Social Media's Influence on Storm Chasing (courtesy of AccuWeather.com)

Earlier today, AccuWeather.com posted an exclusive video that featured The Northeast Quadrant and its blogger and manager, Devin Matthew Toporek.

The video tells the story of how social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter are allowing anyone to instantly broadcast weather-related information, and the idea that perhaps storm chasing be left to the pros... Or should it? You decide as AccuWeather's Katie Fehlinger looks in-depth at how the ease of today's communication impacts news credibility.

The video is just over six minutes in length and worth the watch, but if you want to see just The Northeast Quadrant and Devin, scroll to minute 3:10! View the video here.

Severe Weather with a Chance of Tweets!

The National Weather Service (NWS) is now looking to weather spotters like us to report severe weather via "tweets" on Twitter.

The NWS is most interested in reports of large-scale weather events such as snowfall, severe weather and flooding, and anyone with a Twitter account can participate. Weather tweeters are asked to briefly describe the event, when it occurred, and where if the person doesn't have geotagging capability. Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification data to various media such as photographs, video, websites, etc.

The NWS says one of the greatest benefits to using Twitter for weather reports is the capability of geotagging the location of a tweet. During last week's severe thunderstorms that stretched through several Southern states, three tornadoes were confirmed with tweets. One showed a photo of a touchdown in Howardwick, Texas.

To post a weather tweet that's accessible by the NWS, you'll take one of two steps:

1. For those without the geotagging option, you'll log into your Twitter account via the Web or mobile device and submit the tweet in the following format: #wxreport WW your location WW your significant weather report.

2. For those with geotagging, first make sure the function is turned on and then submit the tweet as follows: #wxreport your significant weather report.

For more information on weather tweets and how to access such reports for your area, visit www.weather.gov/stormreports.

Watching Today's 6.5 Quake on Twitter - Courtesy Of USGS

Tonight's 6.5-magnitude earthquake which struck off California's northern coast put a new US Geological Survey (USGS) Twitter Based Earthquake system to the test.

Thanks to some TARP funds, USGS developed the Twitter Early Detection project or TED. The system gathers real-time, earthquake-related messages from the social networking site Twitter and applies place, time, and key word filtering to gather geo-located accounts of shaking.

While only anecdotal evidence, Twitter users report information about quakes in a matter of seconds, whereas accurate scientific information can take from 2 to 20 minutes. By adopting and embracing these new technologies, the USGS potentially can augment its earthquake response products and the delivery of hazard information.

I think this innovative use ofnew technologies by USGS is awesomeness! Check out the google map of tweets from today's earthquake here.