We had an old thread about this several months ago, but figured we could get this going again about coverage. It also keeps the other threads clean.

One thing I wanted to pop in here to start the conversation again is a contest former KWTV meteorologist Paul Bouchereau is running on his Oklahoma Weather Network Facebook page. He's essentially be monitoring forecasts of all stations in Oklahoma to determine who is the most accurate. It's pretty interesting to see how they stack up based on their actual forecasts. I feel sorry for the Lawton residents who seem to be exposed to the most inaccurate forecasts in the state.

This week shows KOCO moving into first for the state, which finally makes all that money they are paying to WeatheRate worth something. ;)

You can see his page here: https://www.facebook.com/OklahomaWeatherNetwork

https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1/1966932_258346134289426_915078047_n.jpg

Awesome. I've wanted to do something similar, but never had the time.

How long will it be before OKC TV stations are chasing tornadoes with drones....?

It seems like a TV station that had them would jump out in front with great ratings if they were the only station that had them.
They could cover multiple locations and multiple events and lower the risk for storm chasers and reporters.

Per FAA, drones can not be used for commercial use. Though there was a court ruling recently that ruled in the favor of commercial use.

I can only imagine was "wonderful" names the marketing people at the stations would come up with for them. Of course there will be 83 sponsor names in front of the marketing name they come up with.

Per FAA, drones can not be used for commercial use. Though there was a court ruling recently that ruled in the favor of commercial use.That's one reason why I was asking?

In this case public safety could probably justify their usage by TV stations in our state to cover the track of tornadoes.
I would really hate to be on the other side of that in an Oklahoma court room.

That's one reason why I was asking?

In this case public safety could probably justify their usage by TV stations in our state to cover the track of tornadoes.
I would really hate to be on the other side of that in an Oklahoma court room.

I wonder if most of the kinds of drones out there right now are really suited to the kind of navigation required to "hover" in and around storms that may have wildly shifting winds, hail, etc. Think that might be a practical limitation.

I wonder if most of the kinds of drones out there right now are really suited to the kind of navigation required to "hover" in and around storms that may have wildly shifting winds, hail, etc. Think that might be a practical limitation.

The size of the drone would probably need to be a scaled up more than some of the small ones we see now?

Don't the TV helicopters have picture stabilizers in their cameras?
Why not use similar cameras on a drone that could stand off at a distance?

A scaled up drone with 4 computer controlled rotor blades might be a preety good designed to keep a drone in level flight?

The size of the drone would probably need to be a scaled up more than some of the small ones we see now?

Don't the TV helicopters have picture stabilizers in their cameras?
Why not use similar cameras on a drone that could stand off at a distance?

A scaled up drone with 4 computer controlled rotor blades might be a preety good designed to keep a drone in level flight?

Give the size of the drones I've seen, I'm not sure the sheer lack of mass might make their use as meteorological recon tool difficult. I'm thinking no matter how you power its path along any axis, I'm thinking of the power of one good downdraft/updraft that plows the little drone into a building the ground.

Now, if you're just looking for good remote photos, sure, that could be a horse of a different color - just get close enough with a decent zoom setup and that seems doable.

I am sure if drones are possible for WX coverage..... somebody will eventually get it figured out

Oklahoma scientists using drones to help improve tornado warning times

Oklahoma scientists using drones to help improve tornado warning times - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-18/oklahoma-scientists-using-drones-to-monitor-tornadoes/5267764)





http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/08/16/212262909/tornado-tech-how-drones-can-help-with-twister-science

What are the thoughts around here on some of the local stations using their own terminology for weather advisement?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BkODH7iCAAAT1E7.jpg

Personally I think it's quite confusing to the viewer and is once again encouraging sensationalist weather reporting.

Brad Sowder was recommending this morning to leave work early to be home by 4 if possible. I don't think he was trying to go overboard, but that's a little much.

Brad Sowder was recommending this morning to leave work early to be home by 4 if possible. I don't think he was trying to go overboard, but that's a little much.

Its getting ridiculous. Even if the cap was broken today(and NWS was leaning toward no since last night) the tornado threat was always pretty low.

It wouldn't surprise me if this ends up being a pretty noneventful and slow year and people don't pay attention in the years ahead.

Seems like people only have two settings: 1:Panic and Irrational 2: Asleep.

