2010-01-22 - New time index navigation

Because of lots of mails and suggestions from the users, we changed the time index navigation for the weather charts to somewhat more intuitive. We are still fine tuning it.

2009-07-22 - New charts and a few changes

New charts available are Geopotential Height at 500hPa and a combined chart of GPH and wind at 500hPa, both for the Nordic countries. Due to very strong resonance from the users, we also went back to rendering charts for the full 180h time. However, we have to keep an eye on the usage of ressources, so we might limit the timeframe again.

2009-07-01 - Website changes

We have made a few changes. Obvious is that the charts are now only rendered until +90h. GFS is in fact not so reliable that it really makes sense to render a huge amount of charts for the full time. The meteograms will still be until +180h. We are also experimenting with new color schemes for the shading in the combined charts. Some people with red/green weakness have asked for long to do something about the red shading. We are also reviewing the whole chart selection at the moment and checking which charts might be not so interesting and what new charts could we offer. And last but not least: The rendering has moved from the shared webserver to a nice 64-bit Phenom machine which was long overdue. Neobitti was quite unhappy about the performance demands of the rendering. Thanks to Neobitti for the patience yet!

2009-04-08 - OpenGrADS

Arlindo da Silva has integrated the functions from our "under the hood"-page into OpenGrADS.
OpenGrADS is a modified version of the widely used chart plotting tool GrADS which includes an interface for extensions and other improvements.
See The OpenGrADS Project Website.

2009-04-01 - New season

Welcome to the storm-season 2009!
We already received reports about a small thunderstorm so this year starts early in Finland :).
The calculation of Lifting Condesation Level had a little mistake. Thanks to Arlindo da Silva for noticing and telling us!

2008-06-08 - SRH 0-1km

Added SRH1 charts for Nordic and Finland.

2008-05-28 - Precipitation areas in CAPE/LLS/DLS charts

The CAPE/LLS/DLS combined charts now also contain the calculates precipitation areas to see where GFS is expecting initiation.

2008-05-20 - "Under the hood"

As creating this site really was lots of effort by means of collecting the information, finding procedures, formulas and equations an convert them to the GrADS scripting language, we decided to also provide some background information on how this charts are made. "Under the hood" presents a collection of GrADS script snippets to calculate various meteorological parameters. Feel free to use them in your own scripts. Of course, any contributions are very welcome!

2008-05-19 - SBCAPE and SRH 0-3km

In addition to the 180-0hPa AGL MLCAPE charts, now also SBCAPE charts are available. Also new are Storm-relative Helicity charts (SRH 0-3km) for Nordic and Finland.

2008-05-13 - CAPE/DLS/LLS and LCL

We now have the first combined parameters chart, showing CAPE 180-0mb, Deep Layer Shear and Low Level Shear. This chart should make the estimation of supercell potential much easier. We also now have Lifting Condensation Level as a regular chart for Nordic and Finland.

2008-05-05 - Meteograms modified

Added three layer cloud cover and pressure MSL to city forecasts and convective layer cloud cover to convective parameters forecasts.

2008-05-05 - Bulk shear 0-1km and 0-6km

Now we also have the important 0-1km (LLS) and 0-6km (DLS) bulks shear charts for Nordic and Finland.

2008-05-04 - Vertical velocity at 700hPa

On user request, we included charts for the vertical movement on 700hPa for Nordic and Finland.

2008-05-02 - TT and SWEAT indices

Newly available are charts for the Total Totals Index. Charts for the SWEAT index are currently under development and available as experimental charts.

2008-05-01 - Navigation changed

The navigation was changed for better usability. The space for new charts was getting tight in the top menu row so we swapped the chart and the time selection position.

2008-03-25 - Stability index under test

We are currently working on an atmospheric stability index based on Theta-E values.

2008-03-25 - New charts: EPT 500hPa for Nordic and Finland

Now also the Equivalent Potential Temperature / Theta-E at 500hPa is available for Nordic and for Finland maps.

2008-03-24 - Convective parameters forecast for regional capitals

In addition to the general meteograms, I included a 7 days forecast showing CAPE, Convective Inhibition, Lifted Index, Equivalent Potential Temperature at 850hPa, Dew point 2m above ground and the convective precipitation rate for each regional capital. Together with the storm probability index which is under development at the moment, this should give storm chasers and other interested people a good idea of the probability of convective weather events in the upcoming season.

2008-03-22 - Temperature forecast changed to meteograms

The temperature forecasts are now meteograms showing not only the temperature but also the wind speed and the precipitation rate and type. Further data will be included in the future.
This charts are also now rendered on this server - again thanks to Wesley Ebisuzaki!

2008-03-18 - 7 days temperature forecast for region capitals

I started a test for creating 7 days temperature forecasts for the regional capitals. Those charts currently are rendered on a different server for technical reasons so they might be not up to date. Also, consider those forecasts as experimental. There need to be some work done about it.

2008-03-16 - Moved EPT charts from test to regular

As there were no negative comments about the Equivalent Potential Temperature at 850hPa charts, I moved the charts for Nordic countries from the test section to the main selection and added EPT 850hPa also for Finland charts. First rendering is today at 2000 EET.

2008-03-09 - Stormchasing on the Baltic Sea

On Feb. 29th, I went to Germany with the ferry "Superfast IX". Because of the system "Emma", the ride was pretty rough.
I would like to thank the crew of the "Superfast IX" for a safe and nice journey and I wish to emphasize the high professionalism and great service of Intendant Reimi Kits and his team!

2008-02-25 - Layout modifications

I changed the layout for better fit in 1024x768 resolution. Also the navigation in the chart display has been changed for better accessibility.

2008-02-23 - Stormchaser shop

In cooperation with Spreadshirt, we started our new stormchaser shop. In there, we offer a selection of high quality clothing and some accessories like coffee mugs or car stickers. If you think, some product is missing, please join our mailing list and tell us your suggestions.

2008-02-15 - New chart: EPT 850hPa

On user request, I have included a chart for Equivalent Potential Temperature for the Nordic contries. This chart is still in test mode and should be discussed in the mailing list if the data is plausible and the chart form is ok. It should also be discussed if it makes sense to render this chart also as a local chart for Finland. While testing, the chart is in the "special charts" section.

2008-02-14 - Feedback / Cleanups

The menu has been cleaned up to give some space for future charts. The feedback in the last 24 hours was amazing. Thanks for all the nice comments and suggestions and also for the critics!

2008-02-13 - Access to IRC chatrooms

Saakeskus.fi is providing access to the IRC chatrooms of the Stormchaser Europe Community and the Finnish stormchasers via a JAVA webclient.
Please check the Community page for more information.

2008-02-13 - Call for (more) links

If you have a good weather related website and would like us to link to your site, please drop us a mail.

2008-02-12 - Site launched

In the evening hours, the first release of the saakeskus.fi website was launched and the launch was announced via the Finnish stormchaser mailinglist and in IRC.