My Weather Observations: July 2014

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) needs your help with our research!

The meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground Project (mPING) needs you, the Citizen Scientist, to watch and report on precipitation and weather-related conditions.

mPING is looking for volunteers of all ages and backgrounds to make observations - teachers, classes, families, farmers, gardeners, construction workers, truck drivers, everyone and anyone! This app and associated web pages are your portal to providing observations to research meteorologists at NSSL that will help us develop and refine algorithms that use the newly upgraded dual-polarization NEXRAD radars and the latest, high-resolution numerical weather models. With the data you provide, we can build better algorithms that will allow more timely forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather conditions. To do a good job, we need tens of thousands of observations from all over the US. We can succeed only with your help.

As an mPING volunteer observer you can spend as much time as you want, from a little to a lot, making observations. The basic idea is simple: NSSL collects radar data from NEXRAD radars in your area along withsounding and other data from our numerical weather models during storm events, and merge these data with your observations to develop and validate new and better algorithms. We have two focus areas: cold season precipitation type, and warm season precipitation type along with severe weather observations. Cold season precipitation includes rain, freezing rain, drizzle, freezing drizzle, snow, ice pellets, mixed rain and snow, mixed ice pellets and snow, mixed snow and ice pellets and even observations of none when the precipitation has stopped. Warm season includes rain, hail (along with measured size with a ruler is best but stay safe no matter what), wind damage form thunderstorms, flooding and tornadoes along with their cousins, water spouts. We also include visibility reductions due to dense fog or blowing sand/dust and even landslides/mudslides.

We need your observations because radars cannot see close to the ground at far distances and because automated surface sensors are only at airports. But the people affected by weather areeverywhere so we need you to tell us what is happening where you are. The same goes for severe weather and visibility restrictions. Landslides/mudslides are important even if they are small because we need to understand better the conditions that cause them. All you need to do is use this app to select the precipitation type or phenomenon.

Tell us whats out there! NSSL scientists will use your report with all the other data available to us to develop new technologies and techniques to better inform and warn you about weather-related conditions and hazards.

For additional information on the mPING project see http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/pingor

contact Kim Elmore at kelmore@ou.edu.

A video explanation is available here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6UM5Xg3C3s