Acceptable Storm Reporting Methods in the Digital Age

[John Moore]

Now mention of the national web site? You can put your report in there and it goes right to the office.

I am unlikely to use the web site on the road - there's no time.

 

[Gregg Schulz]

Our local NWS offices ask for reports by social media, specifically Twitter. They are using a program that alerts them on their desktops anytime someone mentions their office twitter account. As others have said it is character limited but very fast and they do get them. Working with our Skywarn spotters, almost every report I relay to them via Twitter is routinely liked by the office I send the reports to so I know they have gotten them. Any high priority report, something that has immediate life or property danger, they all want called into them so they know they haven't missed a vital report. As for SN and NWS chat, I can't speak for other offices, but the 5-6 offices that I monitor here in the Great Lakes use NWS chat daily and are on it anytime severe weather is in the area. I have seen several reports from SN come through the chat rooms and just like those of local spotters, those reports may or may not make it into a storm report. Our local NWS office talks about SN as a reliable alternative to other reporting means.

For what it's worth, here is our list of our generally accepted reporting means in Wisconsin:
NWS 800
Ham Radio
NWS Online Reporting Form
Twitter
SN
Facebook
911