately by seeking a safe shelter – don’t waste time removing metal. While metal does not attract lightning, it does conduct it so stay away from metal fences, railing, bleachers, etc.
Myth: If trapped outside and lightning is about to strike, I should lie flat on the ground.
Fact: Lying flat increases your chance of being affected by potentially deadly ground current. If you are caught outside in a thunderstorm, you keep moving toward a safe shelter.
How do normal folks get weather information? ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN!!!
Well how do you define a normal person? I am sure not normal just ask anyone who knows me.
Most folks depend on their local newspapers, radio or TV stations. Some use social media like Facebook, phone apps, police scanners or even weather radios.
The main thing is to always have a backup plan for weather forecasts and updates.
Folks who have weather radios should also make sure that their radio is programed for additional counties around them. The reason I say this is because there are times that your weather transmitter may be down for repair. I have personally been aware of several times that the NWS Weather Radio transmitter at Hermitage, which covers Lake Pomme de Terre, has been down during the last year for updates and repairs. And I am not picking on the NWS either. Folks its computers, they go down, they wear out and sometimes they can just be a pain in the butt period.
I don't need to know any of this information because where I live there is a Tornado Siren just down the street! Yep I have one down the street too and I have seen the times that it didn't work too! And just why does the National Weather Service is always testing them? Because they do break and they do need repair!
HAVE A BACKUP PLAN FOR CURRENT WEATHER UPDATES!
Last evening (Wednesday) the wife and I had to pull a trailer back to the farms in Preston, MO. For those of you that live in SWMO their were several storms dropping large amounts of rain in areas. Both the wife and I have a few weather apps on our cell phones. Personally we use a couple of the local TV stations free weather apps like KSPR 33 Early Warning Weather, KY3 StormTeam, and AccuWeather. Plus we also use a paid app called iMap Weather Radio, more on it later. Ok so I am rolling right along doing about 60 mph in a rain storm. We both had great cell phone signals, I had my CB radio on that also has weather channels on it. Yeah a CB radio who uses them anymore? Well several truckers still do and they can be a wealth of information for road conditions. Our CB was set on channel 19 and this CB has a weather alert over ride on it. What it does is it kicks to a weather channel when a weather alert is activated for the area which your in. What happens is the CB goes to a weather channel because there was a Severe Thunder Storm warning activated by the NWS for Dallas County. It took our cell phone apps about an additional 5 minutes to activate. Why do I think this is important? Five minutes is a lot of time if it had been a tornado warning.
MoDot App. Ever think about using a highway app for weather information?
Did you ever think about downloading the free MoDot App for weather info? Yep most states have free apps from their state department of transportation. We are lucky here in Missouri to have a good free app from MoDot.
Why use the MoDot app for weather info? If you traveling across the state the app has a map showing construction areas and also wrecks on the major routes. Ok why I connect the MoDot app with weather conditions? The app will also show highway closers due to Flooding! In the winter time the app shows road conditions like Covered, Partly Covered, Mostly Clear and Clear. During this past winter when there was a large wreck on I-44 at Rolla, MO. That wreck and highway closer even made the national news. The app also showed it and several wrecks around my area of Springfield, MO!
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Do to the forecasts this evening, Watch vs Warning
Ok so those nut cases over at the Weather Service are posting a Watch. What does that really mean? What does it mean when the NWS folks post a Warning?
Credit NWS
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Do you use weather phone apps? What do you use?
Each of us are from different parts of the state of Missouri. There are folks from different states reading this thread. If you are using weather cell phone apps please share them on this thread. And please tell everyone what you like about the app. peculiarmike I am calling you out what do you use?
Road Conditions Weather Related Information
I did mention about us folks in Missouri have one of the best Department of Transportation Maps of Traffic conditions and Weather Traffic conditions. Our state also has free smart phone apps with all the information on them too.
What I am going to do is provide you the links to MoDot and all the states that join our state of Missouri.
Missouri - Missouri Department of Transportation
Another one I use down here is the City of Springfield real time Traffic Camera's - OzarksTraffic - Transportation Management Center of Springfield, MO | Transportation Management Center OzarksTraffic
Oklahoma - Road Conditions
Kansas - KanRoad 2014-59
Nebraska - http://www.511.nebraska.gov/
Iowa - http://hb.511ia.org/main.jsf
Illinois - http://hb.511ia.org/main.jsf
Kentucky - http://511.ky.gov/kyhb/#roadReports/...eatherWarnings
Tennessee - https://smartway.tn.gov/traffic
The above apps are all great for the winter driving season and also for spring time flooding information.
Storm Prediction Center, Norman, Oklahoma. Storm Reports
So would you like to see the different storm reports across the United States?
