Enter your classifier ID
Use consistent initials or an assigned identifier. SVRCLIP appends a browser-session suffix so two people entering the same text do not overwrite one another.
Classification guide
How to use the Classify tool.
Build a queue, inspect the valid-time radar image and its evolution, assign the two required labels, add useful tags, and save your work.
Quick start
A complete classification in six steps.
Primary storm mode and data quality are required. Meteorological/context and subjective/reviewer tags are optional and nonexclusive.
Define the queue
Optionally filter by event ID, hazard, year, catalog morphology, state, or maximum reflectivity. Leave filters blank to use every event with a mapped preview.
Choose queue order
Sequential order is the default. Enable Randomize queue order to create a stable shuffle for that run. Clicking Start / apply again creates a new shuffle.
Inspect the radar
Classify the storm associated with the report at the valid time. Use the −1 hour to +1 hour animation as context for organization, evolution, artifacts, and timing.
Assign labels and tags
Select one primary storm mode and one data-quality label. Add any meteorological/context or subjective/reviewer tags that materially describe the case.
Save and continue
Save & next writes the selection and advances. Skip and Next move without saving. Previous returns to the prior queue item.
Primary storm mode
Label the report-associated echo.
Choose the morphology most directly associated with the severe report at valid time—not every echo visible within the 136 × 136 image.
- 1 Discrete cellular
- 2 Cellular cluster
- 3 Linear / QLCS
- 4 Embedded / hybrid
- 5 Tropical cyclone
- 6 Other / ambiguous
- 7 No associated echo
Data quality
Record usability separately.
A difficult or unusual morphology is not automatically poor quality. Use quality to describe whether the radar evidence can support a classification.
- Good
- Partial sequence
- Missing valid time
- Artifact / noise
- Domain edge
- Unusable other
Missing valid time: use this when the report-time frame is unavailable. Partial sequence means the valid frame is usable but one or more surrounding frames are missing.
Optional annotations
Add context without changing the primary class.
Tags are searchable in Explore. Multiple tags may be applied to the same event.
Meteorological/context tags
Use these for physical structures or evolution visible in the still image or sequence. “In image” tags may describe features elsewhere in the domain, even when they are not the report-associated echo.
Subjective/reviewer tags
Use these as review cues for unusual, uncertain, or especially useful examples. They are intentionally separate from meteorological labels and quality control.
Navigation
Move efficiently.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| 1–7 | Select a primary storm mode |
| S | Skip the current event without saving |
| ← / → | Move to the previous or next event |
Keyboard shortcuts are ignored while an input or menu has focus.
Review and export
Revise without losing provenance.
- Returning to an event loads your saved label and tags.
- Save again to replace your own classification for that event.
- Clear my label removes your saved classification and its tags.
- Export my CSV downloads all classifications stored under your effective classifier ID.
Avoid anchoring bias: the catalog label stays hidden until you deliberately reveal it. Classify independently before viewing it.
Random queues: the shuffle is stable while you move through the current queue. Reapplying the filters starts a new randomized run, so previously skipped or labeled events may appear at a different position.