CSHO Tools
This page will try to be a home for various, miscellaneous tools that don't necessarily fit in under any topic at all or under any one topic. It differs from the CSHO Resources page in that these tools are, more or less, one-off tools to be used for a single reason during the course of an inspection. One way of putting it is that you use CSHO Resources to learn how to hang a door, but you'd use CSHO Tools to actually hang the door.
Weather
There are various use cases that will come in to play during the course of a CSHO's career that call for gathering historical weather data. In this CSHO's experience, historical weather data prevented an employer from being issued a serious citation after an employee was severely burned during a calcium carbide explosion.[1] To confirm a complainant's claim that a tornado warning was issued, historical weather data for tornado warnings issued for that area were used.[2] The tools below can be used to examine detailed historical weather data to help find the conditions as they were around a certain event. (NWS = National Weather Service)
Historical Climate Data
The following links will take you to the NWS website, which provides historical climate data all the way back until the 1950s. Data includes temperatures, rainfall amounts, snowfall amounts, humidity, conditions at a specific time, averages for certain time periods, etc.
- Local Climatological Data Publication | IPS | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) — This section of the NWS website is devoted to local historical climate data. It has a more modern interface than the two links immediately below. It may be a good idea to try each of them, however.
- NWS Local Climate Data from the Louisville Weather Forecast Office (LMK)
- NWS Local Climate Data from the Jackson Weather Forecast Office (JKL)
This page on the NWS website gives some information to help with finding historical climate data.
The weather website Weather Underground also gives access to historical weather data.
Doppler-Indicated Tornado Warnings
The NWS website shows tornadoes that were confirmed, either by the observation of a funnel cloud or confirmed by official personnel who examine the aftermath of a tornado. However, in the late 1980s, tornado warnings began to be issued for Doppler-indicated rotation. Most of these do not form an actual funnel cloud, let alone touch down.[3] So, tornado warnings will be issued without ever developing into a tornado threat. As of the time of writing, the NWS does not have an accessible database for warnings issued for unconfirmed tornadoes.
The links below are services outside of the NWS that show historical data for all tornado warnings issued.
- Iowa State University's Iowa Environmental Mesonet — This link to one of the services of IEM will allow you to search through all kinds of various weather statements, including warnings, watches, etc. Each record will show Doppler radar or other pertinent radar imagery for the related location at the time the statement was issued. Remember that there are two Weather Forecast Offices in Kentucky — Louisville (LMK) and Jackson (JKL). Make sure to choose the appropriate one in the drop-down filters.
References
- ↑ ORN: H0105-005-14 / FIN: 316922558
- ↑ ORN: H0105-004-18 / FIN: 318093424
- ↑ Tornado Warning False Alarms: National Weather Service Upgrades to Impact-Based Warning System | The Weather Channel https://weather.com/safety/tornado/news/tornado-warning-false-alarms-impact-based-warnings-20140418 — Retrieved 9/20/2018
