''Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena'' (SD) is a monthly

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

publication with comprehensive listings and detailed summaries of severe weather occurrences in the United States. Included is information on

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

es, high

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

events,

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

s and

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s (hurricanes),

ice storm An ice storm, also known as a glaze event or a silver storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on ex ...

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

, extreme temperatures such as

heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

s and cold waves,

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

s, and

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s. 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 The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

(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 The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), an agency of the United States government, manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data, containing information that ranges from th ...

(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 Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...

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 Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...

storm spotter Storm spotting is a form of weather spotting in which observers watch for the approach of severe weather, monitor its development and progression, and actively relay their findings to local authorities. History Storm spotting developed in the ...

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 was a Japanese-American meteorologist whose research primarily focused on severe weather. His research at the University of Chicago on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons revolutionized the knowledge of each. Although he is ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

and concerns the period from 1916-1992. The most comprehensive historical database was compiled by

Tom Grazulis Thomas P. Grazulis (born August 17, 1942) is an American meteorologist who has written extensively about tornadoes and is head of ''The Tornado Project''. Biography Early career Thomas Grazulis grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts and first c ...

of the Tornado Project and exhaustively covers known significant tornadoes for the period from 1680-1995. 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 th
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 In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

and

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

), date and time, magnitude of event (i.e. wind speed, Fujita scale rating, Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale rating, hail size,

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

or river

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

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 1950-1994 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.''Storm Data'' Reference Notes
/ref> Significant

waterspout A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a funnel cloud, funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water. Some are connected to a cumulus congestus cloud, some to a cumuliform cloud and some to a cumulonimbus clou ...

s, funnel cloud sightings, dense

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

, dense smoke,

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...

dust devil A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively short-lived whirlwind. Its size ranges from small (half a metre wide and a few metres tall) to large (more than 10 m wide and more than 1 km tall). The primary vertical motion is u ...

s, debris flows (such as landslides),

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

and other surf and tide events,

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used t ...

, 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.National Weather Service Instruction 10-1605 concerning Storm Data preparation, August 17, 2007
/ref>

References

* *

External links

''Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena with Late Reports and Corrections'' (''SD'')

NCDC Storm Events Database
an
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
{{authority control National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service Severe weather and convection Storm Tornado Flood control Lightning Blizzards Ice storms Tropical cyclones Extratropical cyclones Publications established in 1957

Background

Format

See also

References

External links