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1. One of the circles visible only in storm edit mode that define a position of the storm cell at a particular time Though theyre only visible in storm edit mode storm positions may also be added in viewer mode No storm position may be added outside the boundaries of the background map Storm positions may be moved or resized by choosing the appropriate option from its local menu Add a new storm position by left clicking and dragging the mouse to draw a circle around the storm s position at a given time These properties apply to this object OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH TIME VALID Object states ST SU SWAMP A closed map object that defines the boundaries of a swampy area Only one property applies COLOR Object states S V SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM TIME This is the property of a STORM POSITION that defines exactly when that position was valid Changing the time of a storm position will cause the storm s PROJECTED TRACK to be automatically recalculated and displayed If you have access to a recent sequence of radar images you can define several storm positions in a short time To calculate a valid projected track you ll have to change the times attached to the positions to reflect the actual times that those positions were valid The only object that the time property applies to is STORM POSITION TIME MARKER These are the bar like objects that are seen within the PROJECTED TRACK in
2. S V COUNTY Counties are the basic building block of MesoTRAC background maps A map consists of one or more whole counties Changing the COLOR of a county is the same as changing the color of the MAP and vice versa These properties apply COLOR NAME OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH Object states S V COUNTY ROAD The county road is an open map object that depicts a line segment representing a road whose name is determined by the COUNTY it s in The following properties apply OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH NAME Object states S V 47 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC DRY LAKE A closed map object representing a lake that hasn t held any water in a long time Only one property is applicable OUTLINE COLOR Object states S V FEDERAL HIGHWAY A federal highway is an open map object normally used to represent major highways that aren t freeways A federal highway has the following properties OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH NAME Object states S V FONT The font property determines the look of the chosen name object Both the name and size of the type face used to draw the name object are specified by the font object The font property is applicable to the following objects CITY NAME COMMUNITY NAME PLACE NAME PROJECTED TIME TIME STAMP 48 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM WARNING CITY NAME WARNING PLACE NAME WARNING TIME
3. a local television station Obviously this property applies only to 64 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM STATION LOGO UPPER RIGHT Controls the location of a STATION LOGO Your version of MesoTRAC includes a station logo if you purchased it through the promotional efforts of a local television station Obviously this property applies only to STATION LOGO VALID This property controls whether or not the given STORM POSITION will be used in the calculation of the storm s PROJECTED TRACK Make a storm position invalid if there is doubt about its reliability Normally you won t have to manually invalidate a storm position because the advanced right turner logic built into MesoTRAC automatically invalidates position reports that shouldn t be used in the calculation of the projected track Additionally storm positions are automatically invalidated when they become older than a user specified number of minutes Choose Storm Oldest report from the main menu to change this value If you feel that the storm turning logic has made an incorrect decision you can turn it off by choosing Storm Right turners from the main menu You re then able to manually revalidate storm positions This property applies only to MESO TRAC STORM POSITION WARNING AREA The warning area is the part of the screen in viewer mode that lists the PLACES COMMUNITIES and CITIES potentially impacted by the storm The w
4. and pressing the right mouse button A local menu will be displayed Choosing a menu 39 An object is the backbone of the MesoTRAC display Access an object s local menu by right clicking on the object Each object s state at any given point determines how it will be displayed MESO TRAC item will change a property or cause a dialog box to be displayed that allows you to change a property This chapter defines every object type found in MesoTRAC and which properties apply to them The organization of the list is alphabetical The Object State To understand how an object appears on the screen and why an object s appearance can change you need to understand the concept of the object state When you change a property color for instance of an object that change applies only to the current state of the object For example changing the color of a freeway in viewer mode does not affect the color of freeways in storm edit mode The states that can apply to an object are storm edit viewer storm warning and tornado warning Every object s state is a combination of one or more of these states at all times Here s an example A city has 6 possible states 1 the city in the storm edit mode display 2 the city in the storm edit mode display in the projected track of a thunderstorm 3 the city in the storm edit mode display in the projected track of a tornado 4 the city in viewer mode 5 the city
5. of the saved storm will be displayed If the storm was saved very recently the storm s projected track will be indicated File Open Map A dialog box will be displayed asking you which map you want to open If a storm window is already open its map will be replaced with the newly opened map If no storm window is open a new storm window using the new map will be opened The map you open will become the new default map Every storm window opened in the future will use this map SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM File Open Color scheme A dialog box will be displayed asking you which color scheme you want to open The colors and fonts currently in effect will be replaced with those specified by the new color scheme File Exit Causes MesoTRAC to shut down If you ve made any changes to background maps or storms you ll be asked whether you want to save those changes The shortcut key for this action is Alt X File New Map object Road Freeway Adds a new freeway segment to the map You ll need to edit this object and change its name File New Map object Road Federal Adds a new federal highway segment to the map You ll need to edit this object and change its name File New Map object Road State Adds a new state highway segment to the map You ll need to edit this object and change its name MESOTRAC File New Map object Road County Adds a new county road
6. other times These properties apply OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH Object states S V ISLAND A closed map object that represents a piece of land surrounded by water These properties apply COLOR Object states S V LEFT This property is one of a group of properties TOP BOTTOM LEFT and RIGHT that control where the WARNING AREA is displayed Changing the location of the warning area in the current storm window also causes any new storm windows warning areas to have the same location but doesn t affect the location of the warning area in other storm windows that may be open This property applies to only one object WARNING AREA 51 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC LOCAL ROAD An open map object used to represent a segment of a minor road or a road that doesn t fit into any of the other categories FREEWAY FEDERAL HIGHWAY STATE HIGHWAY or COUNTY ROAD These properties apply OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH Object states S V LONG NAME This property controls whether the name of the chosen object is displayed in its entirety or is abbreviated to three characters The long name property is typically used to control the amount of clutter on a map It applies to these objects CITY COMMUNITY PLACE LOWER LEFT Controls the location of a STATION LOGO Your version of MesoTRAC includes a station logo if you purchased it through the p
