…NWS BIRMINGHAM ADDS TWITTER FOR REPORTING STORM DAMAGE…

EFFECTIVE TODAY…NWS BIRMINGHAM IS OFFICIALLY TWEETING. FOR ALL THE PARTICULARS…PLEASE VISIT OUR NEW TWITTER WEB PAGE AT:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/?n=bhmtwitter

BY FOLLOWING OUR HANDLE @NWSBIRMINGHAM ON TWITTER…FOLLOWERS WILL BE ABLE TO GET ALL OF THE SEVERE WEATHER PRODUCTS WE ISSUE…

INCLUDING SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS…TORNADO WARNINGS…AND FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS. NOT ONLY THAT…FOLKS WILL GET A TWITTER PIC OF THE ACTUAL WARNING POLYGON!

WITH REGARDS TO SUBMITTING STORM REPORTS ON TWITTER..WE WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF GEOTAGGING STORM REPORTS WHEN USING EXISTING HASHTAGS SUCH AS #ALWX. WE REALIZE THAT MANY FOLKS ARE CONSCIOUS ABOUT POSTING THEIR LOCATIONS FOR PRIVACY CONCERNS…BUT WHEN IT COMES TO STORM REPORTS…THE ACCURACY THAT GEOTAGGING OFFERS IS A VAST IMPROVEMENT OVER SOMEONE TWEETING THEY HAVE LARGE HAIL IN HOOVER. ENABLING GEOTAGGING DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY POST YOUR LOCATION WITH EVERY TWEET…BUT IT GIVES YOU THE OPTION TO PROVIDE YOUR LOCATION WHEN YOU DECIDE TO. GEOTAGGED REPORTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO HELP WITH THE WARNING PROCESS FOR THE COMMUNITY!

WE ARE EXCITED TO BE EXPANDING OUR PRESENCE IN SOCIAL MEDIA.

HOWEVER…WE ARE REMINDED THAT TWITTER AND FACEBOOK ARE NOT FAIL- SAFE SUBSTITUTES FOR ALL OTHER METHODS OF EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SUCH AS NOAA ALL HAZARDS RADIO…CELL PHONE TEXT ALERTS…RADIO AND TELEVISION. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT ALL FACEBOOK AND TWITTER POSTS WILL BE DELIVERED IN A TIMELY MANNER TO ALL OF THOSE SUBSCRIBED. FACEBOOK AND TWITTER HAVE CONTROLS AND LIMITATIONS ON HOW MANY MESSAGES GO OUT AND TO WHOM THEY ARE DELIVERED…AND THERE ARE POTENTIAL DELAYS IN RECEIVING PRODUCTS DEPENDING ON BANDWIDTH AND INTERNET AVAILABILITY AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION.

WEATHER INFORMATION VIA SOCIAL MEDIA FROM THE NWS IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND SHOULD BE USED AS ONE OF SEVERAL LAYERS OF NOTIFICATION. MAINTAINING REDUNDANT…LAYERED SOURCES OF INFORMATION IS THE SAFEST WAY TO ENSURE THAT YOU RECEIVE THE INFORMATION YOU NEED WHEN AN EMERGENCY OCCURS!

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AT NWS BMX…PLEASE CONTACT JOHN DE BLOCK…WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST…AT 205-664-3010 EXT 223 OR JIM STEFKOVICH EXT 222.

…NWS BIRMINGHAM ADDS TWITTER FOR REPORTING STORM DAMAGE…
EFFECTIVE TODAY…NWS BIRMINGHAM IS OFFICIALLY TWEETING. FOR ALL THE PARTICULARS…PLEASE VISIT OUR NEW TWITTER WEB PAGE AT:

HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/BMX/?N=BHMTWITTER

BY FOLLOWING OUR HANDLE @NWSBIRMINGHAM ON TWITTER…FOLLOWERS WILL BE ABLE TO GET ALL OF THE SEVERE WEATHER PRODUCTS WE ISSUE…INCLUDING SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS…TORNADO WARNINGS…AND FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS. NOT ONLY THAT…FOLKS WILL GET A TWITTER PIC OF THE ACTUAL WARNING POLYGON!
WITH REGARDS TO SUBMITTING STORM REPORTS ON TWITTER..WE WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF GEOTAGGING STORM REPORTS WHEN USING EXISTING HASHTAGS SUCH AS #ALWX. WE REALIZE THAT MANY FOLKS ARE CONSCIOUS ABOUT POSTING THEIR LOCATIONS FOR PRIVACY CONCERNS…BUT WHEN IT COMES TO STORM REPORTS…THE ACCURACY THAT GEOTAGGING OFFERS IS A VAST IMPROVEMENT OVER SOMEONE TWEETING THEY HAVE LARGE HAIL IN HOOVER. ENABLING GEOTAGGING DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY POST YOUR LOCATION WITH EVERY TWEET…BUT IT GIVES YOU THE OPTION TO PROVIDE YOUR LOCATION WHEN YOU DECIDE TO. GEOTAGGED REPORTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO HELP WITH THE WARNING PROCESS FOR THE COMMUNITY!
WE ARE EXCITED TO BE EXPANDING OUR PRESENCE IN SOCIAL MEDIA.HOWEVER…WE ARE REMINDED THAT TWITTER AND FACEBOOK ARE NOT FAIL- SAFE SUBSTITUTES FOR ALL OTHER METHODS OF EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SUCH AS NOAA ALL HAZARDS RADIO…CELL PHONE TEXT ALERTS…RADIO AND TELEVISION. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT ALL FACEBOOK AND TWITTER POSTS WILL BE DELIVERED IN A TIMELY MANNER TO ALL OF THOSE SUBSCRIBED. FACEBOOK AND TWITTER HAVE CONTROLS AND LIMITATIONS ON HOW MANY MESSAGES GO OUT AND TO WHOM THEY ARE DELIVERED…AND THERE ARE POTENTIAL DELAYS IN RECEIVING PRODUCTS DEPENDING ON BANDWIDTH AND INTERNET AVAILABILITY AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION.
WEATHER INFORMATION VIA SOCIAL MEDIA FROM THE NWS IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND SHOULD BE USED AS ONE OF SEVERAL LAYERS OF NOTIFICATION. MAINTAINING REDUNDANT…LAYERED SOURCES OF INFORMATION IS THE SAFEST WAY TO ENSURE THAT YOU RECEIVE THE INFORMATION YOU NEED WHEN AN EMERGENCY OCCURS!
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AT NWS BMX…PLEASE CONTACT JOHN DE BLOCK…WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST…AT 205-664-3010 EXT 223 OR JIM STEFKOVICH EXT 222.

The National Weather Service has started an experimental program for submitting storm reports via Twitter!

Details can be found here.

GeoTagging (more from Twitter) is the act of associating geographical information with something, and Twitter has recently added the capability GeoTagging individual Tweets. This allows the NWS to correlate each Tweet to your location when it was sent. This capability will help to enhance and increase timely & accurate online weather reporting and communications between the public and their local weather forecast offices.

If Geotagging is available on your 3rd party Twitter application:

1. First make sure geotagging is turned on for your 3rd party Twitter app.
2. Second make sure geotagging is turned on for your twitter account page.
   • Through the web page: http://twitter.com/account/settings
   • From your mobile device: http://twitter.com/account/settings/geo
3. Now Submit your Tweet report via your 3rd party app in the following format:
   #wxreport <your signifcant weather report>

If Geotagging is NOT available on your 3rd party Twitter application:

1. Log in to your twitter account via the web or mobile device.
2. Submit your Tweet report in the following format:
   #wxreport WW <your location> WW <your signifcant weather report>
3. Your location can be just about anything, here are some examples:
   • An address:
     WW 7955 Airport Rd., Santa Teresa, NM 88008 WW
   • An airport identifier:
     WW DFW WW
   • A zip code:
     WW 60446 WW
   • A city name:
     WW Pittsburgh, PA WW
   • A street intersection:
     WW intersection of Camino del Sol and N. Elevar St, Oxnard, CA WW
   • A latitude and longitude:
     WW 39.2775, -94.6632 WW

General Guidance:

• The purpose of this project is to allow people to submit reports. Please be responsible and respectful of the purpose.

A valid Twitter user account is required to submit reports. As such, use of this service constitutes an agreement to the ToS of the provider. Go to: http://twitter.com/tos for more information.

NEW 1 Inch Hail Criteria

On January 4th, 2010, at 6:01 pm, all National Weather Service forecast offices will operationally change the minimum hail size criterion used to issue severe thunderstorm warnings from 3/4 inch (penny sized) diameter or larger hail to 1 inch (quarter sized) diameter or larger.

No change is being made to the severe thunderstorm warning criterion of wind gusts equal to or in excess of 58 miles per hour.

For more details see http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/?n=oneinchhail

Mark / WD4NYL

President of ALERT

We don’t think ALERT will be activated for this event but wanted to post an update from the NWS:

URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE

…SNOW EXPECTED LATE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY FOR PORTIONS OF
CENTRAL ALABAMA…

.THE PATTERN IS SETTING UP FOR A POSSIBLE SNOW STORM IN THE DEEP
SOUTH. A DEVELOPING GULF LOW WILL TRACK EASTWARD ALONG THE COAST
ON SATURDAY…SPREADING WIDESPREAD MOISTURE INTO ALABAMA. WITH
COLD ARCTIC AIR RACING SOUTHWARD TO MEET THE DEVELOPING
PRECIPITATION…SNOW IS LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKELY FOR A PORTION
OF CENTRAL ALABAMA.