Comparing Storm Data reports to National Weather Service severe storm watches and warnings

Storm Data is the official publication of severe weather events for the United States. Storm Data reports are comprised of reports that the National Weather Service (NWS) collects during the process of verifying severe weather warnings. Storm Data reports are used in a variety of studies, including climatologies and algorithm evaluations. Previous studies have pointed out issues and limitations associated with Storm Data. However several changes in the NWS warning system, including polygon warnings and one-inch severe hail criterion, could have possibly affected the database. This presentation will compare several recent years of Storm Data with NWS severe storm watches and warnings. The reports will also be compared to other neighboring reports to investigate possible influences of certain reports or certain reported magnitudes have on nearby reports.