Anyway, it seems like things will be pretty slow for at least a week and a half to two weeks. lol

I honestly don't see any reason why they need to stray from the 3-tier system that has been in place for decades now. It isn't that hard to understand. The only modifier to it is that "enhanced" or "hatched" area SPC puts over an area where more significant severe weather could occur.

Excellent Thread! Kudos to the person that created this!!!

Brad Sowder was recommending this morning to leave work early to be home by 4 if possible. I don't think he was trying to go overboard, but that's a little much.

Surely, TV weathermen fear looking worse for predicting great, event free weather but a bad storm happens than warning of bad weather possibly coming and nothing happens.

Brad Sowder was recommending this morning to leave work early to be home by 4 if possible. I don't think he was trying to go overboard, but that's a little much.
Who is Brad Sowder?

Who is Brad Sowder?

Well you must not get up at 5am and watch KOCO when Emily Sutton is on vacation like me :wink:

Well you must not get up at 5am and watch KOCO when Emily Sutton is on vacation like me :wink:

That's when I go to bed.

This morning on KOCO:
Katy Blakey: What happened to the great weather?
Brad Sowder: Do you really want to get into that now?
Katy Blakey: Right, I don't want science this early.

What are the thoughts around here on some of the local stations using their own terminology for weather advisement?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BkODH7iCAAAT1E7.jpg

Personally I think it's quite confusing to the viewer and is once again encouraging sensationalist weather reporting.

saw on the ch 43 weather this morning that they've gone back to the 3 categories - slight/moderate/high. not sure if it's just an emily sutton thing or all-around ch 4/43 thing.

Does it seem to anyone else that with the rise of Social Media the NWS is moving more and more towards communicating directly to people themselves? I've always thought of them as the informer to the TV stations which acted as the middle man between us and the NWS, but more and more I find myself just reading what the NWS posts on their site or through Facebook/Twitter. It's becoming more and more easy to read as they seem to be adjusting their language for common folk and their forecasts are not sensationalist like you get from a local station. I'm loving it!

I can not speak for anyone else but for the last couple of years or so I have been getting my bad weather information right here.

Thanks venture.

I can not speak for anyone else but for the last couple of years or so I have been getting my bad weather information right here.

Thanks venture.

Don't forget anonymous. Or maybe anonymous remains anonymous. Perplexing.

I can not speak for anyone else but for the last couple of years or so I have been getting my bad weather information right here.

Thanks venture.

You do mean information about bad weather, right? :rolleyes: (As opposed to bad information about weather). :wink:

Its funny watching how the wording on KFOR's 7 day forecast changes throughout the different shifts. This morning Emily had a 20 percent chance for something happening Saturday and Sunday, then Chase bumped it up slightly and added the Severe storms possible wording for the weekend, when Morgan is now saying Severe weather likely with a 50 percent chance. This happen yesterday too and I bet it happens again tomorrow.

Its funny watching how the wording on KFOR's 7 day forecast changes throughout the different shifts. This morning Emily had a 20 percent chance for something happening Saturday and Sunday, then Chase bumped it up slightly and added the Severe storms possible wording for the weekend, when Morgan is now saying Severe weather likely with a 50 percent chance. This happen yesterday too and I bet it happens again tomorrow.

Yeah Emily didn't even highlight this weekend. Mike Morgan is really trying to hype it.

Weather Channel sends Bettes to chase tornadoes | News OK (http://newsok.com/weather-channel-sends-bettes-to-chase-tornadoes/article/4537899)

Tyler mentioned this to me on Twitter...found it on KFOR's site. Sigh...

http://localtvkfor.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/513.jpeg?w=627

KOCO taking a more moderate approach

7635

Mike Morgan will always include OKC in the risk area even if the NWS and other sources do not. I think last night he showed his own moderate risk that included OKC when the real one from the NWS did not.

Mike Morgan is a dumbass who needs to be relieved of his duties asap. David Payne isn't much better.

Just like sex , fear sells advertising. Its all about the ratings.

Mike Morgan is a dumbass who needs to be relieved of his duties asap. David Payne isn't much better.+1000

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk_1200.gif

DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0100 AM CDT SUN APR 27 2014

VALID 271200Z - 281200Z

...THERE IS A MDT RISK OF SVR TSTMS FROM EXTREME ERN KS...ERN
OK...MUCH OF MO...AR...EXTREME NERN TX...WRN TN AND NWRN MS...

