Project Status: Inactive
8 Apr 2009: Weather of any kind has exited the project area. Thanks for the reports! Winter has passed, so it's time to find hail for HaSDEx.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How will I know if the project is running?
A: Check the website! We post brief messages about project status on the W-PING web page, so you know our current thinking about the weather. In general, we run the radar to collect data during any kind of event (the radar is used for many other things besides our project), but W-PING is active only during winter events that will produce snow. We have four levels of activity:
- Inactive — Nothing is going on and we're not anticipating anything in the foreseeable future.
- Stay Tuned — No operations are currently planned, but we're watching the weather to see if anything interesting begins to take shape.
- Activities Planned — We're confident that an interesting event will occur and have planned to start operations at a particular time.
- Active — An event is underway.
In addition to this, we maintain a brief message about project status on the project web page, so that you may see what our current thinking is about the weather.
Q: What types of precipitation are you interested in?
A: All kinds of wintry precipitation! If the temperatures are close to freezing and there's water (or ice) falling out of the sky, we're interested. You can read more about the different types of winter precipitation here.
Q: What if I don't have only one kind of precipitation falling, such as rain mixed with snow? How do I enter something like that?
A: Because there are so many possibilities, and because it's sometimes hard to tell what is mixed with what, we have chosen to ignore mixed precipitation. Mixed precipitation is typically brief in duration, so if you notice it, a change in precipitation type is probably underway. Simply choose the predominant precipitation type, and enter that.
Q: The current weather is really interesting, and I need to tell you more about what's happening. Is there a place for comments?
A: If you need to include more information about your observation, you may contact the project by email.
Q: I'm outside of your 90 mile radius. Can I still participate?
A: Yes! Observations outside of the 90 mile radius are still useful, so feel free to participate.
Q: I'll be at someone else's house during some of the storm, but I'd still like to enter observations. Is it OK to enter observations from someplace other than my home location?
A: Yes! Any observations that we get are useful to us, even those outside of the 90 mile radius.
Q: Why do I have to re-enter my coordinates each time? Can't you simply remember me?
A: We have intentionally kept the database anonymous, so we don't know who has entered the data. We don't use cookies or other identifying technology, so we have no way of knowing who is making an entry at any given time. However, your web browser likely keeps track of this information and will auto-complete the field for you. To be sure though, you might want to save your coordinates in a small text file saved on your desktop and use "copy" and "paste" if auto-completion doesn't work for you.
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