How can I tell when there is a spam storm?
A relatively easy and reliable way to recognize one of these "storms" is whenever your SNF engine starts "throwing Bs and Cs"- That is - you can check the second.stat or minute.stat file for Black and Caution hits:
<rates>
<c .. m>
<b .. m>
</rates>
On most systems Caution and Black events are relatively rare, but during a "storm" these numbers tend to be high.
It is conceivable that you could detect these conditions by checking the stat files and adjust your system's settings during a storm.