7. segment to the map You ll need to edit this object and change its name File New Map object Road Local Adds a new local road segment to the map You ll need to edit this object but you won t need to change its name since the names of local roads aren t displayed File New Map object Location Place Adds a new place to the map You ll need to change the name of this object File New Map object Location Community Adds a new community to the map You ll need to change the name of this object File New Map object Location City Adds a new city to the map You ll need to edit and change the name of this object File New Map object Water Lake Adds a new lake to the map You ll probably want to edit this object 30 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM File New Map object Water River Adds a new river segment to the map You ll need to edit this object File New Map object Water Glacier Adds a new glacier to the map You ll probably want to edit this object File New Map object Water Swamp Adds a new swamp to the map You ll probably want to edit this object File New Map object Water River fill point Adds a new river fill point to the map Very wide rivers are represented by not one but two lines To color in these rivers add a river fill point somewhere in the middle of the river File New Map object Water Intermittent lake
8. ATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Meso TRAC Installation Here is the procedure for installing Meso TRAC on your computer 1 Insert the MesoTRAC CD into your computer s CD ROM drive 2 The installer should start automatically If it does not navigate to the CD drive and run the Setup_MesoTRAC_222 program When running MesoTRAC on Windows 7 or Windows 8 systems it is possible that you will need administrator privileges to run the program You can cause any program to run with administrator privileges by right clicking on the program s executable and then clicking on the Compatibility tab and then checking the Run this program as an administrator box The MesoTRAC executable is named MesoTRAC exe It is normally located in the folder C Program Files x86 Aninoquisi Lightning2000 MESO TRAC Background Map Installation Follow this procedure to install your background map 1 Insert the MesoTRAC CD into your computer s CD ROM drive 2 Start MesoTRAC Click the Start button and then click the MesoTRAC icon 3 Choose File Open Map from the main menu Choose your background map that is on the MesoTRAC CD That s it The map you ve installed will be the new default background map the next time you track a storm 10 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM SSS MASAHAAN Basic Operation How Does MesoTRAC Work o System Components The Status Line The Toolbar Tracking Your Fi
9. Adds a new intermittent lake to the map You ll probably want to edit this object File New Map object Water Intermittent river Adds a new intermittent river segment to the map You ll need to edit this object 31 MESOTRAC File New Map object Water Dry lake Adds a new dry lake to the map You ll probably want to edit this object File New Map object Other Park Adds a new park to the map You ll probably want to edit this object File New Map object Other Reservation Adds a new Indian reservation to the map You ll probably want to edit this object File New Map object Other Airport Adds a new airport to the map You ll probably want to edit this object File New Map object Other Military base Adds a new military base to the map You ll probably want to edit this object 32 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Window Menu Window Cascade Causes all open windows to be displayed in an overlapping fashion Window Tile Causes all open windows to be displayed so that each one is completely visible Window Arrange icons Arranges the icons of any minimized windows at the bottom of the screen Window Minimize all Minimizes all open windows Storm Menu Storm Tornado The Storm menu contains commands Displays the storm using the colors and fonts used to change the you ve specified for a tornado Also changes lt haracter of the the title of the current
10. FREEWAY An open map object that represents a segment of a multilane limited access highway Freeways include interstates and some federal and state highways These properties apply to freeways NAME OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH Object states S V GLACIER A closed map object representing a permanent or semi permanent ice flow Glaciers have only one property COLOR Object states S V HANDS COLOR The color used to draw the hands in a WARNING AREA S CLOCK ICON This property applies to CLOCK ICON 49 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC HANDS THICKNESS The thickness of the line used to draw the hands in a WARNING AREA s CLOCK ICON This property applies to CLOCK ICON HEIGHT The property that controls the vertical size of a horizontal WARNING AREA It applies only to WARNING AREA INDIAN RESERVATION A closed map object representing an area of federal land reserved for the use of Native American peoples Only one property applies COLOR Object states S V INTERMITTENT LAKE A closed map object representing a lake that contains water only at certain times of the year The applicable properties are COLOR OUTLINE COLOR Object states S V SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM INTERMITTENT RIVER An open map object that represents a segment of a river or watercourse that flows with water at certain times but is dry at
11. Meso ACs User s Manual 2003 Aninoquisi Aninoguis 112 Bruce Street Huntland Tennessee 37345 Phone 931 469 7608 e Mail support aninoquisi com World Wide Web http www aninoquisi com MESO TRAC Table of Contents PONEI a DT E ARET TST iv Introduction sissisodan 7 About MesoTRAC sssessseseseseseroeroeeeesoeseesoeseseeesoesee T System Requirements seessesssesssessoesooescoesosssesssese 8 MesoTRAC Installation cscssscssssssssssvssesseees 9 Background Map Installation scsscsssesseees 9 Basic OP er ati On ccevccsssesiotsiescesnostesdoessossvetessoctessieronstes 11 How Does The System Work ccscessseesseee 11 System Components esssessseessessoessoesooesesesesssesscseeeoe 12 The Status Line ccscsssccssssesesssesecesssesseseees 13 The Toolbar cscccseesscssssesecesessssssssessssescseees 15 Tracking Your First Storm scsscsssssessseees 16 Changing The Projected Track cssssesees 19 Customizing the SYstemn csccscccccrccsscccssscsssecscsecsseees 21 Customizing MesoTRAC s Performance 21 Customizing the Background Map s00 25 Menu Commattes scsscsscesscesscesscssscsscesscessccssscsssenes 27 File Menu sccsccssssssessscesevescscssesssesecssseseesssese 27 Window Menu csccsecsecssessssesssesesssseessssesees 33 Storm MeN sssssssssssresessocsessssvssssssssovussssetessresossosso 33 Op
12. P MILITARY BASE PLACE NAME PROJECTED TIME PROJECTED TRACK viewer mode only RIVER SWAMP TIME MARKER TIME STAMP WARNING AREA WARNING AREA ICON WARNING CITY NAME WARNING LOCATION NAME WARNING TIME WATER COMMUNITY A community is the representation of a populated place on the map The boundaries of a community arent known but its shape is 45 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC approximated by a circle The size of the circle is controlled by the value of the AREA property The POPULATION of a community determines its display priority in a horizontal Warning area Other populated places are the City and the PLACE These properties apply AREA COLOR LONG NAME NAME POPULATION Object states S ST SU V VT VU COMMUNITY NAME The community name is an object that displays a text string specifying the name of the COMMUNITY to which it s attached The following properties apply to this object COLOR FONT 3 D Object states S ST SU V VT VU CONTINENTAL DIVIDE The continental divide is a map object found only in maps encompassing parts of the Rocky Mountains Lands West of the Continental divide drain into the Pacific Ocean while lands to the east drain into the Atlantic Ocean the Gulf of 46 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Mexico the Arctic Ocean or Hudson s Bay This property applies OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH Object states
