WeatherBug Professional GIS Data Catalogue
January 2008
Corporate Headquarters: 12410 Milestone Center Drive Suite 300 Germantown, MD 20876 800.544.4429 weatherbugprofessional.com
WeatherBug® manages and operates the world’s largest weather station network, continuously delivering live weather information to our data centers for analysis and to our customers who are responsible for protecting lives and property. WeatherBug's technology supports our network of 8,000 Tracking Stations, creating a capability for real time weather monitoring not available from any other source. WeatherBug GIS Data Services offer seamless data access that leverage industry standard web services. WeatherBug GIS Data can be integrated using ESRI ArcIMS, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) Web Map Services (WMS) and Web Feature Services (WFS), KML and Shapefiles for integration into third party GIS systems such as ESRI and Google Earth, in addition to custom third party mapping solutions.
GIS Data Services Summary •
Realtime Current Surface observations and color contours from the proprietary network of over 8,000 WeatherBug stations in addition to the National Weather Service network.
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Current Radar and Satellite with forecasts in 60 minute intervals for 4 hours.
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Gridded Forecast Data from the NWS NDFD including 7-day Min/Max Temperature.
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Gridded Severe Weather Alerts using exclusive WeatherBug PROTECT alert algorithms for o Lightning o Rain, Heat Index, Wind, Temp and Wind Chill. o Includes NWS Warnings and Watches.
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Tropical Weather tracking with Wind Swath and Cone maps including Tropical Model Forecast Points and Lines.
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Current Lightning strikes with 15-min and 30-minute strike history.
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Current Surface Weather Real-time current surface observations from the proprietary network of over 8,000 WeatherBug stations in addition to the National Weather Service network.
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Temperature – current surface temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit Dew Point – current surface temperature to which the air must be cooled for water vapor to condense into water (dew) in degrees Fahrenheit Wind Speed – current wind speed and direction in miles per hour 2 Minute Average Wind Speed – wind speed and direction in miles per hour averaged over the last 2 minutes 5 Minute Gust Speed – highest wind gust speed in miles per hour over the last 5 minutes Daily Gust Speed – highest wind gust speed in miles per hour for the current day 24 hour period Humidity – the amount of water vapor in the air expressed as a percent of maximum saturation Heat Index – index that combines the current temperature and humidity to determine an apparent temperature in degrees Fahrenheit Temperature Rate – measured temperature change in the last six minutes expressed as an extrapolated hourly temperature change rate (plus or minus) in degrees Fahrenheit Daily Rain – measured amount of rain in inches for the current day 24 hour period Rain Rate - measured rain total in the last six minutes expressed as an extrapolated hourly rain rate in inches Pressure - the pressure exerted by the atmosphere at sea level expressed in inches of mercury Pressure Rate - the measured pressure exerted by the atmosphere at sea level in the last six minutes expressed as an extrapolated hourly pressure change rate expressed in inches of mercury
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Current Surface Weather Contours Real-time current surface observations from the proprietary network of over 8,000 WeatherBug stations in addition to the National Weather Service network color contoured across a 5 kilometer square grid resolution.
Temperature Contour - surface temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit color contoured at every 1 degree Dew Point Contour - current surface temperature to which the air must be cooled for water vapor to condense into water (dew) in degrees Fahrenheit color contoured at every 1 degree Wind Speed Contour - current wind speed in miles per hour color contoured at every 1 mile per hour Relative Humidity Contour - the amount of water vapor in the air expressed as a percent of maximum saturation color contoured at every 0.5 percent Heat Index Contour - index that combines the current temperature and humidity to determine an apparent temperature in degrees Fahrenheit color contoured at every 1 degree Wind Chill Contour – combines the current temperature and wind speed to determine an apparent temperature in degrees Fahrenheit color contoured at every 1 degree.
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Temperature Rate Contour - measured temperature change in the last six minutes expressed as an extrapolated hourly temperature change rate (plus or minus) in degrees Fahrenheit color contoured at every 0.25 degree Daily Rain Contour - measured amount of rain in inches for the current day 24 hour period color contoured at every 0.02 inches Rain Rate Contour - measured rain total in the last six minutes expressed as an extrapolated hourly rain rate in inches color contoured at every 0.02 inches Pressure Contour – the pressure exerted by the atmosphere at sea level expressed in inches of mercury color contoured at every 0.01 inches Pressure Rate Contour – the measured pressure exerted by the atmosphere at sea level in the last six minutes expressed as an extrapolated hourly pressure change rate expressed in inches of mercury color contoured at every 0.01 inches
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Radar Current Doppler radar 1km composite radar image covering the continental U.S. 15 radar dBZ (decibels of Z, where Z represents the energy reflected back to the radar) levels are shown covering 5 to 75+ dBZ and color keyed each 5 dBZ. The data is updated about every 6 min.
