This tool was built to support professionals and experts by providing data that
is simplified, mapped out, sourced, and verifiable.
The WDR tool provides reported data from NWS Local Storm Reports, the Storm
Prediction Center, NCEI Storm Events, and CoCoRaHS. It also provides station and
instrument observations: ASOS peak gusts, the FAWN mesonet in Florida, and NWS
post-storm reports (PNS/PSH). Then it plots the coordinates of each report or
observation and the loss location on a map to show the relation between them.
Where the data comes from
In the order mentioned above. Every report lists the exact
query it ran against each of these, so any row can be checked at the source.
NWS Local Storm Reports
— National Weather Service, via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive.
Spotter, public and emergency-management reports of hail and wind, with the
agency’s own preliminary quality-control stage.
NCEI Storm Events
— NOAA’s certified storm-events database, published months after the
fact once quality control is complete.
CoCoRaHS
— the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network of volunteer
observers.
ASOS peak gusts
— Automated Surface Observing System stations at airports, via the Iowa
Environmental Mesonet. Instrument readings at the station named, not at the
property.
FAWN
— the Florida Automated Weather Network, University of Florida IFAS.
Florida properties only.
NWS PNS / PSH
— Public Information Statements and Post-Storm Reports issued by the local
forecast office, quoted verbatim from the NWS text-product archive.
What is in the report
Three pages, letter size, PDF.
Page 1 — Quick Facts, Documented Storm Reports, Station
Observations, Event Footprint. Key facts as short bullets. The
closest reports tabled: local time, type and size, distance, location,
county, the source’s own verification tier, and the reference that
sourced the row. Peak gusts at the nearest official stations. Counts for
the property’s county and each bordering county, by peril, with
population density — because a report count reflects how many people
were there to report, not only how hard it hailed.
Page 2 — Storm Report Map, Storm Motion. Markers
numbered to match the table, hail as circles sized by magnitude, wind as
diamonds, the loss location as a gold star, distance rings, storm motion
when an official source stated it. Our own drawing, not an agency graphic.
Page 3 — References & Search Record, Reference Audit,
Scope & Disclaimer. Every source as R-01, R-02 and so on with the
exact query used, so the search can be reproduced by someone who does not
trust us. Confirmation that every reference was audited — all of them,
never a sample. What the report is, what it is not.
How we search, and how the audit works:
the full description.
Weather Data Research is founded by a Haag Certified Inspector.
Records retention
Every report and its audit are retained permanently, along with the exact query
parameters used, the reference set, every remediation, and the hash of the issued
PDF. If a report is challenged two years from now, the complete record of how its
sources were checked still exists.
Contact
Contact us
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