GRlevel3 Acronyms and Abbreviations

[Todd Brown]

Here is a closeup pic.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

There are 4 TVS symbols, but no mesos. Doesn't make sense.

A TVS detection does not require a mesocyclone detection. Apparently, the shear signatures were too small for the MDA to pick them up.

 

[Jeff Richardson]

Some may disagree with me (but hey, this is science and disagreement is the elixir of health discussions), but I've learned to not pay a lot of attention to the TVS signatures. I've seen then pop up even in areas where no convection, and scant clouds, exists. As was mentioned earlier, it's one of those, "you might want to take a look at this" things but otherwise, I use them sparingly. In terms of mesos and potential tornadoes, I use the storm relative velocity from a variety of sites and scans, then try to create in my mind a three dimensional "structure" of the storm. Of course, the GR2 users have an advantage over that area. I've been watching the storms through east TX and LA this evening and have seen numerous TVS signatures come and go. I always take a quick look at them, but still prefer to rely on velocity data.

Just a quick question though to other GR users, do you prefer the standard display or "smoothing"? Just curious. :-D

 

[Todd Brown]

A TVS detection does not require a mesocyclone detection. Apparently, the shear signatures were too small for the MDA to pick them up.

I understand that you can have TVS without the meso markers. However, I have had situations where there were others with the extreme meso marker when I had nothing. I still haven't had a meso marker show up on my GRL3, even when I was filming the tornado near Ark City, KS less than 1 mile from me. I just think I must have a setting wrong on my GRL3. Its not a huge deal, once you're in position it doesn't matter what is on your radar image, me and my chase partner were just curious as to the lack of meso markers since we have just begun using the GRL3 radar system. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Dean Baron]

I understand that you can have TVS without the meso markers. However, I have had situations where there were others with the extreme meso marker when I had nothing. I still haven't had a meso marker show up on my GRL3, even when I was filming the tornado near Ark City, KS less than 1 mile from me. I just think I must have a setting wrong on my GRL3. Its not a huge deal, once you're in position it doesn't matter what is on your radar image, me and my chase partner were just curious as to the lack of meso markers since we have just begun using the GRL3 radar system. Thanks in advance for any input.

Todd,
Your meso option is working for some reason. There should be numbers next to "Mesocyclones" under the attributes on the right side of the radar window. For some reason its not working and that is why you are not seeing them. Make sure you have the most current update of Gr. I had the same thing going on with mine, and after I got the update I got the meso markers again. The most recent version is 1.52.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Some may disagree with me (but hey, this is science and disagreement is the elixir of health discussions), but I've learned to not pay a lot of attention to the TVS signatures. I've seen then pop up even in areas where no convection, and scant clouds, exists. As was mentioned earlier, it's one of those, "you might want to take a look at this" things but otherwise, I use them sparingly. In terms of mesos and potential tornadoes, I use the storm relative velocity from a variety of sites and scans, then try to create in my mind a three dimensional "structure" of the storm. Of course, the GR2 users have an advantage over that area. I've been watching the storms through east TX and LA this evening and have seen numerous TVS signatures come and go. I always take a quick look at them, but still prefer to rely on velocity data.

Just a quick question though to other GR users, do you prefer the standard display or "smoothing"? Just curious. :-D

Jeff,
As far as I'm aware of how the TDA operates, it can easily be triggered on bad data (like ground clutter or AP) because, unlike the MDA, the TDA looks for rotation on a smaller scale. Frequently, bad data points appear in adjacent bins on radar and due to the craziness causing them, they appear as high velocity, so it's common to see two pixels of extreme opposite velocity values juxtaposed. The TDA is much more likely to trigger off such a case than the MDA.

Indeed, I take all TDA and MDA markers with a grain of salt because 60% of the time they're being triggered off of bad data or an outflow boundary that is nowhere near any convection. Only when the triangles and circles appear in the notch of a hook echo do I really pay attention to them, and even then I always analyze both BV and SRV before concluding anything about them.

In regards to your final question, you're better off using unsmoothed data because, as someone else said earlier in this thread, the smoothing algorithm is an algorithm in itself and can alter the base data.

 

[Jason Harris]

re:
--
as someone else said earlier in this thread, the smoothing algorithm is an algorithm in itself and can alter the base data.
---
Is there a setting on GRLevel3 to turn smoothing on and off? I just recently bought it, and I haven't seen that.

 

[Robert Bone]

The checkbox to enable or disable smoothing is on the right side of the screen just below the Warnings checkboxes.

 

[Jason Harris]

Thanks Robert! Hiding in plain sight, geez. . . I was looking through all the settings sections on the menu tabs above--great