My idea is to have a web application aimed towards people who sit at home and want to get an idea of how the current storm chasing situation is. I want to give a snapshot of if there are any current storms going on, if they have produced anything noteworthy, if there are any reports or photos from the storm etc. Basically, a One-Stop-Shop when you want to follow a storm event while it is developing and get it all in one place.
It is also a place to learn about what happened, in terms of storms, at a certain time in history (the Storm Events-section). Here you can find out what SPC forecasted about a certain date, see the outcome etc.
The application is not to be used as a tool for someone actively chasing. There are numerous applications that are more optimized, faster and with far more features when it comes to analyzing current storms.
It is not aimed towards providing information for public safety.
The tools give a snapshot of current events, and not future events and is not a forecasting tool - although that would be really cool!
I have always thought about building a tool in general for the storm chasing community, and one idea has always been to have one map in which you can see "everything". When I started learning Node.js this idea seemed perfect to pursue and build. After a while, I realized the application was quite useful and started expanding the features.
This website is heavily based on free and open API:s, from sources such as:
If you find the application useful and have any ideas on how it can be improved, please send me a message over Twitter (@stormchasingusa) or email christoffer@stormchasingusa.com.
My name is Christoffer Björkwall and I am a Swedish storm chaser with a great passion for chasing and photographing storms. I am also a programmer and a data engineer. I run StormChasingUSA.com, a website that explains, compares and promotes storm chasing tours.