Geiger Memorial Lecture

I attended the UW-Oshkosh Department of Geography & Urban Planning annual Geiger Memorial Lecture today at Reeve Union: Extreme Wisconsin Weather by Phil Kurimski and Roy Eckberg from the NWS Green Bay. The presentation provided a brief overview of the factors that lead to such diverse and extreme weather, as well as the global patterns that can affect the weather in Wisconsin.

Extreme weather events that were presented...
June 7, 2007 tornado outbreak
April 27, 1984 Wales, WI tornado
May 30-31, 1998 Derecho
July 27, 2006 & August 18-23, 2007 floods
2007-08 Winter season

The official 2007-2008 snowfall total for Oshkosh was revealed as well... which was 20+ inches LESS then the total observed here at OSNW3 and CoCoRaHS WI-WN-2.

OKHW3 | OSHKOSH-WWTP, the OFFICIAL COOP data from Oshkosh for the NWS, observed 56.x", while OSNW3 observed 78.8" and CoCoRaHS WI-WN-2 observed 77.8". Last season the WWTP observed 32.3" while OSNW3 observed 47.2". That's a two season snowfall difference of 37.7". (The official 2007-2008 Winter season snowfall map)

"One of the keys to the longevity of the HIDEN precipitation network is that the people reading their gauges each morning have interest in the data. Some of the poorest quality data sets stem from people that have to record data as "part of their job." Having people interested in the quality of the data is crucial. Quality control of the data is done on two levels, at the regional level with the local agency and the state level mainly through the annual quality control project. Equally as crucial is annual feedback to each person recording data. This reassures the precipitation observer that their data are used, wanted and that they are contributing to a bigger picture." -- History of the High Spatial Density Precipitation Network in Minnesota

I wonder what quality controls the NWS instills... I digress. :)