With this experimental program, the National Weather Service will be searching for Tweets that contain information about severe weather events like flooding, wind damage, hail, a tornado or funnel clouds, freezing rain, snowfall and dense fog.

The National Weather Service is taking advantage of the geotagging capability of Twitter, allowing the NWS to correlate each Tweet to its location when it was sent. They’re hoping this will help enhance and increase timely and accurate online weather reporting and communication between the public and their local weather forecast offices.

The NWS is asking Twitters to enable geotagging on their Twitter and 3rd party applications. Since geotagging is still controversial and not everyone is using it, the NWS is offering suggestions for users to Tweet either way.

With Geotagging on, submit your Tweet like this: #wxreport your significant weather report

Without Geotagging, submit your Tweet report in this format: #wxreport WW your location WW your significant weather report.

Some examples of weather report tweets without geotagging:
Ex. 1: #wxreport WW 1289 W Oakridge Circle, St Louis, MO WW 6.0″ new snow as of 1 pm
Ex. 2: #wxreport WW 44.115, -88.595 WW Hail 3/4 inch in diameter at 4:25 pm

• Here’s some examples, starting with the most accurate:
• Using a latitude and longitude, like this: WW 44.231, -88.485 WW
• An address: WW 2485 S Point Rd, Green Bay, WI 54313 WW
• A street intersection: WW intersection of Holly St and N 4th St, Perry, OK WW
• A city name: WW Ft Lauderdale, FL WW
• A zip code is the least accurate: WW 53221 WW

Your location can be just about anything, but the more specific the better.

Read more about this new program at weather.gov/stormreports

The NWS is working with the following sites to monitor #wxreport Tweets:
Wx411
Twitter search
nearbytweets.com
geochirp.com
Twitterfall

JPL Earth Scientists Reflect on Earth Day

In commemoration of Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, we asked JPL Earth scientists to reflect on the event and what it means to them. Here are some of their responses:

“My father was a biologist who brought his family from Cuba to the United States. I still remember as a boy long walks with him on the beach as he pointed out the different organisms and the beauty of our planet. Those long walks instilled in me a love for understanding our planet, and more importantly, the desire to make sure we are good stewards of the precious gift we call planet Earth.”
- Jorge Vazquez, Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center task scientist

“At NASA, every day is Earth Day. After all our explorations of the universe, we are still awed by our own miracle planet and reminded daily that we have only one Earth. But we also see warning signs posted all over our home. Oceans are warming and rising, glaciers are retreating, our atmosphere carries pollution to all nations, forests are disappearing and our out-of-control population growth is crushing the environment. Yet Earth is a tough old gal, and we still control our collective future. Earth Day is a time for us to pause and consider how each of us, all of us, can work together as trustees of our home, Earth, to benefit our collective future.”
- Bill Patzert, climatologist

“At the moment I am working with a number of JPL colleagues on the topic of global change and the role that JPL and NASA can play in this process. The considerable talent and expertise of the people I have the opportunity to work with in conjunction with their and JPL’s sincere intentions to contribute to this very important global problem make Earth Day particularly meaningful and going to ‘work’ extremely fun!”
- Duane Waliser, senior research scientist

“I study Earth science because I want to know: ‘What will the future bring?’”
- Tony Mannucci, Ionospheric and Atmospheric Remote Sensing Group

“NASA and international space agencies are collaborating to study the polar regions of Earth in ways that have never been done in the past. Observations gathered by satellites as well as field parties on the ground have shown that the vast expanses of ice in Greenland and Antarctica are melting away in response to climate warming. We are now putting all our efforts to be able to predict how ice will melt in the coming century because ice melt raises global sea level and the impact this will have on coastal populations will be significant–some populations will have to leave their homes and move inland.”
- Eric Rignot, senior research scientist

“I have been working at JPL for 10 years, mainly on developing and using radar satellites to study vegetation all over the world. Radars allow us to measure vegetation changes and some characteristics of its structure, such as height and biomass (the amount of material in the forest). This enables measurement of the impact of climate change on vegetation. How do they contribute to the atmosphere (example: oxygen, carbon dioxide) and other life forms (human and animals) on Earth? Are forests destroyed? Can they survive climate change?”
- Marc Simard, senior scientist, radar systems

Earth Day Links:
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration noaa.gov

EarthDayNetwork ww2.earthday.net

EarthDay US Government Portal earthday.gov

US Environmental Protection Agency epa.gov/earthday

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
849 PM CDT THU APR 3 2008

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ALONG AND NORTH OF
INTERSTATE 20 TONIGHT...AS A COLD FRONT DROPS INTO THE AREA. LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE MAIN HAZARDS WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 160 REMAINS VALID UNTIL 10 AM CDT THIS
MORNING FOR 23 COUNTIES IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS

SHORT TERM FORECAST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 318 AM CDT FRI APR 4 2008.
NOW...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALONG AND NORTH OF A GRAHAM...DENTON... SULPHUR SPRINGS LINE
UNTIL 4 AM CDT... ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALONG AND SOUTH OF I-20 SOUTH TO ATHENS...
WACO AND TEMPLE...THROUGH 10 AM CDT. A NEARLY SOLID LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM CLARKSVILLE...
TO GREENVILLE TO BROWNWOOD AT 320 AM...WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH... WHILE
THE INDIVIDUAL STORMS MOVE EAST AT 30 MPH.
A TRAILING LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM DENISON TO WEATHERFORD. SMALL HAIL...WIND
GUSTS TO 40 MPH...AS WELL AS HEAVY RAIN AND CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING WILL ACCOMPANY THESE
STORMS. A FEW STORMS WILL BE SEVERE...PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS OVER 60 MPH.
MOTORISTS SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION AS STREET FLOODING IS LIKELY IN THE AREAS THAT RECEIVE
HEAVY RAIN. DO NOT DRIVE INTO WATER OF UNKNOWN DEPTH...REMEMBER TURN AROUND...DONT DROWN.

Check out the radar image below.  These are the severe storms that woke me up this morning
at 3:30.

I can’t wait for the spring flowers to start blooming in April, especially the bluebonnets. We already have a good start on above average rainfall, so we should be in full bloom by May. Looks like the drought conditions might ease up this year too.

I already see some budding trees starting to bloom, and in one of those trees just yesterday, the first red cardinal of the spring season appeared. It was just chirping away, leaping from tree limb to limb, impossible to miss because of it’s brilliant red color.

I see a lot of nursery advertising already in the newspapers, pushing their spring crop of garden herbs, vegetables and flowers. Have you prepared for your spring planting or garden yet?

Over 1000 flights were cancelled at DFW Airport, which almost never happens, but that’s the hub for American Airlines, so you can just imagine the chaos that caused for spring break travelers. You can see on the radar images below that the watches and warnings were everywhere.

Do you and your family have an emergency plan and supplies in case of severe weather?

NOAA has an education site with many informative tips about weather safety at www.education.noaa.gov/csafety.html

I’m still fascinated with the power of severe weather, but now as I’ve grown older, hopefully I’m a little wiser, as I prefer to check my favorite weather website for severe weather conditions, which is the NOAA National Weather Service website at www.noaa.gov.

NOAA has announced that March 17th through the 22nd is Flood Safety Awareness Week. And you’ve probably heard their safety slogan before, but it bears repeating…

“Turn Around…Don’t Drown.”

For more information about flood watches and warnings in your area, visit the NOAAWatch Flood Warning Web site at www.noaawatch.gov/floods.php.