2020 Changes to SN

[John Wetter]

Some important changes are happening to Spotter Network. There will be a full summary in our annual newsletter.

Effective today:

✔ Severe report type "Other" has been removed. All acceptable report types are listed.
✔ Issues with Current Activity map on our website have been resolved.
✔ We now only accept Rotating Wall Cloud reports. Non-rotating Wall Cloud report type has been removed.
✔ Leader Boards on our website have been removed.
✔ HTTPS is now REQUIRED throughout our website

More changes to come later this week.

 

[John Wetter]

An additional update:
An important part of improving is giving and receiving feedback. From now on, reporters will receive an email from us as a weekly digest any time they've made a report in the past week with their report reviews. They will also receive an immediate email any time they make a report that receives a 'very bad' review from three reviewers on our review team. This will allow them to correct their future reports and continue to improve.

 

[Mike Heskett]

However, today 3/18 I see this:
SJT: Not Confirmed/Preliminary Spotter Report -- from XXXXXXXXXXXX (via spotternetwork.org) @ 22:24 UTC -- (S) Not Rotating Wall Cloud -- -- Event is 4 miles S of OPLIN, TX (Coleman county) [32.074/-99.566]-- Rapidly developing wall cloud south of my location. (SN#45004)

 

[rdale]

Not all of the reporting tools have been updated so still have the old criteria.

 

[Kevin M. Smith]

John / Spotter Network - While I am definitely a fan of simplification wherever possible, I am curious if there remains a way to report storm damage that just occurred (trees down, poles snapped off, etc.). Should the "High Wind" report option be selected? Are we able to leave the wind speed blank and still successfully submit the report? As you know, these reports are very important to NWS offices both in real-time and for warning verification, and storm spotters/chasers frequently observe this type of damage while in the field.

 

[rdale]

There is a "damage" category coming. In the meantime use "other" if your app supports it.

 

[Kevin M. Smith]

That's excellent news! Thank you.

 

[John Wetter]

That's excellent news! Thank you.

The new version of RadarScope supporting these new features is shipping this week. We hit delays with the Coronavirus taking up cycles and then not wanting to ship anything new during active severe weather days. So, you will now have measured wind, rotating wall clouds only, and damage.

 

[John Wetter]

I'll also mention that besides the changes on RadarScope, the Chaser Location App on Android should also have an update coming soon. It hasn't been updated in a number of years and therefore is not compatible with our API changes this spring. We had trouble getting a hold of the author but are now engaged with them working to make the necessary updates. No ETA on that but it is in progress on their side. SN does not control that code base so it is up to the author but none the less wanted to mention it here.

 

[Brent Jensen]

I have version 3.13.1 of Radar Scope and submitted a damage report last night, however it appeared as "Other" on the report. Is that expected behavior right now?

 

[John Wetter]

Yes. We haven't switched everything yet because the Android version of RadarScope still hasn't updated yet so we are waiting on all of the labels to change.