SpotterNetwork reports

[cedwards]

I know I can't be the only person annoyed by some of the reports coming through on the Spotter Network. I have seen an increasing number of reports with no detail.

There are a lot that just say "Hail". No size or other details. Is this falling now? did you just come up to it laying on the ground?

Some reports of tornado or wall cloud with no details. Is that tornado it your location exactly? What direction are you looking? About how far away? If several people are looking at a tornado from different directions, it may look like several tornado reports in several locations.

 

[Dann Cianca]

I've noticed a lot of tornado reports from spotter network that either don't show up on the SPC map or do so at a much later time. Are people forgetting to call in their reports? I would think (hope) that alerting the NWS/local emergency officials of a tornado would be high priority upon spotting.

 

[Shane Adams]

I called in the tornado report as soon as the tornado dissipated, gave my location, the tornado's location, and the time. No problems.

Later in the day, Mick received a call from the NWS because they'd been monitoring spotternetwork.org and saw we were near-ground zero to Breckenridge...we were in town at the time, dodging debris as we tried to get turned around. Mick was able to give them detailed damage reports of what we were seeing, and at the time they didn't know for sure if it was a tornado. They asked Mick's opinion and he said it definitely looked like tornado damage.

So all in all, at least for us, the spotter network worked great yesterday.

 

[Mickey Ptak]

I called in the tornado report as soon as the tornado dissipated, gave my location, the tornado's location, and the time. No problems.

Later in the day, Mick received a call from the NWS because they'd been monitoring spotternetwork.org and saw we were near-ground zero to Breckenridge...we were in town at the time, dodging debris as we tried to get turned around. Mick was able to give them detailed damage reports of what we were seeing, and at the time they didn't know for sure if it was a tornado. They asked Mick's opinion and he said it definitely looked like tornado damage.

So all in all, at least for us, the spotter network worked great yesterday.

Just a quick correct. It was CNN that called me about the Breckenridge damage not the NWS. However, I did receive a call from the NWS when we were shooting the first tornado along I-20 at Tye, TX. I missed that call, however, and could not get a hold of them again but Shane called it in after words. I assume they both got my number off the spotter network.

As far as the spotter network reports I can see your point and have done it myself but that is mainly with hail reports as it asks you what size the hail is. If there are other details, I have tried (the few times I have reported via SN) to be as detailed as possible. I didn't report the tornadoes we saw yesterday via spotter network because 1.) It was just easier to call in considering Shane was already doing it 2.) very crappy connects in that part of TX.

Mick

 

[Dann Cianca]

I called in the tornado report as soon as the tornado dissipated, gave my location, the tornado's location, and the time. No problems.

Later in the day, Mick received a call from the NWS because they'd been monitoring spotternetwork.org and saw we were near-ground zero to Breckenridge...we were in town at the time, dodging debris as we tried to get turned around. Mick was able to give them detailed damage reports of what we were seeing, and at the time they didn't know for sure if it was a tornado. They asked Mick's opinion and he said it definitely looked like tornado damage.

So all in all, at least for us, the spotter network worked great yesterday.

Yeah, yesterday seemed pretty good. I just remember a couple recent days (3/02 , 3/30) where there were lots of reports on here and on spotter network that either never showed up or showed up really late.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I've seen these reports too that were lacking in detail, so you're not the only one who has noticed it.

 

[David Schuttler]

I thought that was a no-no for the media to use the SN for contacting users.

 

[Mickey Ptak]

I thought that was a no-no for the media to use the SN for contacting users.

I don't know. Can you stop them though? Strange thing is the number was a OK number (405).

Mick

 

[Chad Cowan]

I saw a SN report last week of "Multiple deadly cloud to ground lightning flashes in ___ (city)"

Back on October 18th when I was chasing with Adam Lucio and Matt Fischer we submitted a SN report of damage in Nappanee, IN and got a call from CNN within about 10 minutes asking what we saw and if we had video.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I thought that was a no-no for the media to use the SN for contacting users.

I've not heard of that. It's public info though really, if spotters and chasers are going to put their contact info out there where it can be accessed by the public, I don't see how it would be anymore different than the media contacting the home of a corrupted Mayor trying to get comments. It's not regulated by the FCC or anything.

 

[rdale]

I thought that was a no-no for the media to use the SN for contacting users.

It's okay if they are financially supporting the network...

http://www.allisonhouse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1429

It's not okay if they aren't...

if spotters and chasers are going to put their contact info out there where it can be accessed by the public

If the spotters / chasers were putting the info on their server - that would be the case. But they are using a service that costs AH money, so either help him with the costs or only use it for yourself / NWS / EM.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Question: Is Spotternetwork the only such network that the NWS has? Is it officially sanctioned? Seems this is definite good functionality for the NWS and sounds like they do use it some. If it's not officially sanctioned / sponsored by the NWS then perhaps it should.

On another note..I logged in for the first time to Spotternetwork yesterday. I had just installed it. On I20 headed west to Abilene I had a solid cell connect but couldn't get it to work. Later I finally got a connection after most of the action Mineral Wells. I had no cell data almost the whole time. It kept telling me no Id or something like that. Eventually I went to the site and saw that it gives you a Spotter Id in addition to the handle you use. After that it worked in the brief times I had a connect. I had my cell phone set private. Not sure what I should set it to. I don't mind others necessarily seeing it as long as they aren't breaking my data connection calling me. Currently I am just tethering without an aircard.

 

[rdale]

It's not a NWS network, it's something they look at though with GR2AE.

It has nothing to do with your cellphone - it is something you broadcast to SN via the Internet and they they redistribute.

 

[Mickey Ptak]

If the spotters / chasers were putting the info on their server - that would be the case. But they are using a service that costs AH money, so either help him with the costs or only use it for yourself / NWS / EM.

Perhaps, AH should only make the phone numbers visible to only special accounts such as:

1.) "NWS Account" those people that have direct relationships with the NWS offices.

2.) "Media Account" - Accounts paid for by the media to view the SN. On top of that though, perhaps some of us may not want to be contacted by the media while in the field. Maybe have the option to keep our numbers private from "media accounts".

If they do not have these accounts they can not view contact information for spotters or chasers.

There is just no way AH can stop it if something like that is not put into place. It is not the chasers or spotters responsibly to ask / prove that the media outfit contacting them has paid AH for using it's services thus contacting us. It’s just not going to happen because most of us do not have time for that while chasing.

Mick

 

[J Kinkaid]

This has got to be the worst report ever . Check out Nashville, TN Desc Huge Gust