Project ENCAST from StormSector.com 2009-2010 5.12.09 @ 7:12P ET

Project ENCAST (Enhanced Nowcast) to start June 1, 2009 ending October 1, 2010... To implement a test bed of operational nowcasting tools used to forecast present and near future weather events including hail, winds, tornadoes, flooding, and lightning dangers - common elements involved in severe storms forecasting. Ben Alonzo will be managing a complex numerical atmospheric model as well as remote sensing data handled by a custom built server system.

Purpose
Official data sources will be utilized to display and store numerical tabulated data including automated surface observation METAR coded message, rapid update surface observation from 3-6 meter inland surface based observing instruments, collecting barometric pressure, temperature, dew point, visibility, and rainfall data. In addition, the display system is capable of overlaying NEXRAD WSR-88D products providing a real time overview of storm environment above ground level.

The NEXRAD products used for this project will be in level 3 post product generator format from expanded moment data including base radial velocity, storm relative velocity, storm total rainfall, and base reflectivity. Two forms of base reflectivity data will be utilized, short range 124nm or 143 mile scans and long range/extended reflectivity 248nm or 286 mile scans. The update cycle for radar information is approximately every 5-7 minutes to decode, and produce a radar image (transmitted from the radar post processor to StormSector.com's servers).

Surface information will be collected and displayed on a rolling cycle of "last valid message" instrumental observations from 5-30 minute intervals with 5 minutes being the rapid update mode and 30 minutes being the maximum update period.

Product Generation
Custom operational data will be available on the StormSector.com website and by fee for commercial use in the future. Products can be tailored to nearly industry including outdoor event coordinators, aviation weather, transportation, boaters, schools, golf courses, etc. Viewing the data or images implies understanding and acknowledgement of the disclaimer as well as website terms of service. Do not rely on sole information provided here to make life or death decisions. Weather data takes a professional to analyze and interpret the information correctly. It is also possible that data can be delayed or corrupted as instruments may fail or the product generator server "PGS" experiences mathematical/system errors.

Copyright
Students using the data here must site their sources. All images, content, text, graphics, audio, video, and works are generally Copyright StormSector.com unless otherwise noted and may not be reproduced, copied, modified, or retransmitted in any form by any means without prior advanced permission from the author. Unauthorized use prohibited by law. StormSector.com uses proprietary technology to gather raw data from different sources, analyze, decode, and display the data as custom graphics and generated products. For more information, write to StormSector.com, click here.

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