Welcome back!
Yes, the site was in the dark ages for a couple years there, but we’re back with a new redesign as well as a few new features that should make the site a lot more interesting for our viewers.
Initially, you should notice the new design. The site was re-designed for a few reasons. First, the site was a little bit difficult to navigate and find your way around. We’ve, hopefully, alleviated that by putting some of the most accessed aspects of the site, near the most important area — the map.
Above the map and to the right, is our storm count for that day, as well as a broken out view for each type of report. Additionally, by clicking the text links for each type, you can selectively view each type on its own. To you left you should notice an input box to pull up past storm reports older than three days. Clicking inside the input box should pop up a calendar that let’s you select the date visually rather than having to type it in manually.
Below the map are different layer options that you can turn on and off. The convective outlook layer is provided through the Storm Prediction Center, while the radar and storm warnings layers are provided by the Iowa State Environmental Mesonet.
New map icons should help to better distinguish different storm types, as well as providing important report information without even having to click on the marker. The Hail and Wind icons will show hail size and wind speed directly on the icon.
Daily storm reports are now updated every half hour rather than every hour, while previous day reports are updated every 6 hours.
With that, please let me know what your thoughts are on the new site design by either leaving a comment here or contacting me.