PYKL3Radar Help
Most active site: KBOX
Boston, MA

User's Manual
Frequently Asked Questions

Navigating

There are two modes of viewing radar data: Individual radar site and a Continental USA view (CONUS). Navigating between individual sites can be accomplished in a number of different ways.

  1. Select a radar site from a list.
  2. Long press on the screen and you will have the opportunity to be taken to the closest site to that location
  3. Zoom out, move, then zoom into the area of interest.

 

Warning polygon colors

Tornado Emergency
Tornado Warning
Severe Thunderstorm Warning
Flash Flood Warning
Special Marine Warning *
Special Weather Statement *

* Requires warning server to be set to CaprockWeather.com - No subscription required

Watch Product Polygons (AllisonHouse or CaprockWeather subscription required)

Tornado Watch
Particularly Dangerous Situation Tornado Watch **
Severe Thunderstorm Watch
Particularly Dangerous Situation Severe Thunderstorm Watch **

** The PDS watches are an exclusive feature of CaprockWeather. Allisonhouse does not differentiate between PDS and non PDS watch boxes and both will be displayed with the same color as the main watch category (Tornado or Severe Thunderstorm).

 

 

viewsets
Viewsets are a powerful way to customize your radar experience. To change between any of the 4 available viewsets, simply tap the viewset icon indicated above. To customize viewsets, including the viewset names of your choosing, simply select the Configure viewset option.. Then, for each column, click the items that you wish to see in that given viewset. You may rename the viewset, which will be displayed in the upper left, to your liking.

Screenshots:

To capture, and optionally send a screenshot, long press on the radar display and scroll down to Capture screenshot

 

Icon usage

Toggle between reflectivity and storm relative motion (or velocity if viewing a TDWR site as the TDWR does not generate a storm relative motion product)

Toggle looping of radar images (The number of frames is configurable in the Program Options)

Step back one loop image frame

Step forward one loop image frame

Jump to latest image in the looping sequence.

hailNon severe hail (probability >30%)

hailNon severe hail (probability >50%)

hailSevere hail (probability > 30%)

hailSevere hail (probability >50%)

etvsElevated tornado vortex signature

tvsTornado vortex signature

meso3D correlated shear

mesoMesocyclone (uncategorized)

mesoMesocyclone detection algorithm circulation (Strength <5)

mesoMesocyclone detection algorithm circulation with Strength Rank >= 5 AND with a Base Height > 1 km ARL AND that Base is not on the lowest elevation angle.

mesoMesocyclone detection algorithm circulation with Strength Rank >= 5 AND with a Base Height <= 1 km ARL or with its Base on the lowest elevation angle.


Lightning Data

Available with an AllisonHouse subscription. Depicts lightning in the following progression.

1 Within previous 2 minutes (flashing)

From 2 to 5 minutes ago

3From 5 to 30 minutes ago

4From 30 to 60 minutes ago

These timing thresholds are customizable via AllisonHouse.com

 

Understanding storm centroid and tracking data

track
The line with X marks indicate forecast position of the storm centroid at 15 minute invervals out to one hour. This storm is moving northeast.

<0.50 indicates the maximum radar algorithm estimated hail size is less than one half inch.
I8 depicts the radar assigned identifier for a given storm.

 

Surface Obs

metarThe surface observation plot depicts the following. Temperature 79°F, Dewpoint 63°F, Sea Level Pressure 1005.8mB*, KCSM Clinton-Sherman, OK, Wind south southeasterly at 20 kts. Each long flag is 10 kts, a short flag is 5 kts. Therefore, 25 kts would be two long and one short flag. Note: A grayed out observation indicates the latest avaialble observation is old! The circle in the center indicates aviation flight rules conditions.

Green - VFR (Ceiling >3000' and Visibility > 5 SM)

Blue - MVFR (Ceiling 1000 => X >=3000 and visibility 3-5 SM)

Red - IFR (Ceiling 500 => X >1000 and visibility 1-3 SM)

Purple - LIFR (Ceiling <500 and visibility < 1SM)

In addition, the temperture (79°F above is red when above freezing and blueish when below freezing)

* on Sea Level Pressure, if starting number is 0-4, prepend "10" to the number then divide by ten. If 5-9 prepend "9" to the number and divide by ten. E.g. 137 = 1013.7 mB and 920 = 992.0 mB

 

In the viewsets, you may configure alternate surface observation displays. In addition to the standard plot above, one may select:

Surface observations are provided courtesy of CaprockWeather.com

 

Other

snSpotterNetwork.org user (<15 minutes old)

snSpotterNetwork.org user (>15 minutes old)

88d WSR 88D Radar site

tdwrTDWR Radar Site

blueiconSelected international non-radar site

userUser defined waypoint

 

User control

Remember that there are often multiple means to control a certain task.

The long press on the radar screen allows the selection of many location sensitive items, such as changing radars or querying screen data. It also contains the ability to capture a screen shot and change screen orientation and locking the screen to one's position while moving.

Tapping the screen on a feature will bring up information on storm tracks, hail, and mesocyclone data. Options for what is presented in the tap data are chosen in Menu/Program Options/Data selection/Tap Data

PLEASE spend some time to become familiar with all of the many options as this will ensure that you get the most out of the program.

Warning/Storm report tables

PYKL3 allows users to quickly view and navigate to various warning areas. This is accessed by Menu/Warning list

Users may tap the column heading to sort. Both ascending and descending sorts are supported.

warning list

In addition, users with an optional AllisonHouse.com or CaprockWeather.com subscription may view and navigate to storm reports. This is particularly useful to see what has been recently reported in a storm in which one may be interested or just see what is going on across the country. This is accessed via Menu/Storm reports

Users may tap the column heading to sort. Both ascending and descending sorts are supported.

storm reports