Monitoring High Impact Weather Events Using MesoWest

Automated surface observations available from mesonets provide critical information to diagnose the evolution of high impact weather events. MesoWest (http://www.met.utah.edu/mesowest) provides access to observations at over 12000 stations collected from a variety of sources around the nation. The spatial and temporal evolution of high impact weather events can be examined as they evolve as well as retrospectively. Integration of the surface observations with other sources of weather information is a key feature of MesoWest, e.g., graphical overlays of NCEP Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) surface analyses of temperature, dew point temperature, wind, and precipitation, as well as NEXRAD radar. Usage of MesoWest during periods of high impact weather is described.