This page provides a download interface to IEM processed metadata/geometries associated with National Weather Service VTEC-enabled watch, warning, and advisory events. You can download this information on-demand in a zip-file (containing a shapefile + CSV), KML, or Microsoft Excel format.
If you are looking for a real-time source of warning shapefiles, you can find that here.
If you do not limit the state or WFO output,
you are limited to downloading 5 years of data at a time. The reason being
to keep the requests from timing out as the response content is delivered on
the fly.
Related: SPC Convective Discussions SPC/WPC Outlooks SPC Watch Polygons WPC Precip Discussions
Backend documentation for scripting against this service.
Shapefile DBF schema:
A discussion of the schema can be found on the FAQ Page for this dataset.
Pre-generated zip files
These files are same as you could download from the form on the left, just you don't have to wait so long! A script runs at around 2 AM Central Time each day to dump the current year's data. The date stamps with each file denote when they were generated.
| Year | All | Limit Tor,Svr,Mar,FF | Limit Storm Based Tor,Svr,Mar,FF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Zip (4.26 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (4.26 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1987 | Zip (3.43 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (3.43 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1988 | Zip (3.43 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (3.43 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1989 | Zip (5.06 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (5.06 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1990 | Zip (6.41 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (6.41 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1991 | Zip (5.91 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (5.91 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1992 | Zip (6.1 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (6.1 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1993 | Zip (6.58 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (6.58 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1994 | Zip (7.42 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (7.42 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1995 | Zip (10.51 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (10.51 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1996 | Zip (11.63 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (11.63 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1997 | Zip (11.53 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (11.53 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1998 | Zip (15.11 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (15.11 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 1999 | Zip (11.76 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (11.76 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 2000 | Zip (11.53 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (11.53 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 2001 | Zip (11.42 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (11.42 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | N/A |
| 2002 | Zip (17.27 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (17.27 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (1.66 MB, 05 Mar 2024) |
| 2003 | Zip (18.61 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (18.61 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (2.61 MB, 05 Mar 2024) |
| 2004 | Zip (19.82 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (19.82 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (2.92 MB, 05 Mar 2024) |
| 2005 | Zip (37.63 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (15.62 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2006 | Zip (102.88 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (18 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.62 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2007 | Zip (117.93 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (16.25 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.05 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2008 | Zip (174.16 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (28.69 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (4.52 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2009 | Zip (170.41 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (25.38 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.69 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2010 | Zip (180.84 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (23.82 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.54 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2011 | Zip (192.35 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (32.04 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (4.44 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2012 | Zip (177.29 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (24.85 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.49 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2013 | Zip (168.39 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (21.79 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.14 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2014 | Zip (168.93 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (20.11 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (2.99 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2015 | Zip (161.63 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (22.93 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.46 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2016 | Zip (151.73 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (22.51 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.35 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2017 | Zip (160.39 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (22.79 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.47 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2018 | Zip (170.23 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (21.43 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.33 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2019 | Zip (175.3 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (25.35 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.86 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2020 | Zip (163.27 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (23.33 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.33 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2021 | Zip (186.92 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (22.73 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.46 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2022 | Zip (211.17 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (24.08 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (3.59 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2023 | Zip (217.54 MB, 05 Mar 2024) | Zip (27.79 MB, 10 Apr 2024) | Zip (4.31 MB, 10 Apr 2024) |
| 2024 | Zip (81.47 MB, 24 Apr 2024) | Zip (5.26 MB, 24 Apr 2024) | Zip (0.67 MB, 24 Apr 2024) |
Service changes:
- 10 Apr 2024: Polygons associated with CANcel VTEC events when the event is still active for other areas have been culled from the database and thus this portal. These were not providing any value and were confusing users.
- 12 Mar 2019: Added
UPDATEDcolumn to the dataset providing the timestamp of the most recent NWS Text Product for the event. - 3 Feb 2016: This service used to allow the download
of the high-resolution AWIPS counties/zones shapes. Sadly, the size
of these polygons would overwhelm the backend data service. So now
this service only returns the simplified county/zone polygons. You
may wish to do a join against the
AWIPS Geodatabase to
get the high resolution depiction. The
NWS_UGCcolumn is what you would use to join.
Archive status:
| Dataset component | Start Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado Severe T'storm Flash Flood Special Marine |
1 Jan 2002 (Polygons)
1 Jan 1986 (Counties) |
Only the initial polygon is used. Polygon updates in the SVS statements are ignored. The VTEC attributes didn't appear until they became operational. |
| All VTEC watch/warn | 12 Nov 2005 | Products other than Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. |
| SVR,TOR Watch by County | 12 Nov 2005 |