13. arning area may be shown horizontally by selecting the TOP or BOTTOM property or in the more traditional vertical format by selecting the LEFT or RIGHT property When presented horizontally the names of places in the warning area are shown directly above or below the corresponding location on the map The list of places impacted by the storm are sorted by POPULATION They are then placed one at a time in the warning area in as high a position as possible If a previously drawn name overlaps the next name to be drawn the next name is moved down until it no longer overlaps any other names This continues until either all names are drawn or no more will fit in the warning area In the vertical format it s a bit simpler The list of places impacted by the storm is ordered strictly by the storm s estimated arrival time at that place The list is then broken up into blocks that reflect the placement of the TIME MARKERS in the PROJECTED TRACK Each block of place names is preceded by a CLOCK ICON and WARNING TIME The storm s estimated arrival time at a place is always equal to or later than the time specified in the clock icon that precedes the name of the place In the event that not all of the names of places affected by the storm fit inside the warning area SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM you can left click the inside the warning area not on a city name to scroll the list The display of the warning area can be disa
14. bled by choosing Options Warning area from the main menu The properties available are BOTTOM COLOR HEIGHT FOR HORIZONTAL WARNING AREAS LEFT RIGHT SMALL PLACE NAMES TOP WIDTH FOR VERTICAL WARNING AREAS Object states VT VU Object States S storm edit V viewer WARNING AREA ICON U thunderstorm T tornado This is the thunderbolt or tornado icon that precedes each place name in a_ horizontal WARNING AREA They re not there just for looks they serve to separate the names making it much easier to pick out individual names The properties of this object that can be changed are COLOR 3 D Object states VT VU WARNING CITY NAME This object is the name of a COMMUNITY or CITY when displayed in the WARNING AREA 67 MESO TRAC City community names are separate objects so that their properties may be changed without affecting the properties of the warning area names of PLACES which generally have much smaller populations Properties of this object are 3 D COLOR FONT Object states VT VU WARNING LOCATION NAME This object is the name of a PLACE when displayed in the WARNING AREA The names of places are separate objects from those of CITIES and COMMUNITIES so that their properties may be changed without affecting the properties of names attached to larger places Properties of this object are 3 D COLOR FONT Object states VT VU WARNING TIME These are the
15. color that appears on the screen may be somewhat different from the color you specify These properties apply OUTLINE COLOR storm edit mode only OUTLINE WIDTH storm edit mode only COLOR viewer mode only PATH LENGTH Object states ST SU VT VU RIGHT This property is one of a group of properties TOP BOTTOM LEFT and RIGHT that control where the WARNING AREA is displayed Changing the location of the warning area in the current storm window also causes any new storm windows warning areas to have the same location but doesn t affect the location of the warning area in other storm windows that may be open This property applies to only one object WARNING AREA RIVER An open map object that represents a segment of a river or other watercourse A river either flows or is frozen at all times INTERMITTENT RIVERS are used to display watercourses that aren t flowing MESO TRAC with water throughout the entire year The following properties apply OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH Object states S V RIVER FILL POINT A few of the largest rivers are shown not as a single line but as two lines Each line defines one bank of the river So these large rivers are drawn correctly there is the River fill point A River fill point when placed between the banks of a large river causes the river to fill up with the color of water You should never need to add a river fill point to the map but the capabi
16. d track resized or moved to reflect updated information In addition to the advanced analytical logic built into the system the user enjoys the flexibility of a completely object oriented Properties are interface Many properties such as color hanged via an or font of objects that appear on the pulseless screen can be changed simply by right clicking the mouse on the object Making a selection from the local menu that appears allows you to change a property Any change made is immediately reflected in the display System Components Storm positions are MesoTRAC operates in two modes storm edit nonmallyadded tn mode and viewer mode Storm edit mode is what storm edit mode you see when you open a new storm window by choosing File New Storm from the main menu Viewer mode is a concise display of the storm s projected path and the cities that could be affected by the storm 12 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM The biggest difference in the two modes is the visibility of the storm positions that you ve defined They aren t visible in viewer mode This stems from the original design requirements of viewer mode As the name implies the viewer mode display was originally designed for on air use by television meteorologists to present information concerning the storm in a concise format that could be easily and quickly absorbed by viewers at home Since viewers need only be concerned with where the storm is going n
17. eading of a storm 23 height 50 I Indian reservation 50 adding 32 intermittent lake 50 intermittent river 51 island 51 L lake adding 30 intermittent 50 lake dry adding 32 lake intermittent adding 31 left 51 linear regression 11 local menu 12 19 25 39 local road 52 adding 30 logo of TV station 61 long name 52 lower left 52 lower right 53 M map 53 color 47 loading a new 28 modifying 25 saving 28 map node 25 53 map warnings 72 command 36 mean error 14 military base 54 adding 32 min deflection of projected track 24 minimize all command 33 N name 54 of roads 54 NEXRAD 22 O object state 40 objects 39 oldest report 65 command 21 34 open map object 25 outline color 55 outline width 55 P park 56 adding 32 path length 56 command 34 performance parameters 21 place 57 adding 30 place name 57 point map objects 25 population 46 58 66 projected time 58 projected track 12 18 19 22 34 35 58 65 modifying 19 21 property 12 39 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM R Registry 21 reservation 50 right 59 right turner 22 right turners 65 command 23 34 river 59 adding 31 intermittent 51 river fill point 60 adding 31 river intermittent adding 31 road markers 54 road names 54 S scroll down 16 scroll left 15 scroll right 16 scroll up 16 scrolling in warning area 67 small place
18. ecific format that must be followed a list of identifiers separated by commas Each identifier must begin with one of the following letters I for an interstate marker U for a U S highway marker S for a generic state highway marker or C for a generic county highway marker There is no limit on the number of identifiers that specify the name of a road however the map may become cluttered with road markers if an unusual number of identifiers are specified All road names of a specific class interstate U S state or county will be grouped together in a single road marker Since the road markers are of a fixed size you may find more than three identifiers of the same class drawn in a font so small as to be unreadable The name property applies to these objects 54 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM CITY COMMUNITY COUNTY PLACE FREEWAY FEDERAL HIGHWAY STATE HIGHWAY COUNTY ROAD OUTLINE COLOR This property determines what color is used to draw the outline of an object For open map objects like roads or rivers this property is the color of the line used to draw the object The following objects have the outline color property CONTINENTAL DIVIDE COUNTY COUNTY ROAD FEDERAL HIGHWAY FREEWAY INTERMITTENT RIVER LOCAL ROAD PLACE PROJECTED TRACK storm edit mode only RIVER STATE HIGHWAY OUTLINE WIDTH This property determines the thickness of the line used to draw an outline
