earth science

Storm Data

Storm Data is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Storm Data rather than just read about it. In short: Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena (SD) is a monthly NOAA publication with comprehensive listings and detailed summaries of severe weather occurrences in the United States. Included is information on tornadoes, high wind events, hail, lightning, floods and flash floods, tropical cyclones (hurricanes), ice storms, snow, extreme temperatures such as heat waves and cold waves, droughts, and wildfires.

Key takeaways

Storm Data belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Storm Data to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Storm Data from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena (SD) is a monthly NOAA publication with comprehensive listings and detailed summaries of severe weather occurrences in the United States. Included is information on tornadoes, high wind events, hail, lightning, floods and flash floods, tropical cyclones (hurricanes), ice storms, snow, extreme temperatures such as heat waves and cold waves, droughts, and wildfires. Photographs of weather and attendant damage are used as much as possible. Maps of significant weather are also included.

Background Storm Data was started by the Weather Bureau, predecessor to the National Weather Service (NWS), in 1959. It is updated continuously on a monthly basis with a lag of a few months from the present. This delay is because the data is compiled and verified by local NWS offices and sent to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) which does further refinements and publishes Storm Data in reports covering the entire country. The local NWS offices initially gather the data, starting when a severe weather event unfolds and continuing until sufficient information is obtained. The initial data, considered preliminary, is sent in real-time to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) which does limited quality control as new information becomes available and enters it into its (and its predecessor the National Severe Storms Forecast Center) Storm Events Database that begins in 1950. Original sources of the data include but are not limited to local law enforcement, local, state, and federal emergency management, storm spotter and storm chaser reports, the news media, insurance industry data, NWS damage surveys, and reports from the general public. SPC is interested in tornado, convective wind, and hail data. The tornado portion of the database, the National Tornado Database, is one of three authoritative tornado databases. Another is the DAPPL (short for Damage Area Per Path Length) database that was headed by Ted Fujita at the University of Chicago and concerns the period from 1916 to 1992. The most comprehensive historical database was compiled by Tom Grazulis of the Tornado Project and exhaustively covers known significant tornadoes for the period from 1680 to 1995. Both the Storms Event Database and Storm Data are official records. The database and the publication are from the same source but the database is more easily searchable. Delayed reports are added to both the database as well as the publication as new information becomes available in the "Late Reports and Corrections" section. Until 2012 Storm Data was available to anyone but for a charge. Now it is a free publication downloadable from the NCEI website.

Format Storm Data publishes chronological tabulations, narratives, and images for a calendar month, as well as updates to previous publications. The format has undergone various changes throughout publication history but consists of reports separated by state subdivided by regions within a state. Type of occurrence, location (including municipality and county as well as estimated latitude and longitude), date and time, magnitude of event (i.e. wind speed, Fujita scale rating, Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale rating, hail size, storm surge or river crest height, etc.), fatalities and injuries, monetary damages of property and agricultural crops, and descriptions are included. For tornadoes, Fujita scale or Enhanced Fujita scale rating is included as well as path length in miles and path width in yards. Average path width is listed from 1950 to 1994 and maximum path width is listed from 1995 to present. For fatalities, demographic information such as age and sex are gathered when possible as is the type of location (frame house, mobile home, apartment, outside, vehicle, church, school or other public building, etc.) and/or activity (boating, camping, playing sports, golfing, swimming, bathing, telephoning, construction work, etc.) at time of death. Significant waterspouts, funnel cloud sightings, dense fog, dense smoke, dust storms, dust devils, debris flows (such as landslides), avalanches, tsunami and other surf and tide events, volcanic ash, as well as other extreme or unusual weather may also be listed. Annual summaries of selected event types are listed in the December issue for older years and in a separate issue for recent years.

See also Monthly Weather Review (MWR) (originally published by NOAA and predecessor agencies, it's now a peer-reviewed AMS journal)

References

Verbout, Stephanie M.; H. E. Brooks; L. M. Leslie; D. M. Schultz (2006). "Evolution of the U.S. Tornado Database: 1954–2003" (PDF). Weather Forecast. 21 (1): 86–93. Bibcode:2006WtFor..21...86V. doi:10.1175/WAF910.1. Doswell III, Charles A.; D. W. Burgess (1988). "On Some Issues of United States Tornado Climatology". Mon. Wea. Rev. 116 (2): 495–501. Bibcode:1988MWRv..116..495D. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1988)116<0495:OSIOUS>2.0.CO;2.

External links Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena with Late Reports and Corrections (SD) NCDC Storm Events Database and preliminary reports SPC Severe Weather Event Summaries Storm Prediction Center WCM Page SHELDUS (Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States) The Tornado Project

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Storm Data

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Storm Data claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Storm Data before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Storm Data ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Storm Data

In research: Storm Data appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Storm Data in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Storm Data is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic journals established in 1957, Blizzards, Extratropical cyclones, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Storm Data outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Storm Data in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Storm Data means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Storm Data out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Storm Data in simple terms?

Why does Storm Data matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Storm Data?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Storm Data.