Met Tools
Welcome to the Mountain Wave Weather Cloud Spotting Guide!
Curious About a Cloud You Saw?
Our handy cloud graphic showcased below will help you figure out what type of cloud you are looking at and its elevation.
Links to Other Weather Web Sites
- DenverWxPrediction
- Weather5280
- ThorntonWeather
- AMS 2018 Conference Lecture Videos
- BamWX
- RECENT WPC MEDIUM RANGE PMSL FORECAST ANOMALY CORRELATIONS (Model Skill by WPC)
Interactive NWS Maps/ CSV Datasets
- Colorado Snowpack (SWE/Snotel) – view current swe across Colorado and the West. Includes maps and line graphs
- Iowa Mesonet QPF (and more) Viewer – good for viewing past 24/48hr QPF and can zoom in on counties, states, etc…
- NWS shapefiles for WSV3
- NOAA Nowcoast Interactive Map (can be used for wx warning maps that are not available in wsv3)
- CoCoRaHS Data Exporter (Useful for storm reports to put on cartoDB)
- NWS Denver/Boulder Winter Experimental Winter Probabilistic Forecast Graphics (snowfall forecast tracking/ ensemble modeling and probablistic snowfall forecast)
- NWS Interpolated Snowfall/Precip Interactive Map
- NWS Chat Local Storm Reports
- NWS Precip Maps and Data
- Climate Data Center (Maps for % of avg precip and agriculture -updated 7/1/2020)
- High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) (Maps for Dept of normal precip and temps)
Custom Mapping and Shape-files
- SPC Convective Outlook Day 1 Shape-files (Contains day 1-3 cat and spec risk, use in CartoDB)
- SPC Convective Outlook Day 2 Shape-files
- SPC Convective Outlook Day 3 Shape-Files
- Climate Prediction Center Outlook Shape-Files (Good for monthly or 8-14, 6-10 day temp and precipitation outlooks.
- Useful GIS Data Portal Link (Saved for later)
ENSO Data
This workflow can be used when targeting on a severe weather day. This is the process I generally use.
Targeting Before Chasing (Usually Morning Of)
- Check the SPC risk areas
- SPC Convective Outlook
- Use this to discover initial forecast severe weather areas. Useful for seeing large, general areas of severe weather occurrence but is not enough to target specific areas.
- SPC Convective Outlook
- Check surface maps and soundings for initial atmospheric setup. Want to see CAPE, CIN, any sig sever parameters
- SPC Soundings
- Pick soundings in risk area or rough target area, may need more info to find a good sounding site
- Surface observations
- Useful for spotting fronts, troughs and triple points in the morning. Only a view of the morning so just a basic idea.
- Modeling Data
- Look at the 850-500mb, look for areas of higher winds, dry lines and triple points
- Notice jet positions and look for exit areas
- Look at CAPE and CIN, try to narrow down areas this all comes together well
- SPC Soundings
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About the Author
Meteorologist John Braddock
Position
John Braddock is the founder of Mountain Wave Weather and a weather forecaster with a strong focus on short and medium-range forecasting across Colorado’s Front Range and the mountainous regions of the Western United States. He specializes in breaking down complex weather patterns into clear, actionable forecasts for both the public and local businesses. John is currently pursuing a degree in meteorology with an emphasis on broadcast and operational forecasting, building on over a decade of experience tracking and analyzing high-impact weather events.