19. em registry In addition to the menu options that control the Don t fool with the system s performance there are some hidden unless you re sure of what you re doing options that can be changed by editing the Registry Here are the menu commands that affect the performance of the tracking algorithm Changes how old a storm position can be before it is automatically invalidated Storm 21 Storm Oldest report By default no storm position older than 25 minutes is used in calculating the projected track MESOTRAC positions that aren t valid aren t used in the calculation of the storm s projected path This command changes the age of the oldest storm position that s used in the calculation of the storm s projected track Storm positions older than this value are considered to be invalid The initial default value for this parameter is 25 minutes This value was chosen based on results observed during severe weather outbreaks in the spring of 1996 It s based on the update interval of the WSR 88 D radar NEXRAD system and the distance a storm must cover before that movement becomes evident on the radar depiction Though MesoTRAC produces a good projected track with only one or two storm positions the third and subsequent positions result in the most accurate track Even when the user defines a storm position once every other radar update cycle the 25 minute value allows for at least three sto
20. g the shape of the map MESOTRAC object Choose Edit again to return the map object to its normal state Youll be prompted to save any changes you ve made to a background map when you exit MesoTRAC or when you close the storm window that contains the altered map You can also save background map changes by choosing File Save Map from the main menu SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Menu Commands File Menu Window Menu e Storm Menu Options Menu Help Menu This chapter is a reference that describes the effects of each command available from the main menu File Menu The new storm window initially shows the entire map Saves the storm in the current active window A dialog box will open asking you to supply a This command opens a new storm window The shortcut key for this command is AIt N File New Storm File Save Storm name for the file the storm will be saved in 27 MESOTRAC File Save Map Saves any changes you ve made to the background map This option stays grayed out unless you ve made changes to the map File Save Color scheme Saves all of the color and font information currently in effect to a file A dialog box will open asking you to supply a name for the scheme File Open Storm A dialog box will be displayed asking you which saved storm you want to open After you specify a storm to open a new storm window will open The positions
21. hat no storm on Earth can move that fast so it doesn t bother calculating a projected track What we need to do is change the time stamp on that second storm position Position the mouse cursor somewhere in the middle of the second storm position Click the right mouse button Now choose Time from the local menu that popped up A dialog box will appear that shows the time you defined the second position Click a few times on the Minutes up arrow to change the time 5 or 6 minutes should be O K Now click OK to close the dialog box and change the time stamp If everything has gone as planned you should see an updated narrower projected track for the storm If you still see the No valid track can be computed message on the status line try adding a 17 A valid track can t be computed if the storm appears to be moving over 120 miles per hour The Time property is used to define when a storm position is valid Names in the warning area can be shown vertically or horizontally MESOTRAC few more minutes to the second position s time stamp Now let s check out the viewer mode display Click the viewer mode button that s the fourth one from the top or press Ctrl V or choose Options Viewer mode from the main menu You ll be treated to the wonders of the viewer mode display See how the projected track is divided by several parallel bars Each of those bars has a projected time beneath it t
22. hat shows when the storm is expected to be at that location The names of the cities and places that lie within the storm s projected track are shown in the warning area on the right side of the display Notice how the cities are grouped by the storm s estimated arrival time There is another way to show the names of places in the warning area right click the mouse in a blank part of the warning area Choose Top from the local menu Now the warning places are shown at the top of the display Each name appears directly over the corresponding place on the map For our example storm that s traveling West to East we can read the names in the warning area from left to right in the otder that those places will be impacted by the storm Since most severe storms do travel generally from West to Hast the horizontal warning area turns out to be a useful idea You ve now seen MesoTRAC in operation Additional positions can be added to a storm to define its projected track even more accurately The rest of the manual details the operation of MesoTRAC but you ve already seen enough to accurately track severe weather 18 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Changing The Projected Track MesoTRAC allows you to control the look of the projected track in two ways by changing existing storm positions and by changing some of the performance parameters of the system An in depth look at all of the system parameters that can be changed i
23. iated shortcut keys AlttO and Alt T also accomplish this change Tracking Your First Storm Let s prepare to track a simulated storm If you haven t already discovered how to do this you ll be surprised at how easy it is Start by opening a new storm window Choose File New Storm from the main menu or press Alt N Pick a spot somewhere near the center of the map We ll use this spot as the starting location of our storm Click the left mouse button but don t release it Now move the mouse until the status line indicates a diameter of around 6 miles Release the mouse button 16 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Now move the mouse to the right until the velocity reads E 40mph Click the left mouse button Viola You ve just defined a storm track Lets add a second storm position Draw a second storm position about the same size as the first one to the right of the first position Draw it just far enough to the right so that it doesn t quite overlap the first position The status bar should now read No valid track can be computed What happened Why can t a valid track be computed Well the reason is simple check the time stamps beneath the two storm positions you ve defined They should be no more than a minute ot two apart Think about it we ve told MesoTRAC that the storm has moved several miles in just a minute or two That works out to hundreds of miles per hour MesoTRAC knows t
24. in viewer mode in the projected track of a thunderstorm 6 the city in viewer mode in the projected track of a tornado 40 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Additionally most map objects can be edited The colors used while an object is being edited can be changed independently of the object s colors in other states In effect editing a map object is the equivalent of adding a map edit state to its existing state This method of handling an object s properties guarantees that the user has complete control over the look of the display Changing the color of an object never causes any unexpected color changes in other objects or of the same object in another state The bottom line is if you start changing colors fonts or other properties of objects make sure that you ve changed the property of the object in all of the states the object can be in Objects and Properties List The format of this list is as follows For objects the name of the object followed by a description of the object the properties that apply to the object and the object states the object can assume The object states are represented by single letter abbreviations S storm edit mode V viewer mode T in a tornado s projected track and U in a thunderstorm s projected track The map edit state also applies to most map objects but isn t listed here The only map objects that can t be edited are PLACES and 41 Pro
