Matt Petkovic - speed racer

[Tim Shriver]

" couldn't help but notice "storm spotter" Matt Petkovic's reports in E. MN/W. WI today. Not only was there a "rotating wall cloud" reported with a narrow line (see image below), but his reports were at distances impossible to cover in the time between reports (especially on the winding roads of W. WI)..."

It does look odd. Good catch! We had about the same happen with a spotter
in one of our counties last year. Covering the distance he said he did was impossible.
The spotter got all pissed off when we asked him about it and said he would call the WFO directly.
We contacted the WFO and he did not call and submit his report.

Any way of contacting this fellow?

Tim

 

[Chris Heater]

So you didn't actually observe that size hail or what?

I observed it. Hailed at home so it was hard to miss. It was mostly nickel sized but a few quarter sized hailstone were mixed in. That's what I was saying...and I forgot your supposed to report the largest stone even if its mostly a smaller size

 

[Chris Gullikson]

I saw a black helicopter fly over my house...you reckon it was Matt?

 

[Johnathan Brouwer]

If this guy was using the default reading from SN, then he could be at the mercy of what the database says his location is. Not that I am trying to defend him, just that if you look at the position that is posted on the client version, sometimes it does not give a specific coordinate, just something like, "2 miles SW of xyz town"...

Perhaps that should be eliminated and replaced with the gps coordiates only?

 

[Jeff Snyder]

If this guy was using the default reading from SN, then he could be at the mercy of what the database says his location is. Not that I am trying to defend him, just that if you look at the position that is posted on the client version, sometimes it does not give a specific coordinate, just something like, "2 miles SW of xyz town"...

Perhaps that should be eliminated and replaced with the gps coordiates only?

I think the "2 mi SW of xyz town" is just there to make it easier to interpret your own location compared to the use of lat/lons. AFAIK, all reports are sent using the lat/lon pair from the GPS, so his reports should be collocated with his GPS position.

Now, I did notice that my Earthmate GPS drifted horribly a few times last year. For example, when we were heading towards the WY border from Hot Springs, SD, on a chase during the abysmal stretch of weather in late May, my GPS suddenly started to show me moving due southwest (in a perfectly straight line) at something like 205 mph, all while we were driving on some curvy roads at 45-50 mph. I actually had to turn off the GPS and start everything over (GPSGate, etc.) to fix it. I certainly would never submit a SN report if I knew that was happening though (unless the report was a very noteworthy, in which case I'd note that the GPS lat/lon was erroneous, and I'd estimate a new position). I doubt that's the situation here, though.

 

[Rob H]

This is the same individual that's being accused of stealing photos by several chasers on Facebook this morning. When it rains, it pours