Storm Reporting

I never have even though my local office asks us too, after the storm. Where do you guys stand on that one?

[Mike Shively]

I report storms now...I didn't use to.* With the Spotter Network program,* Storm reports can be submitted in a matter of 30-45 seconds, and they go directly to the NWS in most instances.* (not all offices have signed off on this yet)* But doing it that way saves me alot of time and hassle,* having to talk to someone at the NWSFO that may or may not be receptive of my reports.* Doing it through the spotter network eliminates me having to even speak to them.*

[Josh Richardson]

I usually do but it also depends on the storm, if there is a large tornado and plenty of people are on it then it doesnt really make a big difference as there are usually plenty of duplicate reports then.

[dean]

i do via ESpotter, although not all offices use it.

[Dustin Wilcox]

We will sometimes be in contact with the NWS through the HAM radio to report stuff, esspecially if were there early and see something that they havent warned for.* Also once a tornado is on the ground it seems Jeff normally the car ahead of us likes to keep them updated on what its doing both structurally and damage wise.* Personally on local snow amounts and stuff like that I have never called to report anything, its kind of crazy though, there have been a few times the NWS in Valley has called me here at home to ask me for a report, I'm not sure how they got my name let alone my number.

With the new SL 4.0 coming out there is full support for the new StormSpotter network with GPS placing capabilities.

Aaron, how is storm lab different from grlevel3?

[thunderman]

I report all the time.* Heavy rain events, snow, ice, storms, damage.

[davecarlsen]

With a "view from the other side", so to speak, I think that anytime you see severe weather, it's your duty to report it.* Even though it may be happening to a lot of people, maybe nobody is reporting it, thinking that someone else must be doing it.* It happens especially when I issue a (Doppler-based) tornado warning; people hear the warning and then see the tornado and assume, since there's a warning out, we "know already".

If it's a duplicate report, that's fine--the office will filter it out or, possibly, use your report to corroborate another that they were a little skeptical about.

So please, if you see severe weather, report it.* :)

Well given here, we rarely do get severe weather and does the nws really care if we get dime sized hail?