25. lidate a storm position Old storm positions are automatically discarded after they are older than a certain number of minutes You can change the age of positions that are automatically invalidated by choosing Storm Oldest report from the main menu Specify the age of the oldest valid storm position in minutes Additionally storm positions may be invalidated by MesoTRAC if the storm appears to be changing course Severe storms on occasion execute sharp turns usually to the right The Storm Right turners menu command toggles the turning logic Any storm positions that exist before a storm changes its heading will be automatically invalidated Chapter 3 describes how the turning logic operates in more detail SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM ks oS S ce S amp S SYS RASS RSE RSS RSS RRS RE SS TSS SS SS RAS RS SS cs SS RS TS SSS Rs SS Ny Si RSS Ser SS RK wo SS Ress SS N RSs Sern SS SS ca RS SS RSA SS RSs Sern SS RSX et WK se SS Ny Sees Ra SS Ww A amp A SW Re SS A NSS SS ANNY the System Customizing MesoTRAC s Performance Customizing the Custom Background Map Meso TRA C s Performance Custom ough the performance parameters of the You can change how MesoTRAC tracks system have been chosen for optimum performance under most circumstances it s possible that the experienced user may want to experiment with those parameters storms but do so with caution syst
26. lity exists because there are occasionally mistakes in the map Every effort is made to ensure that all such mistakes are discovered before maps are shipped Although the river is drawn correctly you won t be able to right click between the banks of the river and popup a local menu so there are no properties that apply to this unusual object SMALL PLACE NAMES This property enables or disables the display of the names of PLACES in the WARNING AREA Though information is suppressed by disabling the display of place names this is sometimes preferable to the clutter that results when the attempt is made to display the names of every SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM place no matter how small This property applies to only WARNING AREA STATE HIGHWAY An open map object that represents a segment of a highway maintained by a state The occasional limited access state highway should be added to the map as a FREEWAY rather than a state highway Properties that apply are as follows NAME OUTLINE COLOR OUTLINE WIDTH Object states S V STATION LOGO The bitmap that s always visible in one of the corners of the map You ll only see this if you purchased MesoTRAC in conjunction with a local television station Its available properties are LOWER LEFT LOWER RIGHT UPPER LEFT UPPER RIGHT No object states 61 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC STORM POSITION
27. m window is opened but no valid storm positions have been defined Diameter nn n miles Shown while youre defining a new storm position Estimated velocity ddd nn mph Appeats just after you ve defined the first valid storm position Mean error n nn miles Fit xx Velocity ddd nn mph Appears after you ve defined the second and subsequent valid storm positions Mean error is the average distance of storm positions from the line that describes the storm s path Fit is a measure of how well the projected track fits the supplied storm positions A good track will have a fit greater than 95 No valid track can be computed Shown if the storm positions you ve defined are too far apart in too short a time period to calculate a valid projected track for the storm You ll need to change the Time property of one of more storm positions to produce a valid storm track 14 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM The Toolbar The toolbar consists of nine buttons representing the most commonly used MesoTRAC functions Most of the buttons functions can also be activated by choosing menu commands or by pressing shortcut keys The zoom in button activates zoom mode The mouse cursor changes to a magnifying glass You can define an area to zoom into by dragging a box with the mouse This function is duplicated by the menu command Options Zoom mode and the shortcut key Ctrl Z The zoom out button causes the map
28. names 60 state highway 61 adding 29 station logo 61 status line 13 storm creating 27 saving 27 viewing a saved 28 storm position 12 13 20 21 34 62 63 65 moving 19 resizing 19 storm window 16 27 storm edit mode 12 13 swamp 62 adding 31 T thickness of clock hands 50 thunderstorm command 16 34 tile command 33 time 14 19 63 64 time marker 58 63 time stamp 64 toolbar 15 top 64 tornado command 16 33 tracking a storm 16 turn distance 24 turn threshold 23 U upper left 64 upper right 65 V valid 20 65 valid track 14 17 velocity 14 viewer mode 12 13 18 command 15 35 W warning area 18 43 46 66 displaying 36 warning area icon 67 warning city name 67 warning location name 68 warning time 68 water 69 MESOTRAC width 69 command 35 WSR 88 D 22 zoom in See zoom mode zoom out Z command 15 35 zoom mode 15 74
29. nless specifically instructed to by Aninoquisi technical support All keys are subkeys of HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Aninoquisi Meso TRAC projection turn threshold This parameter is the amount of change in the storm s projected track that must occur 23 The right turner logic looks for a sudden shift in the storm s heading The initial velocity is inherently inaccurate because there are only 16 compass points MESO TRAC before the new heading is recognized It s specified in degrees projection diameters This is the distance the storm has to travel in order for a course change to be recognized It s expressed in terms of the average storm position diameter for the current storm The value in the Registry is ten times the actual value For example a value of 15 the default represents 1 5 storm position diameters Under no circumstances will a storm s course change be recognized if that change has persisted for less than 6 minutes projection min deflection 1 This is the amount that either of the two longer sides of the projected track are opened up if there is only one valid storm position defined When the first storm position is defined you also have to specify an initial estimated velocity Since this velocity is specified as one of 16 compass directions and each compass direction covers 22 5 there is an automatic uncertainty of 11 25 each way in that velocity There should ne
30. of a closed map object or the thickness of the line that comprises an open map object These objects have the outline width property Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESOTRAC CONTINENTAL DIVIDE COUNTY COUNTY ROAD FEDERAL HIGHWAY FREEWAY INTERMITTENT RIVER LOCAL ROAD PROJECTED TRACK storm edit mode only RIVER STATE HIGHWAY PARK A closed map object representing a local state or federal park wildlife refuge national monument national seashore etc Parks are different from other closed map objects because they are drawn transparently This is because parks sometimes overlap other closed map objects in particular lakes and oceans Because of a park s transparent nature the color that appears on the screen may be somewhat different from the color you specify Only one property is applicable COLOR Object states S V PATH LENGTH This property controls the length of a storm s PROJECTED TRACK Path length is specified in minutes SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Typical values for path length are between 30 and 60 minutes Values greater than 60 minutes should be used with caution Not only can the storm deviate from its projected track it can dissipate Of course this property applies only to PROJECTED TRACK PLACE A point map object representing a small populated place or landmark Places are drawn using a fixed size open circle These prope
