Making Storm Spotter Reports

MAKING STORM SPOTTER REPORTS
By Skip Voros, WD9HAS, Sullivan Committee Member, Milwaukee Area Skywarn Assoc.
August 1st, 2010.

county warning area map

The National Weather Service office at Sullivan accepts reports from any county on this map. Before submitting a report you need to learn what's reportable and what information must be included with every report.

REPORTABLE CRITERIA: Tornadoes, waterspouts, funnel clouds, wall clouds, high winds, large hail, damage, flooding, and rain gage info. See below for details.

INFORMATION: All reports must include Time, Location, Condition, and Source. (T-L-C-S) See below for details

Reports are sent by: Unlisted NWS phone number, some 9-1-1 centers, E-Spotter (internet), NWS websites, the NPOP program, or ham radio channels. Upon becoming familiar with this process, reports can be passed in under 45 seconds.

Later this year the Sullivan NWS will launched a new system called NPOP (National Public Observation Program) that permits the general public with a touchtone phone to submit reports thru a automated voice menu system. To use NPOP the public must know either their Zip code or Latitude-Longitude. See these links Zip Code Boundary Link Lat and Long link Trained spotters should use the E-spotter link or their designated 800 number.

TIME:
To the nearest minute that you observed the weather event.
......8:28 AM.....7:05 PM.
LOCATION:
Is your distance and direction from the center of your city (or nearest) within your county.
Do this for home, work, and frequent mobile locations. See CITY CENTERS & LANDMARKS below.
...My location is 1.2 miles S-E of downtown Hales Corners, Milwaukee County,

CONDITION:
Describe what you are saw or experienced.
.....Estimated golf ball size hail...Measured 60 MPH wind gust... 2 feet of water at 60th and Good Hope Road
...Visibility less than 500 feet from fog...Trees and power lines down...Roof, wall, and single damage....
Overturned semi-tracker....1 inch of rain in 20 minutes (5:10 and 5:30 PM).

SOURCE of Report
Any combination of your name, agency, ham radio call, ID number, etc.

REPORTABLE CRITERIA

TORNADOES
Must be rotation. What direction are you looking? Falling Debris?

WATERSPOUTS

Must be rotation. What direction are you looking?

FUNNEL CLOUDS

Must be rotation. What direction are you looking? Falling Debris?

ROTATING WALL CLOUDS

Must be rotation. What direction are you looking?

DAMAGE:

Roof or wall materials damaged/collapsed/ missing, Uprooted or downed trees large limbs, light poles, mobile homes, buildings, tree branches Direct lightning strike injuries or damage, downed power lines. Falling debris.

HIGH WINDS:

40+ MPH or greater. Estimated or Measured with instrument? WIND CHART

HAIL:

1 .00 inch or larger Estimated or measured? HAIL CHART

FLOODING:

Standing or rushing water over the curb, blocking roads, affecting homes, businesses, basements. Rivers, creeks, and streams at or above bankfull. Structural damage, cave-ins, washouts, evacuations, mud slides, sink holes.

RAINFALL-RAIN GAGE:

1/4 inch or more with a 15 minute period. Include starting and ending time of your measurement.

VISIBILITY:

When less than 1/2 mile from rain or blowing dirt.

E-MAIL (Public Reports)
E-SPOTTER (Trained Spotters)
HAM RADIO CHANNELS

All reports should be your first-hand observations. Never use hearsay information
from texts, social networks, radio, scanners, TV, internet, friends, etc.

CITY CENTERS & LANDMARKS From within your your county determine your distance and direction from the center point of your city (or nearest).

GOOGLE MAPS FOR CITY CENTERS

Columbia	Dane	Dodge	Fond Du Lac	Green	Green Lake	Iowa	Jefferson	Kenosha	Lafayette
Marquette	Milwaukee	Ozaukee	Racine	Rock	Sauk	Sheboygan	Washington	Walworth	Waukesha
Hwy 45 Milwaukee Cty to Fond Du Lac Cty I-43 Milwaukee To Beloit I-43 Milwaukee To Port Washington I-94 Milwaukee To Madison I-94 Milwaukee to Kenosha					Airports State Parks & Landmarks

MAKING YOUR REPORT

TELEPHONE REPORT: (1-800-545-8xxx Extension 468)

“Hello, I'm a trained severe weather spotter. I am located 2.8 miles Northwest of Beaver Dam,
in Dodge County. At 6:35 PM I had a measured wind gust of 59 Miles per hour.
This is...(your name, ID/call, number, agency, etc)"

HAM RADIO REPORT:

           You:   "This is (Call Sign) + weather Criteria keyword"
Net Control:   "Go ahead...."
            You:     T-L-C-S info
Net Control:    Acknowledges report

ON AIR EXCHANGE:

               You:   "This is W9XYZ...Hail
   Net Control:   "Go ahead X-Y-Z."
               You:   "At 1:22PM, My location is 1 mile Southwest of the New Berlin city center, Waukesha Co, measured hail 2 inches. W9XYZ
   Net Control:   "Roger X-Y-Z. Copy 2 inch hail at...."

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First listed by MASA 2/20/03, All new location points created 1-18-08.