As a QLCS moved through Tennessee and the threat for severe dropped, we were thinking of a way to message the persistent lightning threat that would still be present. We leaned on the Lightning Cast tool to message this threat.

Before we made the image though, the idea came up to re-do the contours such that they better aligned with the style guide the NWS, or SPC more specifically uses (img. 1). Image two shows how we added two contours and realigned the colors to add consistency with other operational areas of the NWS.

Image two: Lightning Cast with a new 5 and 90 percent contour added and colors of the contours aligned with the risk colors used elsewhere in the NWS. In the background is channel 2- Red Visible satellite.

We compared this with the base style from the lightning cast tool and we felt that our updated style better captured our eyes and made it simpler to interpret by us. We also felt that the public would have a better chance of understanding the product if the colors were more consistent.