AR tornadoes Fri night & KARK radar tornado indicator....

[Todd Friskey]

Friday night I watched via the web KARK-TV's (Little Rock, AR) live streaming coverage of the tornado outbreak in Arkansas. As I was watching, they brought up something I had never heard of. On occasion, sometimes after the radar made its updated sweep (line moved in a circle) they would mention a "tornado indicator" number. One number I remember last night was 6.3. The way I understand it, the closer it is to 10, the more than likely a tornado is on the ground? I guess its some algorithm that determines this number that's assigned to a particular rotating cell? Do any of you experienced members of ST have TV stations in your area that use this type of technology and if so would you say it is reliable and/or beneficial? The local TV stations in my community do not use this. I'll be honest I could care less about some indicator, I'd rather have it confirmed by set of eyes. I do say that the meteorologist Friday night at KARK did a great job keeping their viewers informed. Every now and then I checked to see if the other Little Rock TV stations web sites had live streaming coverage, none of them did, unless it was short and I missed it.

 

[rdale]

The Baron Tornado Index (BTI) has been heavily tested and really works well. The other vendors have come up with alternatives that might be similar, but I've yet to see any evidence of their success or failure so most TV mets wouldn't put it on-air without that sort of verification.

So if you're watching a station with VIPIR or Fastrac, then trust the number. Otherwise use it as a "Hey, that is neat" sort of a thing until the vendors come out with some case studies.

 

[DWest]

The Baron Tornado Index (BTI) has been heavily tested and really works well. The other vendors have come up with alternatives that might be similar, but I've yet to see any evidence of their success or failure so most TV mets wouldn't put it on-air without that sort of verification.

So if you're watching a station with VIPIR or Fastrac, then trust the number. Otherwise use it as a "Hey, that is neat" sort of a thing until the vendors come out with some case studies.

Hi RDale, do you know if it's at all similar to how Analyst formulates its Normalized Rotation product? Thanks.

Friday night I watched via the web KARK-TV's (Little Rock, AR) live streaming coverage of the tornado outbreak in Arkansas. As I was watching, they brought up something I had never heard of. On occasion, sometimes after the radar made its updated sweep (line moved in a circle) they would mention a "tornado indicator" number. One number I remember last night was 6.3. The way I understand it, the closer it is to 10, the more than likely a tornado is on the ground? I guess its some algorithm that determines this number that's assigned to a particular rotating cell? Do any of you experienced members of ST have TV stations in your area that use this type of technology and if so would you say it is reliable and/or beneficial? The local TV stations in my community do not use this. I'll be honest I could care less about some indicator, I'd rather have it confirmed by set of eyes. I do say that the meteorologist Friday night at KARK did a great job keeping their viewers informed. Every now and then I checked to see if the other Little Rock TV stations web sites had live streaming coverage, none of them did, unless it was short and I missed it.

Hi Todd, just thought I'd mention that the sweep doesn't actually mean anything, it's just a graphic effect that looks cool. Products aren't sent from the NWS radar site until all the tilts of that particular product scan are complete, I believe. At least that's my understanding of level 2 - someone feel free to contradict me if I'm wrong.

 

[rdale]

Not really. NROT is an analysis strictly of "what is going on now." The BTI takes into account not just the storm, but the environment too (i.e. is it in an environment that supports an actual tornado, not just rotation.)

I watched KARK's coverage until all those fake sweep lines made me dizzy. That's pretty embarassing, but those calls usually come from management as there's no way a meteorologist would ever do that on his own.

 

[Mike Smith]

Not true. Each scan is sent when it is completed. This is true of Level III products, also.

 

[DWest]

Not really. NROT is an analysis strictly of "what is going on now." The BTI takes into account not just the storm, but the environment too (i.e. is it in an environment that supports an actual tornado, not just rotation.)

I watched KARK's coverage until all those fake sweep lines made me dizzy. That's pretty embarassing, but those calls usually come from management as there's no way a meteorologist would ever do that on his own.

Ah ok, I didn't think about it actually factoring all the environmental variables...they must have some powerful computers working on that! Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Not true. Each scan is sent when it is completed. This is true of Level III products, also.

I knew someone would do it...took a closer look at the products and they're only a few seconds apart, guess I should have done that before posting. Thanks.