Current Research

Storm Spotting

Update

As part of my role at the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, I have been tasked with observing and forecasting storm activity. The purpose of these observations and forecasts are to provide decision support for those who are doing maintenance and scientific research at the Lab. Most of this maintenance and scientific research are carried out at fixed sites high-above mean sea-level in Magdalena Mountains of west central New Mexico; where upslope and high equivalent potential temperatures result in a local maximum in thunderstorm frequency. So, instead of spotting across a broader area when there are storms nearby, I will mostly be observing and forecasting for storms impacting the Lab and its fixed sites. That said, I will continue posting storm or storm-related scenes to my "Storms" album (as well as relying any reports I might to the National Weather Service ); so, feel free to view those. I also encourage you to check out the New Mexico Tech Lightning Homepage; which contains a variety of links to real-time and historical data on storms.

About Storm Spotting

My role as a storm spotter involve capturing disturbed states of Earth's atmosphere using a camera, positioning those measurements in space and time and then sharing those measurements with others[1]. I tend to spot thunderstorm activity, blizzards, ice storms, snow storms and wildfires most (as of late, I find hail particularly interesting to spot.)

I am a degreed meteorologist and am adequately equipped to spot storms for the National Weather Service. My role as storm spotter is as much about satisfying my own curiosity as it is about providing a public service in the field to decision makers elsewhere. Unlike many storm chasers who I am familiar with, I seldom go out of my way by more than 50 miles or so to spot; so, I tend to spot close to home or on longer trips elsewhere away from home. Such small trips usually prevent me from capturing the most severe of storms in a region on any given day. Nevertheless, storm spotting for me has been very rewarding because every time I go storm spotting I learn something new! And hopefully the information that I provide others with enables them to make better decisions!

Also, when spotting, I am occasionally accompanied by my wonderful spouse, Bon, As a couple, she often helps me coordinate storm activity. Hence, she plays a vital role in helping me to spot storms; especially when I am focused on driving or capturing scenes.

Cases

Maps of some of my storm spotting activity (including radar imagery and/or video clips in some cases...and maybe some other interesting stuff)[2, 3]. Full sized storm scenes are stored in my "Storms" photo album. Also included are footnotes with links to Severe Thunderstorm Event Archive entries in cases of severe thunderstorm activity, or otherwise if available other products issued by the Storm Prediction Center or others that capture attributes:

Severe Weather Reporting

How to Report Severe Weather

mPING

Dial 9-1-1

Meteorology Links

Meteorological Resources

AMS Glossary of Meteorology, s.v. "Storm," accessed May 20, 2018, http://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Storm; "NWS SKYWARN Storm Spotter Program", accessed October 26, 2019. https://www.weather.gov/SKYWARN
If you are unable to view my maps on the Google Maps app on your phone, this is likely your issue: "A shared map link is not opening in Google Maps app..."
I have thousands of photos and videos of storms that date back to 2004; a vast majority of which are not posted. If you would like to know more about this archive of sorts, feel free to contact me: here.