31. ok of the display Colors fonts and other properties of any screen element may be changed simply by right clicking the mouse on that element Chapter 5 contains a complete list of properties that may be changed The occasional tendency of a severe storm to deviate from a linear course can be dealt with automatically Such right turning storms while not common are apt to produce a disproportionate share of damage and injury While no commercially available computer software can predict when a 7 MesoTRAC isn t dependent on any specific radar system Right clicking changes properties Right turners can be handled automatically A high color graphics card is needed to achieve the best effect MESO TRAC storm is about to turn only MesoTRAC rapidly integrates a storm s course change and automatically computes a new projected track Multiple storms may be tracked simultaneously The storm tracks can be maintained and updated completely independently of each other Storm tracks may be saved to disk and recalled later for analysis System Requirements e A 33 MHz processor or faster is recommended e 16 Mb of memory is recommended but not required e lt Any version of Windows from Windows 95 on up will suffice e 2 Mb of hard drive space is required e A VGA or Supet VGA monitor is required e A graphics card with at least 640x480 resolution with at least 32K colors is strongly recommended SEVERE WE
32. on from the old heading then the projected track widens to indicate the possibility of a change in direction The shortcut key for this command is Alt R Options Menu Options Viewer mode Changes from storm edit mode to viewer mode and vice versa The shortcut key for this command is Ctrl V Options Zoom mode Activates zoom mode The mouse cursor changes to a magnifying glass Left click and drag the mouse to define the area you want to zoom into Release the mouse button and the map zooms to include the area you defined The shortcut key for this command is Ctrl Z Options Zoom out Zooms the map out to the zoom level that was in effect before you zoomed in 35 The Options menu contains commands used to change how the display looks MESO TRAC The shortcut key for this action is Ctrl Alt Z Options Warning area Enables or disables the display of the warning area This option is only available in viewer mode The shortcut key for this action is Ctrl W Options Map warnings Enables or disables the on map display of the names of cities affected by the storm s projected path This option is only available in viewer mode The shortcut key for this command is Ctrl M Options Full screen Causes the viewer mode display to occupy the entire screen This option is only available in viewer mode This option is not available in the home version of MesoTRAC The shortcut key for this option i
33. ot where it s been storm positions simply clutter up the display and serve to distract the viewer from much more important information The storm edit mode display consists of the background map the status line and the toolbar Within the background map is the storm s projected track and previous positions of the storm New storm positions are generally added in storm edit mode The viewer mode display comprises the background map the status line the toolbar and the warning area The background map contains the storm s projected track The Status Line The status line displays different kinds of information depending on what mode MesoTRAC is in The right side of the status line always shows the current position of the mouse cursor This position is relative to the map place nearest to the 13 Viewer mode shows you where the storm is going and when it s going to be there Viewer mode was designed to minimize clutter and maximize pertinent information The status line shows data concerning the storm or gives feedback on your actions MESOTRAC mouse cursor Here s a list of the items that can appear on the left side of the status line Choose File New Storm to track a storm Appeats when no storm window is open Loading map Appears when a new storm window is being opened or when a new background map is being loaded Click and drag the mouse to define a storm position Appeats when a new stor
34. perty names are in italics object names arent Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESOTRAC COMMUNITIES because their shapes are pre defined and can t be changed For properties the name of the property italicized followed by a description of the property and the objects that the property applies to 3 D The 3 D property when enabled gives the selected name object a 3 D effect The 3 D property applies to the following objects CITY NAME CLOCK ICON COMMUNITY NAME PLACE NAME PROJECTED TIME WARNING TIME WARNING AREA ICON WARNING CITY NAME WARNING LOCATION NAME AIRPORT An airport is a closed map object It s also a place where airplanes land and takeoff but that s not important right now Airports have but a single property COLOR Object states S V 42 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM AREA The area property controls the size of a COMMUNITY The circle that approximates the boundaries of a community is drawn to encompass the area in square miles specified by this property For a more exact representation of a city s area the community can be replaced by a CITY object This property applies to one object COMMUNITY BOTTOM This property is one of a group of properties TOP BOTTOM LEFT and RIGHT that control where the WARNING AREA is displayed Changing the location of the warning area in the current storm window also causes any ne
35. rm positions to be valid at all times Reduction of this parameter below 25 minutes is not recommended Increasing it shouldn t be a problem as long as the right turner logic is active since that logic automatically invalidates old storm positions if they don t reflect the storm s most recent heading SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Storm Right turners This command activates and deactivates the logic that allows MesoTRAC to detect when a storm s heading is changing If a storm appears to be changing heading and the new heading differs enough from the old heading and that change has persisted over a long enough distance then all of the older storm positions will be declared invalid Those invalidated positions are not used in the calculation of the projected track Neither the distance the storm has to travel nor the minimum change in heading required to initiate the invalidation of older storm positions can be easily altered There s a good reason for this changing either of these values can radically alter the behavior of the turning logic and potentially produce inaccurate projected tracks If you re determined to experiment with these parameters the Registry keys that you need to alter are described later in this chapter The next part of this chapter describes the system Registry keys that can be changed to affect the performance of the system It s strongly recommended that you do not fool with these u
36. romotional efforts of a local television station Obviously this property applies only to STATION LOGO SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM LOWER RIGHT Controls the location of a STATION LOGO Your version of MesoTRAC includes a station logo if you purchased it through the promotional efforts of a local television station Obviously this property applies only to STATION LOGO MAP The background against which all storm tracking data is displayed The map displays all roads cities water features and miscellaneous map objects Only one property applies to the Map COLOR Object states S V MAP NODE Map nodes are the building blocks of nearly all map objects Map nodes are visible only when a map object is being edited They may be freely moved to change the shape of the underlying map object Map nodes may be added to an object but not deleted Only one property applies OUTLINE COLOR Object states S ST SU V VT VU 53 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC MILITARY BASE A closed map object representing a piece of federally owned land used to train house and mobilize armed forces Only one property is applicable COLOR Object states S V NAME For populated places the name property determines what text string appears next to the place For roads it determines the identifier that appears when the road is clicked on Road names have a sp
