Reference Cities for Use by Severe
Weather Spotters
All severe weather reports relayed to NWS meteorologists at
the Milwaukee/Sullivan Office by trained spotters must utilize the following
standards to describe the location of the weather phenomena:
Distance and compass direction from
the nearest city/village known as a reference city.
Distance is regarded as distance to the nearest one tenth of
a mile (0.1 mile) from the recognized center of a city/village (not the edge or
limits of the city/village). This may be an intersection of major roads
that may be considered the center, or a cluster of administrative buildings.
We require this format because radar information (pathcasts) in NWS warnings and associated follow-up
statements is based on distance from the geographic center of
cities/villages. In addition, post-storm information written in Local
Storm Reports (LSR’s) sent to all media outlets, and
the Storm Data publication use this notation.
Cities and villages that can be used are found on the
standard State of
Examples:
2.2
E Jefferson, Jefferson Co.
2.4 NE Waupun, Fond du Lac Co.
0.5 E Cobb, Iowa Co.
3.7 S Mitchell Field, Milwaukee Co.
5.5 WSW Madison,
However, for some cities, such as
Note: Spotters are to determine their reference point using the
lat/long data pair as the first option, and the given intersection of two roads
as the second option using the information provided in the documents provided
via the links below. For many reference cities, the lat/long location
will not be exactly the same as the intersection location, however these two
locations should be fairly close.
Over time, there will be “how to”
documentation added using various available tools. Please check often for any updates. If you wish to be notified of any updates to
this site, please e-mail the webmaster
and you will be placed on the notification list. If you have any tips or tricks that you would
like to share with others, please e-mail them to the webmaster. Your contributions would be greatly
appreciated.
The locations given for the
indicated references are thought to be as accurate as possible; both in written
description and in latitude/longitude coordinates. However, there may be errors noted by the
user base. If there are errors noted in
the references, please contact the webmaster
with the reference name(s) in question and the suggested correction(s). Your assistance in keeping these documents
accurate is appreciated.
Otherwise, please contact the webmaster if there are any other
questions or concerns.
Reference City Documents – All Counties pdf html text