Interesting geometric watch box

[Dave Gallaher]

T-storm box from south Arkansas 4/9/09 11:51pm:

 

[Dann Cianca]

That was actually a warning polygon and it's not uncommon for the polygon edges to follow geographic features such as rivers, county lines, state lines, or edges of the local weather service county warning areas.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Duh--thanks, you are right, Dann. I am used to county and other geographically correct features for outlines, but haven't personally seen one following a meandering riverbed like that before.

 

[Mike Johnston]

There was something similar but even more curious w/ the cell that passed through Augusta, GA last night. Augusta sits right on the Savannah River, which is also the border with South Carolina. The end line of the tornado warning box on the Georgia side was a straight line that looked like it was just a few miles west of the river. The subsequent warning box issued by the Columbia, SC office picked it up immediately on the east side of the river w/ a jagged shape similar to the one above. As a result, it looked like Augusta itself - where there ended up being 2 tornado reports - was "in between" but not actually within either of the warning areas.

Anyone familiar w/ this, please correct me if I'm mis-interpreting.

Also, I'm not sure how much latitude NWS allows themselves on the verification statistics when an event falls within such a tiny gap like this.

 

[Chris Foltz]

Also, I'm not sure how much latitude NWS allows themselves on the verification statistics when an event falls within such a tiny gap like this.

Mike, to answer your question, zero. It's binary. Either the damage report was in the warning or it wasn't. There's no cushion whatsoever.