This site provides forecasts and outlooks for severe weather events, such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and fire weather, over the contiguous United States. It is maintained by the **NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center (SPC)**, which is a national center for environmental prediction that specializes in severe weather forecasting and analysis. The site offers various products, such as:

– Current Convective Outlooks: These are graphical and textual forecasts for organized severe thunderstorms over the next three days. They indicate the risk categories (marginal, slight, enhanced, moderate, or high) and the probabilities of tornadoes, hail, and wind for different regions of the country. They are updated several times a day based on the latest weather observations and models.
– Current Mesoscale Discussions: These are short-term discussions that highlight areas of interest for severe weather potential within the next few hours. They provide information on the meteorological reasoning, expected evolution, and threat level of severe weather phenomena. They are issued as needed by SPC forecasters.
– Current Weather Watches: These are alerts that indicate areas where conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms or tornadoes. They specify the type of watch (severe thunderstorm or tornado), the duration, the affected counties or states, and the primary threats (such as large hail, damaging winds, or tornadoes). They are issued by SPC in coordination with local National Weather Service offices.
– Thunderstorm Outlooks: These are probabilistic forecasts of thunderstorm occurrence over the next 24 hours. They depict the expected geographic areas of thunderstorms with 10%, 40%, and 70% probabilities in 4 or 8 hour time periods. They are useful for planning purposes and general awareness of thunderstorm activity.
– Fire Weather Outlooks: These are graphical and textual forecasts of fire weather conditions over the next eight days. They indicate the areas of elevated, critical, or extremely critical fire weather potential based on factors such as temperature, humidity, wind, and drought. They also provide information on dry thunderstorms, which can ignite wildfires. They are updated twice a day by SPC forecasters.

The site also provides access to historical data, verification statistics, research publications, educational resources, and contact information for SPC staff. The site is intended to serve as a decision support tool for emergency managers, public officials, media, and the general public who need timely and accurate information on severe weather hazards.