...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS OVER ERN PORTIONS OF THE CNTRL
AND SRN PLAINS THROUGH MUCH OF THE LOWER-MID MS VALLEY AND WRN TN
VALLEY...

...SUMMARY...
NUMEROUS SEVERE STORMS WITH POTENTIAL FOR STRONG TORNADOES...VERY
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND ARE LIKELY ACROSS MUCH OF THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY...WITH THE GREATEST THREAT FROM THE
ARK-LA-TEX INTO ARKANSAS...WESTERN TENNESSEE AND WESTERN AND CENTRAL
MISSOURI AND ERN KS. A SECONDARY THREAT AREA WILL BE FROM EASTERN
NEBRASKA INTO IOWA...AND STORMS DEVELOPING IN THIS REGION DURING THE
DAY WILL ALSO LIKELY PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND SEVERAL TORNADOES.

...SYNOPSIS...

VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL BE LOCATED ACROSS ERN WRN KS BY 12Z
SUNDAY AND LIFT NEWD INTO NEB BY LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
A SECONDARY IMPULSE/JET MAX WILL ADVANCE THROUGH THE BASE OF THE
UPPER TROUGH AND THROUGH THE SRN PLAINS...REACHING THE LOWER MS
VALLEY REGION SUNDAY EVENING. AT THE SFC AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE
WILL DEEPEN AND LIFT NWD INTO NEB IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE PRIMARY
SHORTWAVE TROUGH...WHILE A PACIFIC FRONT/DRYLINE SURGES EWD THROUGH
THE CNTRL AND SRN PLAINS...REACHING THE MID MS VALLEY REGION BY
EVENING. A WARM FRONT WILL EXTEND EWD FROM THE LOW AND LIFT NWD
THROUGH NEB AND IA.

...EXTREME ERN PORTIONS OF CNTRL/SRN PLAINS THROUGH LOWER-MID MS AND
TN VALLEYS...

IT STILL APPEARS THAT MID-LEVEL CONVECTION MAY DEVELOP ABOVE THE CAP
EARLY IN THE PERIOD ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE SRN PLAINS AND LOWER-MID
MS VALLEY AREA. HOWEVER...THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO SHIFT NEWD
ALLOWING FOR UPSTREAM DESTABILIZATION. RICH GULF MOISTURE CURRENTLY
RESIDES ACROSS ERN TX INTO LA AND WILL ADVECT NWD THROUGH THE
LOWER-MID MS VALLEY WARM SECTOR WITH UPPER 60S DEWPOINTS AS FAR
NORTH AS ARKANSAS AND MID 60S INTO MO BENEATH PLUME OF STEEP
MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES. THIS PROCESS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO AN AXIS OF
MODERATE INSTABILITY WITH 1500-2000 J/KG MLCAPE EXPECTED BY MID
AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...WIDESPREAD MULTILAYER CLOUDS SHOULD TEMPER
BOUNDARY LAYER WARMING AND DESTABILIZATION TO SOME DEGREE.

TWO AREAS OF SURFACE BASED THUNDERSTORM INITIATION APPEAR LIKELY
INCLUDING ALONG THE DRYLINE/PACIFIC FRONT FROM ERN OK/ERN KS AS WELL
AS FARTHER SOUTH WITHIN PRE-FRONTAL CONFLUENCE ZONE BY MID
AFTERNOON...AS THE DIFFLUENT UPPER JET EXIT REGION OVERTAKES THE
WARM SECTOR. DEEP LAYER WIND PROFILES WILL BECOME VERY FAVORABLE FOR
SUPERCELLS WITH 0-6 KM SHEAR IN EXCESS OF 50 KT AND 0-1 KM STORM
RELATIVE HELICITY FROM 200-300 J/KG. INITIAL STORMS ALONG THE
DRYLINE AS WELL AS PRE-FRONTAL CONFLUENCE ZONE WILL LIKELY BE
DISCRETE AND POSE A THREAT FOR VERY LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES...A FEW
OF WHICH COULD BE STRONG. SOME STORMS MAY EVENTUALLY CONSOLIDATE
INTO ONE OR MORE MCSS DURING THE EVENING BUT WITH A CONTINUED THREAT
FOR DAMAGING WIND...TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL AS ACTIVITY DEVELOPS
TOWARD THE TN VALLEY. A PORTION OF THE LOWER MS VALLEY MAY NEED TO
BE INCLUDED IN A HIGH RISK IN LATER UPDATES.

...NEB AND IA...