37. rst Storm Changing the Projected Track How Does The System Work e theory behind the operation of Linear regression is MesoTRAC is quite simple take a series of 2 the heart of the ioe tracking algorithm one of more previous positions of a storm and project its future course over a relatively short time period This is done via a variety of statistical methods The most important of these is called linear regression Linear regression analyzes a series of points and comes up with the line that most closely fits those points But that s only the beginning of the tracking engine employed by MesoTRAC The diameters of storm positions are taken into account as well as the speed of the storm If you have the storm turning logic enabled choose Storm Right turners from the main menu the storm s heading 11 MESOTRAC is analyzed to determine the slightest tendency of the storm to veer from the course calculated by the linear regression algorithm Once a projected path is calculated it s compared to the background map to determine the places that are affected The names of those places are then displayed either on the map itself or in the warning area more about this later in the chapter Changes to storm Any change made to former positions of the storm el eas are automatically and immediately reflected in the elie storm s projected track Storm positions may be recalculation of the x proj P nay projecte
38. rties apply LONG NAME NAME OUTLINE COLOR POPULATION Object states S ST SU V VT VU PLACE NAME The place name is an object that displays a text string specifying the name of the place to which it s attached The following properties apply to this object 3 D COLOR FONT Object states S ST SU V VT VU 57 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC POPULATION The population of the given PLACE COMMUNITY or City The population is used to prioritize the display of cities and communities in a horizontal WARNING AREA The names of the most populous places in a horizontal warning area are always displayed first This property applies to CITY COMMUNITY PLACE PROJECTED TIME A projected time is one of the times that is drawn at the bottom edge of the PROJECTED TRACK in viewer mode Each projected time appears next to one of the TIME MARKERS that span a projected track and represents the estimated time of arrival of the storm at that time marker These properties apply 3 D COLOR FONT Object states VT VU PROJECTED TRACK A storm s projected track defines the area that the storm is likely to occupy over the PATH LENGTH of SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM the projected track In storm edit mode only the outline is drawn In viewer mode the projected track is drawn as a filled transparent object Because of its transparent nature the
39. s Ctrl F Options Center storm Toggles center storm mode When center storm mode is in effect the map automatically zooms to display the storm in as much detail as possible while including the entire storm Any change made to the storm s path or a switch to or from viewer mode or a repositioning of the warning area causes the storm to be re centered 36 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM The shortcut key for this action is Ctrl S Help Menu Help Contents Displays the main help page Help About Displays a dialog box describing the version of your copy of MesoTRAC and copyright information 37 MESO TRAC 38 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM SSS MSHA Objects and Properties What Are Objects and Properties o The Object State Alphabetical Objects And Properties List What Are Objects and Properties Objects are the basic building blocks of the MesoTRAC display Each object is optionally composed of other objects For example the background map is an object Each element of the background map roads cities etc is also an object Every object has certain properties that can be changed Some properties are unique to a single object whereas other properties apply to many different object types The color property for example applies to a wide variety of object types You can find out which properties of an object may be changed by positioning the mouse cursor on top of the object
40. s found in Chapter 3 There are four properties of a storm position you can change that will change the projected track All four ate accessed from a storm position s local menu Right click on a storm position to display its local menu The four properties are the storm position s location the storm position s diameter the time of the storm position and the validity of the storm position We ve already looked at changing the time stamp of a storm position Choose Time from the local menu to alter the time stamp Change the position s location by choosing Move from the local menu Move the storm position by moving the mouse Click the left mouse button to drop the storm position in its new location The projected track will be automatically updated Change a storm position s diameter by choosing Resize from the local menu Resize the position by moving the mouse Click the left mouse button to freeze the size of the storm position The projected track will be automatically recalculated and displayed 19 You can change the projected track by changing the properties of an individual storm position Storm positions may be manually invalidated MESOTRAC A storm position can be declared invalid by unchecking Valid on the position s local menu Storm positions that aren t valid simply aren t used in the calculation of the storm s projected track Normally you won t need to manually inva
41. times that appear next to a CLOCK ICON in a vertical WARNING AREA Each warning time precedes one or more place names The properties that apply to this object are 3 D COLOR SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM FONT Object states VT VU WATER A closed map object either an ocean or a lake You can change only one property COLOR Object states S V Object States S storm edit V viewer WIDTH U thunderstorm T tornado Changes the width of the selected object The width of a TIME MARKER is measured in seconds width applies to these objects TIME MARKER WARNING AREA MESO TRAC 70 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Index 3 D 42 A adding map objects 29 airport 42 adding 32 area 43 arrange icons command 33 B bottom 43 buttons 15 C cascade command 33 center storm command 15 Center storm command 36 city 43 adding 30 city name 44 clock icon 44 66 closed map object 25 color 44 of clock hands 49 outline 55 color scheme opening a new 29 saving 28 community 43 45 71 adding 30 community name 46 continental divide 46 county 47 county road 47 adding 30 D dry lake 48 E edit command 25 editing map objects 25 53 exiting the system 29 F federal highway 48 adding 29 fit 14 font 48 freeway 49 adding 29 full screen command 36 G glacier 49 adding 31 H hands color 49 MESOTRAC hands thickness 50 h
42. tions MeN ccsscscscsccecssseessceessessesceesossees 35 Hep Mentis reeter sscdeesunestennstenaconadenvesesotnonass 37 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM Objects and PLOPertieS scsssceserssesscecsccsesscsscosseesees 39 What Are Objects and Properties s000 39 The ODject State vicsicicscssssccsensesssvessanscoovsseeassoososeses 40 Objects and Properties List ssccssessseseeeee 41 IndEX svscessss sccsses sae vonts tusesdossdscescosstesses sds sessecesesisscssess sed 71 MESOTRAC A Warning MesoTRAC is a tool that allows extremely accurate tracking of severe weather From personal experience I know that it can be quite involving Do not allow your zeal to track storms or tornadoes cloud your judgment however If you re tracking a storm and it s heading for your location pay careful attention to the storm s estimated time of arrival You should be thinking seriously about taking shelter if MesoTRAC indicates that the storm will arrive at your location within fifteen minutes particularly if a tornado or mesocyclone is indicated by Doppler radar Severe thunderstorms especially those that show indications of rotation can and do produce tornadoes with little or no advance warning While not likely to produce death or injury to people inside buildings lightning produced by an approaching storm can and does wreak havoc on electronic equipment particularly computers and modems Lightning ro