The National Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma has them on their website - Storm Prediction Center Today's Storm Reports
iMap Weather Radio for Android
Here is the link for iMap weather Radio for us Android phone users. I does cost $4.99 as a one time fee. That's a steal because I paid $9.99 for it a couple of years ago for both me and the wife.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...nc.android.mwr
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Some folks like Facebook~! Another way to get weather information!
Ok earlier in this Tread I said something about the NOAA NWS Storm Prediction Center, those boys down in Norman, OK!
Here is their Facebook page for those of you into Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NWSSPC?fref=ts
Now these guys down at Norman, OK don't normally stick their necks out too far. But when they do its time to get things ready for some bad weather! When they are already predicting a 30% this far out its not good!
This is the outlook for the middle of this coming week Wednesday April 8 and Thursday April 9 for Severe Thunderstorms! This is what they posted early this afternoon on their website and also their Facebook page.
The risk for severe thunderstorms will increase across portions of the central United States for the middle of this upcoming week. Severe thunderstorm risk areas have been included in the Convective Outlook for Wednesday (April 8) and Thursday (April 9), as shown in this image. For additional information and the latest updates, please visit NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center.
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Credit NWS Norman, OK
For those of us with bad eyes that red stuff covers a good part of the state of Missouri.
Since I am talking about Facebook~~~~~~!
I want to share another link to a Facebook page that covers Greene County, Missouri.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green...43603205708928
This page is totally run by volunteers. None of them are paid. The senior administrator Patti Flowers Palmer started this page when she saw the need to provide a good source of current weather information on social media. Patti and her husband have long been National Weather Service trained storm spotters. They have also done some storm chasings. During the Joplin, MO tornados both were on site providing the National Weather Service direct reports from the ground via mobile Ham Radio on the changing conditions.
Due to my diabetes and weird sleeping hours due to the pain I was just looking at Facebook late at night. Plus I was also on the lookout for bad storms that might effect my folks in Preston, MO. And I am kind of a weather nut anyway. Weather effects everything on a farm period! If you not thinking about your cows having calves in a snow bank, your thinking about if there will be enough rain in the spring to make hay for next winters feed supply!
Well one night I made some comments on how impressed I was the Greene County, MO Skywarn's Facebook page. Patti and I started PM'ing each other. She found out that I has some extra time and I would be willing to run the page during odd hours. Patti provided some training for me, and I went back to the NWS to update my spotter training. I am now a administrator for the page. During times that storms are moving towards and hitting Greene County, MO, weather spotters are dispatched to different areas of the county. They make their storm reports right into a Ham Radio net control run by Greene County Skywarn. All of these reports are turned into the NWS office here in Springfield, MO.
So when you hear on a TV or Radio station that the National Weather Service is reporting a tornado on the ground confirmed by spotters it could be a volunteer spotter like the group in Greene County Skywarn or law enforcement which are all also trained weather spotters. The Weather Service Radar does a great job of showing tornadoes but they don't always show everything. Sometimes tornados are rain wrapped and don't show up good on radar. Nothing beats a set of human eyes on the ground confirming radar.
So if your into Facebook check to see if there is a local Skywarn group in your area! You will sure learn a lot more about weather from some really great folks! And if you have the time offer to do some volunteer work for them.
Like I have said above in this Thread always have a backup plan for information about the weather in your area. You may never need it but if you do you can rest peacefully at night.
Ok I am not into Facebook I want a weather web page I can go too!!
Ok I am going to cover the state with big 3, Kansas City, St Louis and Springfield. If you don't see your area then send me a PM and I will help you. Each of the 3 that I am sharing with you are each the same thing except for the office they cover. So when I explain about one the other 2 will be the same.
Kansas City, MO - Kansas City/Pleasant Hill, MO
At the middle of the page there is a map with all of the counties that office covers. It shows Watches, Warnings and Advisories. It will also show any Hazardous Weather Outlooks on this map.
On the bottom left of the page is the Weather Story this is updated twice per day. Usually in Missouri this is done from 3 am to as late as 7 am and again in the afternoon from 3 pm to as late as 7 pm. And then during severe weather all bets are off as sometimes the Weather Story will be replaced by a Short Term Forecast which will be updated as needed.
At the bottom middle is the local radar from your local office.
At the bottom right is the National Weather Map which shows all the different weather fronts are located at.
Here is the same link for St Louis, MO: St. Louis, MO
And then the same link for Springfield, MO: Springfield, MO
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I have had some questions about phone apps! Here is AccuWeather
I have had some PM's about phone apps. Granted I use several because I am always looking for a difference in everyone's forecasts.
So here is AccuWeather, I just took some screen shots!!
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