COOL TEMPERATURES ALOFT...STEEP LAPSE RATES AND MODEST LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE WILL SUPPORT A NARROW AXIS OF MODERATE SURFACE BASED
INSTABILITY IN VICINITY OF WARM FRONT ACROSS KS INTO IA. FORCING FOR
ASCENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE EJECTING SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL INCREASE
BY LATE MORNING SUPPORTING AN ARC OF STORMS IN VICINITY OF WARM
FRONT. LARGE...VEERING 0-2 KM HODOGRAPHS AND 50 KT EFFECTIVE SHEAR
WILL SUPPORT SUPERCELLS WITH TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL AS ACTIVITY
DEVELOPS NWD. MODERATE RISK MIGHT BE EXPANDED FARTHER NW TO INCLUDE
A PORTION OF THIS AREA ON NEXT UPDATE.

..DIAL/LEITMAN.. 04/27/2014

What about Reed Timmer? Anyone see that hyperbolic trash he put out on FB a couple of days ago?

What about Reed Timmer? Anyone see that hyperbolic trash he put out on FB a couple of days ago?

He probably gained another 2,000 followers on Facebook from it. Maybe I should look into his methods. Nahhh...I enjoy looking in the mirrow.

+1000
+ 1 million

Apparently Fox likes borrowing from the NWS for their forecasts...but go so far as to crop off the NWS markings at the bottom. /sigh

http://www.weatherspotlight.com/screencap/may14/foxripoff.png

Original:

http://www.weatherspotlight.com/screencap/may14/image1.jpg

I think we already have the 70mph winds lol

This is pretty cool

Old war-fighting jet being transformed into storm chaser | Oklahoma City - OKC - KOCO.com (http://www.koco.com/weather/old-warfighting-jet-being-transformed-into-storm-chaser/27634624#!bIj4a0)

This is pretty cool

Old war-fighting jet being transformed into storm chaser | Oklahoma City - OKC - KOCO.com (http://www.koco.com/weather/old-warfighting-jet-being-transformed-into-storm-chaser/27634624#!bIj4a0)

That is awesome! Can't wait to see it airborne. However, one has to worry about the militarization of scientists and the media! I kid I kid...

One thing I appreciate about KFOR is they have kept the 7-day forecast while News9 has gone to 9-day and KOCO has gone to 10-day. I've found forecasts farther than 7-days are really meaningless, whether discussing temperature, precipitation, or severe. You can make general forecasts of where things may go but you can't get real specific so it really is just a waste of screen real estate. Does anybody else agree?

This is pretty cool

Old war-fighting jet being transformed into storm chaser | Oklahoma City - OKC - KOCO.com (http://www.koco.com/weather/old-warfighting-jet-being-transformed-into-storm-chaser/27634624#!bIj4a0)

That is cool. The Warthog is one tough and dependable jet. Take that mini cannon out and there will be plenty of room for gear.

One thing I appreciate about KFOR is they have kept the 7-day forecast while News9 has gone to 9-day and KOCO has gone to 10-day. I've found forecasts farther than 7-days are really meaningless, whether discussing temperature, precipitation, or severe. You can make general forecasts of where things may go but you can't get real specific so it really is just a waste of screen real estate. Does anybody else agree?Not only do I agree, I can quote another person who was, at one time at least, in full agreement. When Mansour Ansari and I worked closely with Gary England to develop the remote TV system used by the storm chasers, he was privately quite scornful of the need to provide predictions as far out as SEVEN days. His opinion was that five days was the absolute limit, and even that far out was only 50% accurate at best.

However, competitive pressures made it necessary to go the distance, so he gave it the best he had. You might remember that he never hyped anything more than a couple of days away, though, and his 7-day forecasts, while present on the screen, were especially low-key...

Going to put it here since it is more media related. Apparently I shouldn't have said anything in informing a News 9 producer the actual definition of "violent tornado." Oops.

http://www.weatherspotlight.com/screencap/2015-03/26-1.PNG

Meowwwww!!!

Going to put it here since it is more media related. Apparently I shouldn't have said anything in informing a News 9 producer the actual definition of "violent tornado." Oops.

http://www.weatherspotlight.com/screencap/2015-03/26-1.PNG
Venture, could there be something about the geography of the area? I mean man, there come a time when the word coincidence is used one too many times.

