Another $50 bought me the file, sent via email directly from RAOB. I quickly realized, though, that in order to get the kind of information I want for storm chasing, I would also need to purchase the analytic module. It cost me $99.95 and included everything needed to customize a graphic display of sounding data from all over the world.
Digital atmosphere radar data source software#
The basic RAOB software arrived in my box a couple weeks ago courtesy of Weather Graphics. Its modular design permits tailored functionality to customers from 60 countries. Produces displays of over 100 atmospheric parameters including icing, turbulence, wind shear, clouds, inversions and much more. Automatically decodes data from 35 different formats and plots data on 10 interactive displays including skew-Ts, hodographs, & cross-sections. RAOB is the world’s most powerful and innovative sounding software. But I find BUFKIT difficult to use to the point of impracticality, while RAOB is much easier in application, and, once you start adding on its various modules, it offers so much more.
The only thing I’ve seen that approaches it is the venerable BUFKIT, and in fact, the basic RAOB program is able to process BUFKIT data. This neat little piece of software is to atmospheric soundings what LASIK is to eye glasses. Now, I said all of that so I can brag to you about my latest addition to my forecasting tackle box: RAOB (RAwinsonde OBservation program). Moreover, somewhere along the learning curve between rookie and veteran, the powers of the Loomis begin to become apparent and increasingly useful.
Digital atmosphere radar data source full#
On the other hand, there’s something to be said for that same Loomis rod in the hands of a pro, and it’s not going to damage a beginner, even if he’s not capable of understanding and harnessing its full potential. Put a $300 Loomis rod in the hands of a novice fisherman and chances are he’ll still come home empty-handed put a cane pole in the hands of a bass master and he’ll return with a stringer full of fish. Knowledge and experience are what make a good storm chaser, and no amount of technology can replace them. Maybe I can’t always learn directly from the environment, but I can sharpen my skills in other ways.ĭoes having all this stuff make me a better storm chaser? No, of course not. I guess that’s my rationale for my preoccupation with weather forecasting tools, along with a certain vicarious impulse that wants to at least be involved with the weather three states away even when I can’t chase it. But here in Michigan, I can’t afford to head out after every slight-risk day in Oklahoma. If I lived on the Great Plains, with Tornado Alley as my backyard, I might feel differently. I just never know when I might need the extra informational muscle–when, for instance, knowing the speed of crosswinds might become crucial for pinpointing storm initiation. I just do, okay? I need it for the same reason that an elderly, retired CEO needs a Ferrari in order to drive 55 miles an hour for thirty miles in the passing lane of an interstate highway. Nevertheless, I need to have the rest of that data handy. I use it mostly to measure the dewpoint and temperature.Ĭould I have gotten a different Kestrel model that would give me that same basic information for a third of the cost, minus all the other features that I rarely or never use? Heck yes. It weighs maybe twice as much as a bluebird feather, but it will give me temperature, dewpoint, wind speed, headwinds, crosswinds, wind direction, relative humidity, wet bulb temperature, barometric pressure, heat index, wind chill, altitude, and more, and will record trends of all of the above. It’s a compact little unit that I wear on a lanyard when I’m chasing. And so it goes.Ī couple years ago I spent $300 on a Kestrel 4500 weather meter. F5 Data, Digital Atmosphere, and all the gazillion free, online weather maps from NOAA, UCAR, COD, TwisterData, and other sources are your topos. You can take the parallels as deep as you want to. Once you’ve bought your first rod and reel and gotten yourself a tackle box, you find that there’s no such thing as having enough lures, widgets, and whizbangs. For me, storm chasing is a lot like fishing. To my surprise, while I draw the line at gaudy externals, I’ve discovered that I lean toward the techie side. It’s all part of the culture of storm chasing, but the bottom line remains getting to the storms.
Others are techies whose vehicles are tricked out with mobile weather stations and light bars. Some storm chasers pride themselves in being minimalists who have a knack for intercepting tornadoes without much in the way of gadgetry.