Stormsurf has created a unique toolset known as Powertools. They are software utilities that consolidate meteorological data of a common theme from one or more sites onto an easy to view page. They’re designed to provide access to large amounts of data for quick analysis with minimal keystrokes, and are used extensively to develop Stormsurf forecasts.
Powertools are graphics intensive and operate best if substantial bandwidth is available (e.g. Cable Modem, ISDN, DSL or T1-T3 Internet connectivity). Each tool presents data in either Powerview mode (all images on one page) or via traditional links (one image at a time). Unfortunately, some good data must still be accessed the old fashion way (one link/page at a time) because it is stored on host servers in ways that prevent easy extraction.
Stormsurf provides an extensive list of weather related links. Many more are available on the Internet, but we think those included here enable one to get very detailed data quickly and reliably. Generally, links are arranged in quality order (unless noted otherwise).
Always check the dates and times of the graphics/content displayed to insure it is current. Since most data in the Chartroom is obtained from sites external to STORMSURF, we have no control of how often the data is updated, though most have a very dependable history. If some images do not download, are old, or are blank, it may be due to outages or problems being experienced by the host site.
If you have some links you'd like to share, send us an email using the 'Contact' link at the bottom of the page.
Also notice the absence of significant advertising on the Powertools pages. That's because the images are not ours, but served up from other sites, mostly government or academic/educational. It would not be ethical (or legal) for us to try and make money off someone else's hard work. The owner of these site retain the copyrights to their images, not Stormsurf. Yes, we run our header at the top of the page and whatever ads we're running in the header at the time are posted, but these ads are not a significant source of revenue. To the greatest extent possible we try to give credit where it is due. Please click on the link provided on each page (e.g. Courtesy of: SiteA) to see more from the home site.
Likewise, if for some reason data is not displaying, or displaying incorrectly, it's likely due to a problem occurring on that sites server. Stormsurf has no control over what is happening at these sites, and we have no service level agreement with them. If there are significant problems, and they happen to be with sites and pages that we use often, we'll try to contact the data owner, but again, we are at their mercy, just like you. Likewise, we try to keep the pages current, but there are hundreds of pages within the Chartroom, and since we provide them as a public service, it's a lower priority.
We hope you find these tools as useful as we have.
