What The Spotter Network

[Dann Cianca]

I thought Skip may have been a little picky... then I watched the video. I think this post should have been about YOU making uneducated reports to Spotter Network. I'm not attacking you personally here, but given that you are calling attention to others' reports and also given what you reported in contrast to what you documented, I believe that this is relevant to the subject.

 

[Zachary Lassiter]

I thought Skip may have been a little picky... then I watched the video. I think this post should have been about YOU making uneducated reports to Spotter Network. I'm not attacking you personally here, but given that you are calling attention to others' reports and also given what you reported in contrast to what you documented, I believe that this is relevant to the subject.

Well I'm sorry my camera was not good enough to document for you.

 

[Adam Lucio]

LOL Ive seen videos taken on cell phones that clearly show rotation, the camera has nothing to do with it. If you cant handle the heat don't play with fire. Go read the reports thread, that same storm is suspected of sparking bogus tornado reports near Battle Creek. Just because a slew of local spotters who maybe see one or 2 scuddy storms a year report it as well doesnt mean crap. Plus, sometimes...if one person makes a false report, all the other uneducated people go along with it and will make reports too.

The point is if you are going to call people out, you better make sure you can back up your self proclaimed expertise.

 

[Dann Cianca]

Well I'm sorry my camera was not good enough to document for you.

Don't be sorry... just sign up for one of those storm spotter training courses. That should help educate you into the proper spotting procedures. Or perhaps, PM Skip. He seemed more than willing to go into detail and help you out. Storm Track is a great place for young and inexperienced weather watchers such as yourself to learn. Hopefully we'll be able to help shape you into an experienced storm spotter! No hard feelings! Cheers!

 

[Jason Boggs]

Your camera has nothing to do with your report and what you saw. There was clearly no rotation or a funnel in the video that you shot. The video looked ok, but there just wasn't a rotating wall cloud or funnel in it.

Zachary, were all trying to show you and help you, but if you act like a jerk, you'll be hard pressed to earn any respect around here at all. Learn to recognize storm features and learn to take others reports with a grain of salt. For instance, just because spotters and law enforcement thought they saw a funnel, doesn't mean there was one there.

Bottom line....Your going to have to learn to take criticism in order to learn. We all did at one time or another. If you get defensive, you'll only hurt yourself by not earning any respect around here.

 

[Jason Foster]

Kudos to Dave at SkywarnOnline for locking the thread within the first three posts.

that is all.

I almost want to ask for a special rule that says no discussion is allowed on ST regarding a SN report. I don't think a single thread about it has gone well.

 

[Zachary Lassiter]

I almost want to ask for a special rule that says no discussion is allowed on ST regarding a SN report. I don't think a single thread about it has gone well.

I see your point. Agreed.

 

[nickgrillo]

Isn't this beating a dead horse? ST has 2,637 active members... And how many of them have actually chased a storm? There is NOTHING that resembles a wall cloud in the video and I see absolutely nothing in the way of rotation... Just rising scud clouds associated with a clearly outflow dominant thunderstorm. Yes, the storms were TOR-warned, but that doesn't mean anything... Low-level shear was intense across much of southern MI, but IIRC, there was quite a bit of static stability within the warm sector earlier. Translation: Much of the diurnal convection across MI was elevated in nature, and wasn't really able to tap into the boundary layer SRH (storms were ingesting unstable air parcels that originated from a layer above the PBL).

And you're justifying the report because other spotters reported the same? Most of the spotters from this area don't know what the hell they are looking at. A spotter course doesn't teach much of anything, honestly... You need to crack a few books to truly understand storm features and the dynamics behind them.

 

[Zach Chappell]

Im gonna be honest his video looks like a average weak thunderstorm in South Dakota if that for sure and in that video theres no funnel that i can see and scud if that

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Alright guys, enough is enough! Cool ALL OF YOUR JETS or infractions will be handed out. If you have a concern about the post made by someone report it and let us mods handle it. I am not happy to have to clean out so many posts on this thread. Just because one gets hostile does not mean you should return hostilities your self. Report the thread or post and I (or another mod) will handle it. Do not make me close this thread. There is a lot of valid and civil points that have been made on here and I would like to see them stay.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Actually, most of the points on here were valid and civil. We were trying to tell Zachary that he wasn't seeing what he thought he was seeing. He came back acting like an ass, so we put him in his place. When we try to help others, and they act like idiots, we tend to get irritated Bart.

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Actually, most of the points on here were valid and civil. We were trying to tell Zachary that he wasn't seeing what he thought he was seeing. He came back acting like an ass, so we put him in his place. When we try to help others, and they act like idiots, we tend to get irritated Bart.

I understand as I too often get irritated by those who are dense or hostile. That said I had to clean out almost 10 posts due to rule violations. I understand if you get irritated but it is my job to make sure the rules are followed. I agree there is plenty of valid and civil points that were made in this thread and that is why I did not lock and delete it.

 

[Rob H]

I hardly trust LSRs anymore, unless they're for flooding roads as it's hard to mess up that report. I've been pulled off a cell once or twice because a spotter claimed to see something and it ended up being a very dead cell. My fault for not trusting myself, but still a good lesson to learn. "Trained spotters" reporting .25" hail, reports of UFOs, LEOs parked next to tree lines with funnels forming just on the other side... my point is to just exercise some caution in accepting others' reports at face value because not everyone out there calling things in knows what they're doing.

Also, if someone else already reported a feature, why would you report it again unless you had evidence counter to what they were reporting?

Everyone makes mistakes and especially in weather. Just look at Dr. Wurman's recent chase record Seriously though, people won't judge you based on the mistakes you make - they'll judge you based on how you handle them and how you learn from them.

 

[Karen St John]

I hardly trust LSRs anymore, unless they're for flooding roads as it's hard to mess up that report. I've been pulled off a cell once or twice because a spotter claimed to see something and it ended up being a very dead cell. My fault for not trusting myself, but still a good lesson to learn. "Trained spotters" reporting .25" hail, reports of UFOs, LEOs parked next to tree lines with funnels forming just on the other side... my point is to just exercise some caution in accepting others' reports at face value because not everyone out there calling things in knows what they're doing.

Also, if someone else already reported a feature, why would you report it again unless you had evidence counter to what they were reporting?

Everyone makes mistakes and especially in weather. Just look at Dr. Wurman's recent chase record Seriously though, people won't judge you based on the mistakes you make - they'll judge you based on how you handle them and how you learn from them.

:
Reports of UFOs?????

Seriously...I've made more mistakes than I have allowance for in my lifetime...but I try to make them only once. If you don't put yourself out there, you won't go anywhere ("Wherever you go, well, there you are" includes nowhere, too.)

But we need to be responsible for what we do when we go there.

 

[Penny Lehner]

"If it's not spinning like a top, don't call me" is the advice I heard from the NWS years ago. (This was after an incident in 1986 when law enforcement and the public were reporting multiple "funnel clouds" on a storm. Scud can fool the masses.)