There's no lack of weather to talk about these days.
Has it changed?
Below are 12 annual NOAA Storm Reports for June 19th. I picked this date arbitrarily. You will find a Graphic Picture for each Storm Report for each year from 1999 - 2011 below. NOAAs Storm Report in this format was not available prior to 1999. Let's see if Wicked Weather has increased.
But first, here's a short insight into Doppler Radar.
It has only been in recent years that Doppler radar data has come into widespread everyday use. This is directly attributable to the advent of computers... and consists of 125 WSR-88D doppler radar staions across the country.
If you have an interest and want to view Past Storm Reports for a particular day, look towards the middle, right side of the page at this link where you will find
Enter date to retrieve (YYMMDD):
Again, I arbitrarily chose June 19th for this study. You can choose your own date to do a similar analysis.
Here are the NOAA Storm Reports beginning with 1999. At the top of each pic I have included the Total number of reported severe weather events, as well as the tornado tally for that day:
1999 30 Total, 0 Tornado
2000 100 Total, 8 Tornadoes
2001 98 Total, 0 Tornado
2002 136 Total, 11 Tornadoes
2003 32 Total, 1 Tornado
2004 64 Total, 0 Tornado
2005 74 Total, 3 Tornadoes
2006 308 Total, 3 Tornadoes
2007 500 Total, 11 Tornadoes
2008 323 Total, 5 Tornadoes
2009 274 Total, 10 Tornadoes
2010 266 Total, 1 Tornado
2011 306 Total, 14 Tornadoes
Yes. Wicked Weather has increased. Or so it appears. Maybe more people are calling in reports now that cell phones are widely used. Keep in mind that the NOAA Storm Report is mostly based on eye witness reports.
Something else has also increased: The Use of Sophisticated Weather Technology:
After 2000, research on dual polarization technology has moved into operational use, increasing the amount of information available on precipitation type (e.g. rain vs. snow). "Dual polarization" means that microwave radiation which is polarized both horizontally and vertically (with respect to the ground) is emitted. Wide-scale deployment is expected by the end of the decade in some countries such as the United States, France,[7] and Canada.
Since 2003, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been experimenting with phased-array radar* as a replacement for conventional parabolic antenna to provide more time resolution in atmospheric sounding. This would be very important in severe thunderstorms as their evolution can be better evaluated with more timely data.
Also in 2003, the National Science Foundation established the Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, "CASA", a multidisciplinary, multi-university collaboration of engineers, computer scientists, meteorologists, and sociologists to conduct fundamental research, develop enabling technology, and deploy prototype engineering systems designed to augment existing radar systems by sampling the generally undersampled lower troposphere with inexpensive, fast scanning, dual polarization, mechanically scanned and phased array radars.
You can view the Troposphere for June 19, 2011 here. Click on ANIMATE. Do click on this. It is visually stunning. This is the North America view.
For some real eye candy, view the Northern Hemisphere Troposphere here. Again, click ANIMATE.
Perhaps NOAA is ahead of schedule, because it is also reported that
The next major upgrade is polarimetric radar, which adds vertical polarization to the current horizontal radar waves, in order to more accurately discern what is reflecting the signal. This so-called dual polarization allows the radar to distinguish between rain, hail and snow, something the horizontally polarized radars cannot accurately do. .....[8] The deployment of the dual polarization capability (Build 12) to NEXRAD sites will begin in 2010 and last until 2012. The Vance AFB radar is the first operational WSR-88D to be modified to Dual Polarization. The modified radar went operational on 3 March 2011.[9]
Phased array
Beyond dual-polarization, the advent of phased array radar will probably be the next major improvement in severe weather detection. ...
However, Phased Array has multi-purposes, is being used, and is not without controversy.
I KNOW, wikipedia.... This can be a very complex subject, and just wanted this diary to be an introduction. So Wiki is just fine for now, but probably explains the seeming contradictions of technology development.
And the Radar behemoth presently in Seattle Harbor is definitely an upgrade from the first Doppler Weather Radar Station
To this huge radar mounted on top of a mobile oil rig that looks like it dropped into the radar fray from the future:
I find this a bit intimidating, quite frankly.
There are many questioning now whether the Radar and all the new satellites can, in
fact and/or theory, control weather. But that debate is fodder for another diary.
SOME AWESOME INTERACTIVE ONLINE, FREE WEATHER SERVICES LINKS BELOW:
If you haven't yet discovered these, there are now wonderful ways to track weather on your own. Here are some awesome interactive, online services you can use to improve your safety and that of your friends. Watch the weather and, when it looks like wicked weather is headed your way, be better prepared and warn your friends. It's always better to be safe than sorry, right?
StormPulse Weather Service: Click ON Super Radar, upper right hand corner, and then animate (click on the square between the left and right arrows). You can also zoom in.
http://www.stormpulse.com/
NOAA Water Vapor Loop. Click on 24 Hour Loop. Helpful for seeing what has happened over the past 24 hours. If you look closely, you can see where storm cells begin!
http://www.weather.gov/...
Wundermap. This will open showing your location. Zoom out to see whole country.
At the right side of the page, increase opacity under Nexrad. Turn off Weather Stations. To see the FIRES, click on Fire towards the bottom of the page.
http://www.wunderground.com/...
And lastly, Intellicast. At bottom right, increase Opacity to 10. Then check out the Overlays pull down menu. You can view the weather, recent earthquakes, temperatures, fires, and weather Alerts (another pull down menu)
http://www.intellicast.com/...
We no longer have to rely solely on our local weather reporters. We can now proactively keep an eye on the sky. SkyWatchers!
Peace dear dailykos friends.