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Spotters, activate!

The National Weather Service concludes its cataclysmic forecast for this afternoon ("AN ISOLATED TORNADO OR WATERSPOUT IS POSSIBLE") with

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED TODAY

Our very own Kaz ponders this:

I imagine something like Power Rangers. "Spotters, ACTIVATE!"

Ben Jackson, who actually is a weather spotter, reveals some of the secrets:

No helmets, spandex, or decoder rings, but we do get a hotline to the NWS office and a spotter ID code.

William Ricker alerts us that Twitter users can tweet damage to @wx1box.

Oh, and about that forecast. NECN's Matt Noyes concludes a technical overview of the impending doom with:

Due to the rapid speed of these storms, it's imperative that the meteorological community prepare the public to be ready to take shelter immediately upon hearing thunder, and keeping an eye to the western horizon. We don't often see such fast moving storms here in New England, and this will be a defining characteristic. Regardless of damage done, my concern is that we have folks understanding "dark sky" to storm on top of you may be a very short period of time Thursday afternoon.

Ed. question: Why does the National Weather Service still CAPITALIZE EVERYTHING? Are they still sending out alerts via telegraph?

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Comments

Isn't capitalization still one of the only ways to be absolutely clear in character usage regardless of font? Thus, they avoid potential "is that an L, I, or a 1?" problems.

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Plus the forecasts go to a wide variety of devices - boats, weatherfax, etc. It's easier to read all caps when you're bouncing around on a boat looking at a tiny screen.

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Good Lord. I'm getting afraid to go to work, since it involves a mile-long walk RIGHT WHEN WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE. I mean, when the storm might hit. I think.

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Indeed - in true New England fashion - all this pre-warning is a guarantee that none of these super storms will be forming. :)

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Generally, the more apocalyptic the forecast, the less apocalyptic the weather. So I guess it might rain today, unless all the storms go north of us again.

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Although I'm not sure how it would fit into the existing system, I'm sure Harvey would be grinning doing the forecast today.

Still mostly sunny here across the river in Cambridge; I'm even thinking of risking it all and walking over to the pool for a swim.

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Does the Boston area have tornado sirens? How else does one know when to get the camera ready?

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tornado sirens. After all, they are such rare events around here.

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Not THAT rare. MA is 17 among states in Tornados/Square mile.

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nt

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Looks like Oklahoma from this map: http://www.tornadochaser.net/images/frequency.gif

This list only gives the top 10: http://www.tornadoproject.com/toptens/topten1.htm

And I've found other cites that put Mass. at 14th in Tornadoes/10k square miles. So, my number might have been a little outdated.

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We're rare, but we do get them and we are a rather small state in comparison to thoes that do get them.

There was a F5 that ripped through western ma, through worcester, and half way to boston back in the 40's or 50's.

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in Massachusetts since then. Or a tornado that stayed on the ground for so long either.

Which is why broad statistics like 'tornados per square mile' are truly meaningless - as they don't take into account key factors like severity, which is pretty darn important if you're discussing the impact of storms.

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Because I've been hitting that key like crazy on Accuweather.com for the past half hour.

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Well, not dedicated tornado sirens, but I am surprised Boston doesnt have air raid/tornado/tsunami/world-cup-victory sirens.

Surely someone at one point though the soviets would bomb Boston?

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The hourly predicted temperatures for this afternoon go like this:

2PM: 88
3PM: 88
4PM: 86
5PM: 74
6PM: 83
7PM: 80

It's like a Sesame Street skit...
Which one of these things is not like the others?
Which one of these things just doesn't belong?

I have never seen the temperature dip that fast and then return back again immediately afterwards!

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That's when a line of T-storms is supposed to roll through.

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According to my Weather Channel bug, it is currently 93F in the Back Bay.

No mid-western girls, small dogs, witches or houses have been spotted yet.

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About 15 minutes ago. But no death clouds. However, Bridgeport, CT apparently declared a state of emergency after some hyperweather, so maybe it's headed this way.

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There's an ugly cell over Athol right now that should be here in an hour or so.

There's some real potential for "bookend vortices" forming on the north and south side (which is the precursor to tornadoes).

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Just like [CUE MUSIC OF DOOM] the Worcester Tornado of 1953 (via).

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According to NECN radar, which shows a string of cells trailing behind along the turnpike.

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IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/NECN.jpg)

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...there's macroburst all over my skirt. Ew.

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IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/AlGoreIsFat.jpg)

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...current Boston temperature is 94.

;~{

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From 2:30 until 5, I was in an (overly) air-conditioned building. Yet my brain somehow nonetheless found out about the sharp changes in weather and decided at about 4:30 to send out the "stop using me right now or I will explode" memo. I found a cow orker to cover my evening stuff and came home to take a bunch of Zomg and put ice packs on my head. Dammit sky.

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it's the same reason legal warnings are printed in uppercase: it is harder to speed read because people are not accustomed to it. It makes you slow down and read more carefully. At least, in theory.

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And don't forget WBZ loves getting pictures, video, and reports as well. Visit http://wbztv.com/weatherwatchers to share.

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I took this shot of the storm over Kenmore Square a few minutes ago. The skies are STILL blue over Boston but it just started to rain and gust here.

http://yfrog.com/mwrjjj

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Adam, you really need a twister alert system fer shur! Bulkheads? Fribbles?

Makes me glad to be in a happy place right now, with fine weather: in the 70s with 40% humidity and strong coffee.

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