Special Weather Statements

[AndyWS]

These were mentioned in the warning criteria thread. There are some NOAA/NWS products that seem to be open for the various offices to use in a wide variety of ways at their discretion, and this is one of them. For those of you that use NOAA products directly from their sites, post some of the more interesting ways your local office has used them.

The most ominous statement I ever heard from the Milwaukee/Sullivan office was this one regarding the developing tornado outbreak on August 18, 2005:

WWUS83 KMKX 182240
SPSMKX

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
540 PM CDT THU AUG 18 2005

WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-182345-
COLUMBIA-DANE-DODGE-FOND DU LAC-GREEN-GREEN LAKE-IOWA-JEFFERSON- KENOSHA-LAFAYETTE-MARQUETTE-MILWAUKEE-OZAUKEE-RACINE-ROCK-SAUK- SHEBOYGAN-WALWORTH-WASHINGTON-WAUKESHA-
540 PM CDT THU AUG 18 2005

...TORNADO THREAT INCREASING ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN...
...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM FOR SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN...

SEVERAL SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER SAUK AND IOWA COUNTIES HAVE ALREADY PRODUCED TORNADOES WITH TORNADIC ACTIVITY MOST LIKELY CONTINUING AT THIS TIME. THESE TORNADIC STORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS COLUMBIA AND DANE COUNTIES THROUGH EARLY EVENING. ADDITIONAL STORMS WILL MOVE EAST INTO MARQUETTE COUNTY AROUND 7 PM. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS AND LARGE HAIL.

PERSONS IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN SHOULD STAY ALERT AND TAKE COVER IF A TORNADO WARNING IS IN EFFECT OR IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES. PERSONS IN SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER AND POSSIBLY TORNADOES LATER THIS EVENING.

$$

GEHRING

50 minutes later, this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzcOx40UYUw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RbHX-wwARQ

[Smjh1979]

I wish I could, but the NWS in Flagstaff has stopped using Special Weather Statements for more than 10 years now. Only Short Term Forecasts are used, and sparingly.

The NWS in Phoenix still uses Special Weather Statements though.

[MichiganCSX622]

This is from yesterday that DTX (NWS code for Detroit/Pontiac) issued

000
WWUS83 KDTX 282033
SPSDTX

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
433 PM EDT SUN JUN 28 2009

MIZ055-062-063-282145-
LAPEER MI-SANILAC MI-ST. CLAIR MI-
433 PM EDT SUN JUN 28 2009

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHERN ST. CLAIR...EASTERN
LAPEER AND SOUTHEASTERN SANILAC COUNTIES UNTIL 545 PM EDT...

AT 427 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BROWN CITY...MOVING EAST AT
30 MPH.

HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE
EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.

ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND EAST FROM AROUND YALE TO LEXINGTON.
THESE STORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL

HAIL UP TO ONE HALF INCH IN DIAMETER HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH STORMS
ACROSS NORTHERN LAPEER COUNTY DURING THE PAST HOUR.

LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...YALE...LAKEPORT...
PORT HURON...MELVIN...VALLEY CENTER...LYNN TOWNSHIP...ROSEBURG...
BROCKWAY...AVOCA...FARGO...AMADOR...JEDDO...RUBY...BLAINE...LEXINGTON
HEIGHTS...BIRCH BEACH...NORTH STREET...WADHAMS AND FORT GRATIOT.

THESE STORMS MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND
TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

$$

DG