Just got the game..

[Tarne]

But how do you play it? The tutorial is completely lacking or is this game meant for people who are meteorologists? There aren't even any good youtube videos on how to play. I don't want to play multiplayer and just follow people around, if I had paid more attention I would not have bought knowing the focus is there. I don't know, I just cant make any sense of all the radar screens. I need an in game co-pilot I can higher to tell me where tornadoes might be.

[Christiantjuh073]

you need to read the map and predict via the tools where the tornado gonna touch down. its difficult in the beginning but i learned it like this. but then you need to play online or in a private match. if you wanr you can add me as a friend and we can chase togheter. i can learn you some things but im still learning myself. once you get to know the tools you need chasing becomes really fun. escpecially if you play with some friends. there are alot of different scenarios which can spawn twin tornados. ive had some really long track tornados from 1 side to the other side of the map.

[KangKodos]

It is kinda hard to explain here without the radar to show you what i get looking at. And where the red and green (but it can be blue too) mix and the how brightly colored it is can kind of vary in whats producing or not on the velocity radar(you want bright greens and reds mixing most the time in an area that's mostly green) (that is kinda the simplest way i can put it without typing a ton). There is almost always a thunder storm warning though in the area first (yellow polygon). I am no expert at all just a gamer with a little,... very little... weather radar knowledge.

[Goodtime Charlie]

Watch the map for tornado warnings. Those are the big red boxes that enclose a certain area. Find the tornado in that area, and then get out of your car and press R. Left click to report. This will pin a tornado icon on the map where the tornado is. Keep following and reporting it as often as you can. Should be able to report every couple minutes.

After you've pinned a few reports, use the timeline tool on the map to rewind the radar and wind direction data. You will be able move the playhead back and forth to see the data follow the pins you placed on the map and that'll show you what to start looking for to identify the tornado.

[Boomer21]

Like others have said, it's sort of hard to explain without looking at the map with you. However I will attempt a really brief and simply explanation. When you are looking at the map, you will want to look at reflectivity, velocity, and CAPE pages. Reflectivity shows you rain/hail intensity. Typically you will want to focus your attention on areas that are red or pink as these indicate intense rain or large hail consistent with a strong updraft which is one component of a tornado. Once you find these areas, I typically take a look at the CAPE values. If you are on the map page, you will need to hit "Q" and go down a page to find the CAPE values. The bright reds and pinks indicate areas of high instability. This areas are right for the strengthening of updrafts. Basically, your odds of finding a strong tornado in these areas are greater than areas with limited instability. Lastly, if you find a particularly potent looking storm, you will want to use the velocity mode. This essentially tells you areas where wind is going to and away from the radar site. What you will find in strong storms where there is a green area meeting with a red area. This indicates winds moving in opposite directions which strongly suggests rotation. You will see that as these two areas come together, they will sometimes turn a bright green/red. Where you see this is the almost certainly a funnel cloud or a full blown tornado.

This was a really brief explanation but once you use these tools, you will be surprised to find yourself predicting tornadoes before warnings are issued and giving you plenty of time to take pictures, report, and probe tornadoes.

[Swisspike]

Originally posted by KangKodos:

It is kinda hard to explain here without the radar to show you what i get looking at. And where the red and green (but it can be blue too) mix and the how brightly colored it is can kind of vary in whats producing or not on the velocity radar(you want bright greens and reds mixing most the time in an area that's mostly green) (that is kinda the simplest way i can put it without typing a ton). There is almost always a thunder storm warning though in the area first (yellow polygon). I am no expert at all just a gamer with a little,... very little... weather radar knowledge.

What you are looking for are called TVS, or Tornado Vortex Signatures. In relation to the weather radar, you are looking for radial INBOUND close to radial OUTBOUND. This will show you the tight rotation.

REAL severe weather forecasters (me, from the mid '70s on, for the next several decades) will use the TSIT..or Tilt Sequence Interrogation Technique to find the mid-level overhang..where the developing rear flank downdraft (RFD) is wrapping down and around the updraft core. I don't suppose you have the ability here to adjust the radar beam. Not sure even how far away from the cell it is..not with the MOST distance it can be from the radar is 25 miles. Absurd. I have spotted HOOK echoes on my AN-FPS77 from 60 miles away. The scale of this game is all wrong.

If you have access to the steering winds for the parent storm (I don't have this game..don't plan to..I use to teach this stuff, and this game is crap), then you can track this TVS as it moves downstream.

Visually, find the southwest part of the storm, respective to movement, and approach from the south. IF the game is any good, then finding the most likely location of the tornado will be trivial. Only one place it CAN be.