We've launched a number of improvements on our Weather Photo Gallery... check them out today, and if you have some spare time this lazy Memorial Day Weekend, please upload some pics (I know some of you have massive archives stored up; personally I'm closing in on Photo #10,000 taken with my new camera I got in 2006).

Public Ratings!

Everyone can now rate photos on the Gallery, even without having an account (see yellow highlighted area below). We hope this will cause a spike in the number of photos that have over 10 ratings, making our Highest Rated areas more dynamic. Tell us what you think of the Top 10 (or 100!) highest rated photos today, and when you see one you like any day, rate it at "5"!

Photos "This Day":

In addition to the "More photos by user" and "Other photos in this set" thumbnails that appear to the right of the photo pages, we're adding "Other photos this day." This will be an automatic link to other photos that the photographer took on the same date. I think this will be a really great addition that will lead to more "exposure" for the pics (pun intended!) Click here to see the photo illustrated above.

Improved Navigation:

We've shifted some things around in our main navigation to make the site easier to use - see the areas highlighted in yellow above. Here's a list of where things moved (if you used our old Gallery, the AccuWeather.com Photo Gallery Twitter page has a link to a graphic comparing the two navigations).

Home, Login/Logout: These crucial links moved to the left hand side of the page.

Status: A new link to our Twitter updates has been added, and replaced the red link at the top of the page that was put there during last Summer's system issues. Any upgrades, system outages, helpful hints, etc. will be posted to the Twitter feed.

Blog: This is a new link to my blog entries tagged with "photos." I often feature photos from the Gallery, or talk about weather and storm photography. (This is the same as clicking on "Photos" in "Blog Categories" to your right).

Snapshot: Here you'll be linked to the AccuWeather.com Video Player to see which Moderator's Picks made it into the "Weather Snapshot" video which airs every weekend on the Local AccuWeather Channel (seen on digital television in over 50 markets). This is another way that our users' photos can be seen by a worldwide audience.

User Panel: When you login, you'll be presented with a new "User Panel" -- a green box which will contain all the links you need to manage your account, including Upload Photos, My Photos, My Sets (Manage Sets), and Edit Profile.

Most Commented & Most Viewed:

You're now more than control than ever when you want to find the hottest photos on our site. The front page of our Gallery now allows you to switch from "Highest Rated" to "Most Commented" and "Most Viewed" (highlighted in yellow above). You may be surprised what photos you'll find there! You can also switch amongst "Overall", "Monthly" and "Weekly" when checking out our best pics.

Share Your Photos on Facebook!

Are you on Facebook.com? It's easier than ever to let your friends know that you've uploaded photos to the AccuWeather.com Photo Gallery - and they'll even see a thumbnail of your photo when you post it! Simply click on the "What's On Your Mind" box, then click "Link".

Paste in a link to a Photo (or a Set!) and click on "Attach" (you may want to choose a different thumbnail first in case Facebook "guesses" the wrong one).

P.S.: Don't forget to "Become a Fan" of AccuWeather.com on Facebook! We sometimes share some of the AccuWeather.com Photo Gallery pics with all of the fans on our Facebook page.

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