Columbia Weather Systems

  Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District has an impressive track record. In addition to 12 Gold Peak Performance Awards from the NACWA, they won the 2018 Plant of the Year award from the Illinois Association of Water Pollution Control Operators. The awards recognize the plant’s commitment to safety, permit compliance, cleanliness and maintenance, and operations staff knowledge. Among their efforts to improve plant efficiency and maintenance, the district purchased five Orion™ Weather Stations to monitor on-site conditions at the district’s two water treatment sites. One of five Orion™ Weather Stations installed at the plants . “In the past we would manually record and enter weather data,” Director of Operations Jake Callahan explained. “We first learned about Columbia Weather Systems in a featured article in one of the Operator magazines. This is where we originally learned about the equipment and its capability of interfacing with SCADA systems. We wanted to have w...

"It's the first day of autumn! A time of hot chocolatey mornings, and toasty marshmallow evenings, and, best of all, leaping into leaves!" -Winnie the Pooh Happy First Day of Autumn! Cooler temperatures and colorful changing leaves are upon us. What are you looking forward to the most this season? 🍂

“During my research, I found Columbia Weather Systems offered detailed yet simple information about their Weather Monitoring solutions.” Christopher Gayle, Environmental Specialist at Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited, gave us insight to how recently installed Capricorn FLX™ Weather Stations are an important element of operations at the terminal. Capricorn FLX Weather Station installed at Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited in Jamaica. Situated at one of the world’s largest natural harbors, Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited operates as the largest container handling facility in the Caribbean, facilitating the import and export of goods to and from Jamaica with over 1,000 containers delivered weekly according to their website.  Monitoring on-site meteorological parameters is valuable on several levels.  “The experience so far has been great, we are still in the early phase of usage and will engage with the CWS team to ensure we are maximizing on the full potential of the syst...

President Nader Khoury Nader Khoury started at Columbia Weather Systems 25 years ago , spinning a new company from the weather station division of Hinds Instruments, Inc. Capricorn, the reliable weather station, had been in production since 1981. While we have added additional models, the Capricorn FLX represents the fourth generation of our flagship Capricorn line of modular weather stations. Nader came to CWS with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Oregon State University and 10 years of experience in test and measurement technology. With his leadership, Columbia Weather Systems has become one of the most recognized brands in the industry. Nader with daughter Julia in the early days.

“Weather has a huge impact at wastewater treatment plants,” Patrick McGrath, Water Resource Recovery Facility Supervisor at City of San Luis Obispo (CA) recently shared with us. “Rain impacts the flows we receive but is hard to account for within our database.” When considering a solution, he said, “We wanted something that would be automatically collected that we could point to and say, ‘this is why flows were elevated during this time.’” “The better we can track temperature, the better we can forecast/respond to changes in weather,"  Patrick continued.  “ Air quality and safety are a high priority. