Past IEM Features tagged: sps
SPS Graphics
07 Nov 2024 05:30 AMThe National Weather Service issues Special Weather Statements (SPS) to cover a wide variety situations whereby they wish to alert the public to something notable. Recently, these statements have covered overnight fog that was not being handled by a Dense Fog Advisory for some counties. The featured map is an info-graphic that the IEM produces that attempts to visually show the highlighted geography along with the narrative text found within the SPS. If you are looking for archives of these plots, the most approachable means is to navigate the NWS Text Archives interface. If the SPS product contained a polygon, you can use the point search tool to find the alert and then click the "view text" link to retrieve the plot as well.
Voting:
Good: 10
Bad: 0
Tags: sps
Calendar of SPS Counts
12 Apr 2024 05:30 AMThe Special Weather Statement (abbreviated SPS for complex reasons) is one of the product tools available to NWS forecast offices to alert the public to immediate weather events. It can be used to alert the public to just below severe criterion storms. In fact, the SPS has been updated over the years to carry many of the same tags that are included in Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, such as max hail size and wind gusts. They also can be issued for a specific geographic area within an included polygon. NWS Quad Cities issued three such SPSs yesterday (1, 2, and 3). The featured chart presents the number of such SPS products that included polygons by day of the year for the office. The IEM attempts to curate an archive of these SPS products, which includes a download portal and an archive search by point.
Voting:
Good: 14
Bad: 1
Abstain: 1
Tags: sps
Special Weather Statement Polygons
10 Nov 2023 05:30 AMWhen conditions are not quite to levels necessitating a warning or advisory, the National Weather Service has a sort of "catch-all" product called the Special Weather Statement (SPS). This product will be issued for one or more counties / forecast zones and can optionally include a polygon to target a more limited area. The featured map presents the number of such SPS products issued that contained a polygon so far this year. The map shows that a few offices don't issue SPS products with polygons. They are not required with the product. The IEM maintains an text archive of these and offers a shapefile download of the polygons with associated tags found within the text.
Voting:
Good: 12
Bad: 1
Abstain: 1
Tags: nws sps