Yergaderga Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Hello, I am wondering if anyone would know a site where I am able to find archived data for base velocity maps from last year in my area. I need one from the 21st of August 2014, as I am trying to locate what I think was a tornado on this, and the rotation would be easier to find on that because, as I have checked the historical radar, it is difficult to find as this was a High Precipitation Supercell. I have been all over the NOAA site. I requested information in the form of a bunch of code but I am TOO DUMB to figure out how to convert it to, say, .KMZ files. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, Andy P.S. The station I use is State College, PA if that makes any difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 This web site may be what you want to download data that you can use in GRLevel3 or GRLevel2. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yergaderga Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 I looked at that. I wasn't sure what to run it with. What is GRlevel3 / 2, out of curiosity? Thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Road Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 You'll need some sort of software that allows you to view this data. Either GR2 or GR3. The former is better but more expensive. Level II data is higher resolution, and the raw files display automatically in this viewer, whereas a few extra steps of conversion are required to convert them to Level III so they can be displayed by GR3. They run about $250/$80, respectively, but you can also get a 21-day free trial if you just want to use it for this one instance. Though I'll also say that you probably won't be able to prove the existence of a tornado from just base velocity. Plenty of mesocyclones don't produce tornadoes. If the NWS has any reason to suspect a tornado, they'll perform a survey and publicly release their findings. If they didn't do that for this case, it probably wasn't a tornado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yergaderga Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 How well can you see my profile picture? That's a picture I took of it. I'll attach a better shot. I saw what looked like a funnel meet with the clouds coming up from the ground about halfway up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Road Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Hard to tell if it's actually a tornado or some really convincing scud. The fact that it looks like it's emanating from a wall cloud makes me lean tornado. What time was this? And what place? I assume you showed NWS CTP back in August? If they ruled it isn't, then it probably isn't worth pursuing, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yergaderga Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 If my iPhone is correct, it was 4:29 pm. That is when the video I took was apparently. I don't know if it accounts for daylight savings or not. Also, I thought you had to be a trained weather spotter to report tornadoes. Also yes, that is what made me think it was a tornado. It looked like it was attached to a wall cloud and it would make sense because about a half hour before the base rolled over the mountains from the north (heading about 118 degrees SE) and the warning ended soon after, but it seemed to keep its appearance on radar, etc. I wish I could upload the video of it to here. I did not report it at the time because i did not know if I should, or who to talk to about it. It also disappeared very soon after. Sorry this is kind of long. As to where it was, it looked to be near the south mountains. These are about eleven miles away. Using the bearing I got, I went to the radar map and looked for where a line of that bearing intersected with the radar echo of the storm. It looked in a remote area. I am not sure. Thanks for the help, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmichweather Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 That is definitely a tornado, condensation funnel on the ground. How well can you see my profile picture? That's a picture I took of it. I'll attach a better shot. I saw what looked like a funnel meet with the clouds coming up from the ground about halfway up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Road Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Here's a gif I made of the 0.5 deg tilt BV from KCCX (State College) from 4:18 to 4:36 p.m. Definitely a supercell and the mesocyclone is pretty well-defined on radar, especially for that range. It certainly looks like you might actually have a tornado there! I apologize for my skepticism. Regarding the spotter/not a spotter question: I'd guess that the NWS takes spotters a bit more seriously, but since you have a picture, that's a moot point. I would definitely email someone at NWS PBZ with the pic and a brief explanation. (Assuming you're in Jefferson County, you're actually in Pittsburgh's warning area.) Whoever is in charge of StormData at that office would probably be very happy to be able to add that image/story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yergaderga Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 I actually am in Cumberland county which is to the East of that loop. That must be a different storm. The warning had expired a little bit before I saw it. I hope I didn't just make you do a lot of work for nothing! Sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Road Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Oh, then you're nowhere near this. I'll take another look when I have a chance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yergaderga Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thanks for the help! I tried getting archived data but NOAA's site is back logged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Road Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Thanks for the help! I tried getting archived data but NOAA's site is back logged. Haha yup, I tried to grab some data for a case study for class and it never got processed. Oh well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 This web site may be what you want to download data that you can use in GRLevel3 or GRLevel2. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/ I just tried to use this exact same web site to order some base reflectivity data. Errors occurred after I picked the date/time/data-type. Oh no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yergaderga Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 It seems like the site should be back up by Monday- that's what they said for the site. I got some orders from several days ago but I can't seem to figure out what to do with them. I also am at a hotel so if I tried to download all the files it wouldn't go so well. But the search continues!! Oh my. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yergaderga Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 Hello all, Here I am nearly a year later and I finally figured out how to use GRlevel3 and get archived data. I looked over the reflectivity, base velocity, and the storm relative velocity (if anyone could educate me on the difference with those last two I would be very thankful) and there is a red and green intersection in that area at the time I filmed it (there was a file for exactly 4:29). I am not sure how to upload an image on my computer on here, but I can see if I can figure that out. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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