Tornado confusion - real or fake?

Many of you might have our Storm Team 12 app on your phone and rely on it frequently to stay up-to-date on where the heavy rains and storms are, and where they are going. There are many wonderful tools contained in the app, not the least of which are the watches and warnings that are issued by the National Weather Service. You also get a future radar, just like the one we show every day on TV.

Well something happened Tuesday night that created some panic and confusion (mainly for those in Cowley county). Take a look at the image above. This is a screen shot from a storm that intensified near Winfield around 9 p.m. and if you look carefully, there's a tornado marker near the storm. It's the red circle with a little tornado in the middle and a storm track that branches out to cover the city of Winfield. (You can click on the image to enlarge it) This had some users thinking either a tornado warning was in effect or that a tornado had been spotted southwest of the city.

This feature on the app (called Storm Tracks) is something that can be turned on and off. In very stormy periods, like we've had this week, if you have it turned on, there might be so many little icons that they cover the entire radar display. Storm Tracks within the app, is a piece of software that uses mathematical equations to help pin down the strongest storms. If you touch the icon, it will give you more detailed information about the storm, such as which way it's moving AND how fast. In the case Tuesday night, the software was calculating some rotation on that particular storm, which placed the tornado icon southwest of Winfield. No tornado was spotted and there was not a tornado warning.

As we've said before on TV, radar just gives one perspective of the storm. While there might have been some rotation in that particular spot, it was never strong enough to warrant a tornado warning. The storm did produce some large hail and we had some wind measured at 50 mph.

Personally, I don't use Storm Tracks because they usually clutter the screen and I would rather just see the radar. But if you are going to continue using the feature, please know it's a computer software calculation and regardless of which icon is where, it's NOT a confirmation of what is actually happening. I wish I had a way to make them better or a way to show only what was ACTUALLY reported, but we don't have any control over when and where they pop up.

You CAN turn off the Storm Tracks feature, and I'm posting images below to show you how this is done. You WILL still get watches and warnings that you've come to expect, but when you look at the radar, you won't see all those markers that might trick you into thinking you are in a tornado warning. And it's always a good idea to seek out some additional information if you just aren't sure. The app is a great tool, but it does have limitations.

Here's how you turn it on/off. Look for the 3 dots in the lower right corner of the screen:
Then, look for the boxes down toward the bottom and you might need to scroll to the right to find "Storm Tracks". Just by touching on the box will turn the feature on or off.