I think they should ban any development in this area and bud a huge park. Build that tornado tower but make it resistant against tornados and have a huge sign saying it has been x number of days since last tornado here. :p

Btw, weren't there two other tornados to have hit that same area?

Venture, could there be something about the geography of the area? I mean man, there come a time when the word coincidence is used one too many times.

I think they should ban any development in this area and bud a huge park. Build that tornado tower but make it resistant against tornados and have a huge sign saying it has been x number of days since last tornado here. :p

Moore just gets headlines...but Cleveland County overall sees a good amount of tornadoes. This is all of them from 1950 through 2013.

https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11045402_604847942981196_7942498894164458161_n.png ?oh=fca22487145a6e933baf45710e8c22a9&oe=55B8CA6A

I really like Damon Lane on KOCO but after the coverage the other night I will be hard pressed not to stick with KFOR or News9 during severe weather times - or just follow Venture on here!

They all seemed to miss the mark on Wednesday night. Siren's going off with no tornado warning first and a tornado on the ground before sirens and a warning further south in Cleveland County.

They all seemed to miss the mark on Wednesday night. Siren's going off with no tornado warning first and a tornado on the ground before sirens and a warning further south in Cleveland County.

KOCO totally whiffed. Embarrassing when you are emphatically stating there is no tornado and at the same moment the other channels have it up on the screen. Ouch.

David Payne needs to take a cue from Damon Lane on who he has working his weather computer. Damon Lane and his person seem to be able to read each other's minds. As he's saying things the computer is changing scenes, placing weather tracks, zooming etc. David Payne has to ask for each of his weather scenes and products and wait a few seconds to receive what he's looking for. Which leads to him appearing to get frustrated when he feels he's not getting what he wants fast enough.

Just me or is News9's radar colorscale getting a bit more "extreme" all the time? They have the rain showers today as the same color as a severe thunderstorm normally is.

National Weather Service in Birmingham soon coming to a channel near you | AL.com (http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/04/national_weather_service_in_bi.html)

The Alabama NWS office is going to start doing live broadcasts of weather information.

This seems like yet another move into getting out of being the middle man between models and tv networks and more towards giving info directly to people themselves.

Meanwhile Rick Smith is having an interesting Twitter convo right now about how confusing the current warning system is particularly when TV networks get involved. I'm wondering if all this talk is gearing up for a move to responding directly to the people themselves and bypassing TV networks.

Think it's a great idea. They've been on the radio for years. No reason these days not to start broadcasting - heck, could start streaming a channel on the 'net.
I wonder if they'll ever pose a competitive threat to local TV stations for weather (and news -- I mostly watch the local channel newscasts for weather only).

I wonder if they'll ever pose a competitive threat to local TV stations for weather (and news -- I mostly watch the local channel newscasts for weather only).

I think NWS and local news dovetail at a very natural point - NWS does macro level very well, perhaps down to the coarse-grained city level, but they're not inherently equipped to do micro/street level; yet that's where the local TV kicks in. That's not at all suggested to be a perfect delineation, but it seems to me that local media exists for the very purpose of handling live coverage of events in general, weather simply being among them.

I would hope the NWS presence would serve to standardize and orchestrate to a degree the information being disseminated. Right now, we have too many stations with too many home-grown risk colors, risk names, risk cateogories, threat levels, threat colors, threat regions, crosshatch regions, long term risks, short term risks (shall I continue? :) ) and that fractured, inconsistent methodology is proliferating incomplete (and sometimes inaccurate) information. We've got to figure out a way around that.

I agree that the problem with local mets is the use of their own maps [whilst making them appear official] and categorization of severe weather.

And honestly, I may be in the minority on this, but I preferred when SPC was only SLIGHT - MODERATE - HIGH for severe risks... Is the public actually helped by having new categories? I would bet the majority of the public doesn't even know there are new categories.

I heard from multiple people that the weather coverage in OKC is starting to go downhill, especially since Gary England left. I'm no longer in OKC so I can't tell either way. But if this is the case, I can see the NWS possibly sensing an opening. Don't know where I saw it but the Norman NWS office is the most engaged (with respect to social media) than any other office. I think B-ham wasn't too far behind as well.

You also have to think that in this time of budget austerity, most federal agencies are constantly in CYA mode and going above and beyond to prove they are worthy of continued funding. Considering that certain lawmakers have (unwisely) proposed eliminating and/or privatizing the NWS, I have to think some higher ups see that as a call to go above and beyond to show their worth to the public.