How data is determined for the Manitoba thunderstorm season summaries
Thunderstorm days:
Thunderstorm days are defined as any day when lightning was recorded/occurred. In other words, even if there may have been only 1 lightning strike on a given day, that day will be considered a thunderstorm day. To be considered a thunderstorm day, it does not matter if the precipitation fell as snow, freezing rain or rain.
I determine lightning strikes by using a variety of lightning detection services. The ones that I use are Intellicast, Environment Canada and The Weather Network. The Weather Network's lightning map allows me to go back 6 hours, therefore allows me to not have to check lightning maps constantly all day. If necessary, if for some reason I missed a few hours of lightning data, I will sometimes look at radar archives to determine wether thunderstorms were occurring. This fact means that the data I have is not 100% accurate, but I try my best to be as accurate as I possibly can. Another method I use to verify if storms were occuring if I missed lightning maps is to check actual observations from Environment Canada stations, however the limitation with this is that not many stations have these types of observations. Sometimes, I will also look at any weather news on some media outlets or look at Rob's Blog and A Weather Moment blog to see if there were any thunderstorm reports (if I see a report, I always check archived radar to confirm the report). Either way, I try my best to not miss a single thunderstorm day.
Severe thunderstorm warning days:
In case you're wondering, no, I do not look at Environment Canada's warnings page 24/7 to see if there are severe thunderstorm warnings. Each morning, I spend a few minutes going through the warnings archive here to determine when warnings were issued. This method is much faster and less time-consuming. I use this archive here to know which community equates to which warning box. Honestly, after a while I get so used to the names of the communities and which warning boxes they belong that I do not even need to look at the archive, saving time.
Tornado warning days:
Same method as determining severe thunderstorm warning days.
Unconfirmed/confirmed tornadoes:
It's hard for me to give 1 single source that I use to get this data, because I get it from a large variety of sources. Twitter photos/reports (reliable ones), Environment Canada reports/confirmations, media outlets, weather blogs, you name it, I get the data from anywhere (obviously, I wont just trust any report; I will use my common sense to judge that). If you have a question about where I got a specific data point, please let me know in the comments on my blog.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to question me in the comments on my blog.
Thunderstorm days are defined as any day when lightning was recorded/occurred. In other words, even if there may have been only 1 lightning strike on a given day, that day will be considered a thunderstorm day. To be considered a thunderstorm day, it does not matter if the precipitation fell as snow, freezing rain or rain.
I determine lightning strikes by using a variety of lightning detection services. The ones that I use are Intellicast, Environment Canada and The Weather Network. The Weather Network's lightning map allows me to go back 6 hours, therefore allows me to not have to check lightning maps constantly all day. If necessary, if for some reason I missed a few hours of lightning data, I will sometimes look at radar archives to determine wether thunderstorms were occurring. This fact means that the data I have is not 100% accurate, but I try my best to be as accurate as I possibly can. Another method I use to verify if storms were occuring if I missed lightning maps is to check actual observations from Environment Canada stations, however the limitation with this is that not many stations have these types of observations. Sometimes, I will also look at any weather news on some media outlets or look at Rob's Blog and A Weather Moment blog to see if there were any thunderstorm reports (if I see a report, I always check archived radar to confirm the report). Either way, I try my best to not miss a single thunderstorm day.
Severe thunderstorm warning days:
In case you're wondering, no, I do not look at Environment Canada's warnings page 24/7 to see if there are severe thunderstorm warnings. Each morning, I spend a few minutes going through the warnings archive here to determine when warnings were issued. This method is much faster and less time-consuming. I use this archive here to know which community equates to which warning box. Honestly, after a while I get so used to the names of the communities and which warning boxes they belong that I do not even need to look at the archive, saving time.
Tornado warning days:
Same method as determining severe thunderstorm warning days.
Unconfirmed/confirmed tornadoes:
It's hard for me to give 1 single source that I use to get this data, because I get it from a large variety of sources. Twitter photos/reports (reliable ones), Environment Canada reports/confirmations, media outlets, weather blogs, you name it, I get the data from anywhere (obviously, I wont just trust any report; I will use my common sense to judge that). If you have a question about where I got a specific data point, please let me know in the comments on my blog.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to question me in the comments on my blog.