How does Almanac track storms?

How does Almanac track storms?

Almanac tracks storms with a layered weather-intelligence stack — NWS forecasts and alerts, radar and precipitation observations (including MRMS NEXRAD-style watershed precip), USGS flow rises, and SPC risk tiers — composed into per-region storm buckets and per-river lifecycle states (inbound, active, recovering) with human-readable signal labels. Storm tracking on Almanac means knowing not only that rain is forecast, but whether a pulse is hitting the alley now, which rivers are rising, and when recovery windows open. The detectors use forecast precipitation from NWS grids on river locations; observed precipitation from radar and MRMS and other precip sources, rolled into per-river rates and 1-hour, 6-hour, and 24-hour accumulations with source priority and staleness fallbacks; flow response from sharp rises on USGS gauges; NWS watches and warnings; SPC severe-weather outlook tiers; and hydro forecasts from AHPS predicted rises where those are available. Those inputs become regional bucket triggers — for example heavy radar precip, broad rain, an NWS alert, or rising flow — and a per-river lifecycle state. Machine signals are mapped to plain labels such as "Heavy rain falling now" and "Flow up sharply in the last hour." Anglers see storm banners on river pages and index widgets, storm cards and headlines during active events, and a storm pulse projection. That timing axis answers what the storm will do to a river over the next roughly 6–18 hours (opening, closing, blown, or recovering), with projected flows and confidence. It stays separate from the daily rating so hour-scale decisions stay clear. Personal forecast emails use storm language only when the user's own drive-radius buckets are active.