43. to zoom out to the zoom level that was in effect before the last zoom A zoom out can be accomplished by choosing Options Zoom out from the main menu or by the shortcut key Ctrl Alt Z The center storm button activates center storm mode When in center storm mode the current storm window always zooms in or out to show the storm track in its entirety The menu command for this option is Options Center storm The shortcut key is Ctrl S The viewer mode button toggles the viewer mode display The main menu selection Options Viewer mode and the shortcut key Ctrl V also accomplish this command The scroll left button causes the map to scroll to the West The scroll amount is 1 4 of the width of the window 15 The toolbar is always visible and gives you quick access to the most commonly used functions Yo vite B SE Click and drag the mouse to surround the storm s position MESOTRAC The scroll right button causes the map to scroll to the East The scroll amount is 1 4 the width of the window The scroll up button causes the map to scroll to the North The scroll amount is 1 4 the height of the window The scroll down button causes the map to scroll to the South The scroll amount is 1 4 the height of the window The tornado button changes the character of the storm from that of a tornado to a thunderstorm and vice versa The menu commands Storm Tornado and Storm Thunderstorm and their assoc
44. utinely occurs several miles out in front of an approaching storm Whether you re actively tracking a storm or not you should log off your computer turn it off unplug it and disconnect the phone line from its modem if threatening weather approaches By taking a minute to do these things you could save yourself several thousand dollars in damages An approaching tornado calls for immediate action Seek shelter on the lowest floor or basement of the SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM building you re in near the center of the building Avoid windows at all costs Under no circumstances should you waste time by opening windows If you re in a mobile home you should seek shelter outside by lying flat against the ground or better yet in a ditch or culvert away from trees and automobiles Aninoquisi cannot be held responsible for injury or death resulting from use of this software contrary to this warning MESO TRAC SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM SSS MAHAN Introduction What is MesoTRAC What kind of system is required to run it o How do I install it About Meso TRAC eso TRAC is a complete severe weather tracking system It allows you to accurately project future positions of a storm given one or more recent positions of the storm The storm s positions may be taken from any soutce radar depictions lightning detection data or ground truth reports With MesoTRAC you have complete control over the lo
45. ver be any reason to alter this value 24 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM projection min deflection 2 This is the amount that either of the two longer sides of the projected track are opened up if there are exactly two valid storm positions defined Customizing the Background Map Open map objects The background map consists of open map don t contain an area Objects closed map objects and point map closed ones do 7 objects Open map objects are those that don t enclose an area like roads or rivers Closed map objects enclose an area Examples of these include cities lakes counties and parks Point map objects are those that don t fall into the other two categories The two point map objects are communities and places All map objects are defined in Chapter 5 Map objects may be customized by changing their properties and by changing their shape You can see which properties of any map object may be changed by positioning the mouse cursor on top of the object and pressing the right mouse button The local menu that s displayed lists the properties that are changeable as well as commands that allow you to manipulate the object Open and closed map objects may also be edited Map objects consist Choosing Edit from the objects local menu causes of a series of nodes all map nodes in the object to become visible trat can be moved Click and drag any node to move it to a new around location thereby changin
46. viewer mode They occur at fixed intervals within the track and have a user specified WIDTH Their width is equal to the amount of ground the storm is expected to cover in width seconds The number of time markers in a particular projected track cannot be changed by the user Time markers never extend beyond the boundaries of the projected track The properties that apply to this object are COLOR WIDTH Object states VT VU 63 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC TIME STAMP This is the time that s drawn beneath a STORM POSITION in storm edit mode The time stamp is the exact time that the given storm position was valid A time stamp may be changed by changing the TIME property of its associated storm position The properties of this object are COLOR FONT Object states S TOP This property is one of a group of properties TOP BOTTOM LEFT and RIGHT that control where the WARNING AREA is displayed Changing the location of the warning area in the current storm window also causes any new storm windows warning areas to have the same location but doesn t affect the location of the warning area in other storm windows that may be open This property applies to only one object WARNING AREA UPPER LEFT Controls the location of a STATION LOGO Your version of MesoTRAC includes a station logo if you purchased it through the promotional efforts of
47. w storm windows warning areas to have the same location but doesn t affect the location of the warning area in other storm windows that may be open This property applies to only one object WARNING AREA CITY A city is a closed map object Cities have the following properties COLOR LONG NAME NAME POPULATION 43 Object States S storm edit V viewer U thunderstorm T tornado MESO TRAC Object states S ST SU V ST VU CITY NAME The city name is an object that displays a text string specifying the name of the CITy to which it s attached The following properties apply to this object 3 D COLOR FONT Object states S ST SU V VT VU CLOCK ICON Clock icons appear in a storm window s WARNING AREA They always precede at least one WARNING PLACE NAME or WARNING CITY NAME The following properties apply 3 D COLOR HANDS COLOR HANDS THICKNESS Object states VT VU COLOR The color property is applicable to all closed map objects and all name objects The value chosen for color is used to fill a closed map object and is 44 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM the color of a name object Like all properties the color property is specific to an object s object state The color property applies to the following objects AIRPORT CITY CITY NAME CLOCK ICON COMMUNITY COMMUNITY NAME COUNTY GLACIER INDIAN RESERVATION INTERMITTENT LAKE INTERMITTENT RIVER LAKE MA
48. window to indicate that 7 you re tracking a tornado instead of a thunderstorm The shortcut key for this action is Alt O 33 MESOTRAC Storm Thunderstorm Displays the storm using the colors and fonts you ve specified for a thunderstorm Also changes the title of the current window to indicate that you re tracking a thunderstorm instead of a tornado The shortcut key for this action is Alt T Storm Path length Changes the length of the projected path for the storm Any storms you create in the future will use the value for projected path length that you specify here Path length is specified in minutes Storm Oldest report Changes how old a storm position can be before it is automatically invalidated Storm positions that aren t valid aren t used in the calculation of the storm s projected path Storm Right turners Activates logic that allows MesoTRAC to detect when a storm is turning to a new heading If a storm heads off in a new direction and stays on that course long enough for MesoTRAC to believe that the new heading is permanent any storm positions that exist before the course change occurred will be invalidated 34 SEVERE WEATHER TRACKING SYSTEM If the storm appears to be heading in a new direction but the change in course hasn t persisted over a long enough period of time for MesoTRAC to be sure of the new heading or if the apparent course change isnt enough of a deviati

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