Erie County Skywarn

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/ - Storm Prediction Center - An entire suite of products relating to severe weather that will tell you where and when severe weather is expected. Some products are updated several times a day while others are updated “on the fly” as weather develops (The Mesoscale page, for example). Will provide rough “early warning” information three days in advance and detailed same day information. Minor learning curve required.

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/qpf2.shtml - Hydrological Prediction Center (HPC) Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts (QPF) - Provides a 5-day forecast by individual day and cumulatively of the amount of precipitation expected. Extremely valuable when extended severe weather events or tropical systems are expected. Also very valuable during rapid spring thaws with rain that could result in winter / spring flooding. Winter weather information is also available. Most information is displayed via graphics, so no learning curve here.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/index.php - NWS Cleveland web site. Suite of products to explore. Mainly a plain English site with no real learning curve.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/CLE/AFDCLE - This is the “Discussion” page of the NWS Cleveland forecasts. This is where you can read the backstage comments by the forecasters. Very useful as they are quite candid about their uncertainties and concerns about upcoming weather events. Minor to moderate learning curve due to use of weather related abbreviations and technical terms.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/TIR/FFGPA3 - Flash Flood Guidance - Provides a text estimate of the amount of rainfall necessary during given during a given time frame to cause flash flooding. Very useful when combined with the HPC QPF data. No learning curve.

http://www.interwarn.com - Software provider of the weather monitoring and radar software I use (StormLab). You can download trial (14-21 day trial periods) of the products. If you wish to do so I would recommend downloading a day or two before a major event so that you will have the use of the products during the type of weather where you can really see how it works. There is a moderate learning curve. It is also a bit pricey, but it is FAR superior to any free radar imagery you will find on the Internet. It does rely on Nexrad data, so it will not “see” lake effect snowfall.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/radar/03h.htm - Provides experimental 3-hour forecasts for rainfall and cloud to ground lightening. Very easy to use.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/scan/scan_svr_03h.htm - Very similar to the product listed above, but also provides a 3-hour estimate for the possibility of severe weather. Very easy to use.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/ - Mesoscale Analysis. This site is fairly technical. There will be a moderate to steep learning curve, but if you take the time to do some research it is a very useful site.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/threats/threats.gif - US Threat Assessment provides a graphic display of possible severe weather events 3-7 days in advance. Very easy to use.

http://yourerie.com/content/weather - WJET’s weather page. VERY useful suite of information here. Also included is their Pinpoint Doppler. NWS Nexrad radar usually cannot “see” lake effect snowfall. This site is an excellent resource for monitoring Lake Effect events. Very easy to use.

http://www.wicu12.com - If you sign up for WICU’s free “Weather Connection” you can use it to send severe weather event pages or text messages to your pager or cell phone. There is no charge for the service from WICU, but you may incur cellular charges for the use of this service. Check with your cell phone provider to see if you can receive such messages for free. The trade off for this service being free is that there can be a short delay at times before you receive the message. But, it is an EXTREMELY flexible service….One of the best I have seen in that regard. You can tailor the counties you wish to cover and the individual watches, warnings, and advisories to suit your needs.

You can also upgrade to a premium pay subscription service through WICU. It offers radar images with limited storm tracking and has value, but if you are serious about monitoring incoming severe weather and can afford it, StormLab is a much better program. Very easy to use.