1 Hour Forecast Radar – 1 hour forecast Doppler radar 1km composite radar image covering the continental U.S. 15 radar dBZ levels are shown covering 5 to 75+ dBZ and color keyed each 5 dBZ. The data is updated 4 times an hour. 2 Hour Forecast Radar – 2 hour forecast Doppler radar 1km composite radar image covering the continental U.S. 15 radar dBZ levels are shown covering 5 to 75+ dBZ and color keyed each 5 dBZ. The data is updated 4 times an hour. 3 Hour Forecast Radar – 3 hour forecast Doppler radar 1km composite radar image covering the continental U.S. 15 radar dBZ levels are shown covering 5 to 75+ dBZ and color keyed each 5 dBZ. The data is updated 4 times an hour. 4 Hour Forecast Radar – 4 hour forecast Doppler radar 1km composite radar image covering the continental U.S. 15 radar dBZ levels are shown covering 5 to 75+ dBZ and color keyed each 5 dBZ. The data is updated 4 times an hour. 1/17/2008
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Satellite Visible - Visible channel satellite image that covers the continental U.S. Cloud cover is depicted by reflected sunlight off the cloud tops. Image will be black where the sun is not shining. Image is updated roughly twice an hour. Satellite IR - Infrared channel satellite image which covers the continental U.S. Cloud cover is depicted by detecting water droplet temperatures. Image is updated roughly twice an hour.
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Hurricane Track - Official NHC tropical forecast track for active storms. Forecast points are every 12 hours for 0 - 72 hours. Date and time are given in UTC. Number at forecast point is the forecast sustained wind speed at that forecast interval. Data updates 4 times a day, roughly 3, 9, 15 and 21 UTC Hurricane Cone - defines the uncertainty of the official NHC forecast track. Error in track forecasts dictates that the line of the track is the best estimate, but the cone gives the potential area the storm could actually fall into. Data updates 4 times a day, roughly 3, 9, 15 and 21 UTC. Tropical Model Forecast Lines - Tropical model forecast lines for active tropical cyclones. Lines are for the available National Hurricane Center Operational Track Guidance Models and connect forecast points which are for 12 hour forecast intervals from 0-120 hours. Data updates 4 times a day, roughly 3, 9, 15 and 21 UTC Tropical Model Forecast Points - Tropical model forecast points for active tropical cyclones. Points are for the available National Hurricane Center Operational Track Guidance Models for 12 hour forecast intervals from 0-120 hours. Data updates 4 times a day, roughly 3, 9, 15 and 21 UTC. Hurricane Wind Swath - Wind swath information is derived from the NHC advisories for the current position report and shows the forecasted extent of 34, 50 and 64 KT (39, 58, and 74 MPH) winds
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Current Lightning - Lightning latitude/longitude, strength and type (cloud-to-ground, cloud-tocloud) of strikes that have occurred in the last 2 minutes. 15 Minute Lightning - Lightning latitude/longitude, strength and type (cloud-to-ground, cloudto-cloud) of strikes that have occurred in the last 15 minutes. 30 Minute Lightning - Lightning latitude/longitude, strength and type (cloud-to-ground, cloudto-cloud) of strikes that have occurred in the last 30 minutes.
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NWS Watchbox- displays all the active NWS severe thunderstorm and tornado watches in the continental U.S NWS FIPS Warnings - displays all the active NWS alerts in the continental U.S.
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WeatherBug Severe Weather Alerts Severe weather alerts generated from the WeatherBug Protect alert detection and notification system. Real-time weather conditions are tracked and monitored using the proprietary WeatherBug Network for conditions such as extreme temperature, wind, rain, wind chill and lightning. Alerts are generated and mapped to 5k grid squares for the continental US.
WeatherBug Protect – Heat Index – WeatherBug proprietary 5k alert grids indicating real-time heat index values above 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit WeatherBug Protect – Temperature - WeatherBug proprietary 5k alert grids indicating realtime temperature values below 32 degrees Fahrenheit WeatherBug Protect – Wind Chill - WeatherBug proprietary 5k alert grids indicating real-time wind chill values below 30, 15 and 0 degrees Fahrenheit WeatherBug Protect – Lightning - WeatherBug proprietary 5k alert grids indicating real-time lightning strikes within 6 and 10 miles WeatherBug Protect – Wind Gust - WeatherBug proprietary 5k alert grids indicating real-time wind gust values above 40 miles per hour WeatherBug Protect – Rain Rate - WeatherBug proprietary 5k alert grids indicating real-time rain rate values above 1 inch per hour 1/17/2008
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