Redneck Tale # 37 – Wonderful WunderMap®

Everyone is likely to be familiar with the usual kinds of weather maps – the ones that show an outline of a state and some squiggly lines that represent warm fronts, cold fronts and maybe even some affronts. Somewhere else on the page or on the screen are to be found explanations, more or less, describing what it is that you are looking at. There may be some arrows drawn on the map that show wind direction and the like, but interpretation of what you are looking at is pretty much up to you. Where is the thunderstorm? Will it become a tornado? If so, which way do I run to get out of its way? How about some of Gus’s "square hail" – any of that stuff coming in this direction? If so, how soon will it get here? Lots of questions. Not all that many answers.

Enter the "Weather Underground’s" information-filled WunderMap®. With it you can check out the weather in the entire continent (any continent you like...) or just your own neighborhood and anything in between. Mountains, plains, lakes, rivers, oceans, deserts, right on down to streets, lanes, and trails. Zoom in. Zoom out. Look to the east, west, north, and south. The only problem you may encounter will be the language written on the map. For example, when you look at the weather in Bulgaria, guess what the language will be on the map. Did you say, "Chinese?" That answer lacks a bit of accuracy – but what is the difference if all you know is "Portuguese?"

Over the text here is a view of my computer screen. It portrays the local WunderMap® weather scene. On the map you can see the streets and highways in and around Houston, Texas, with surrounding towns and smaller cities designated and named, plus some of the more notable areas and features designated by their names.

There are some brightly colored areas, green, yellow, and red, superimposed on the map. Those colors represent precipitation currently falling from the sky or, as the case may be, from outer space. Now that is a bit of a stretch perhaps, but Houston is NASA’s home turf, and the space shuttles have to dump their waste cans somewhere. Like all well-trained astronauts, ours do not pollute willy-nilly. They keep it all in-house. As the weather items move, the color patterns move, showing what is going on right at the moment.

There are also some little bright yellow markers on the map. They signify storm centers. To the right side of the screen are explanations for those markers. A yellow dot shows a storm center, like a thunderstorm perhaps. A somewhat larger square is telling you "hail" – maybe some of the square variety of hail. A diamond-shaped marker tells you that right there on the map, the radar has picked up the reflection of a rotating thunderstorm (mesocyclone) – the kind of thunderstorm from which tornadoes can be hatched. From some of these yellow markers "cones" may emanate. Those cones tell you which way the particular storm is heading. Within the cone are several concentric lines, the first of which tells you that the storm will proceed to somewhere on that line in the next 20 minutes. The next concentric line is a 40-minute marker, and the end of the cone is for 60 minutes hence. That’s pretty handy, for it alerts you as to when you should open the umbrella or prepare to get wet.

If a red-purple upside-down triangle pops up on your WunderMap® it is telling you to seek shelter if the triangle is in your neighborhood or if it is heading your way. It warns you "here is a tornado" and not just one of those rotating thunderstorms. When tornadoes hatch, it is time for you to scratch – which is to dig a hole and climb into it unless you already have a ready-made hole into which to dive.

So, if you want to really know about your own weather goings-on, give the "Weather Underground’s" WunderMap® a look. Have a go at putting your own house right in the middle of your map view and then zoom the map view here and there. Change some parameters (found below the map) to take away weather stations, to show storm centers, to increase or decrease the frequency of viewing precipitation colors, and so forth. Have fun.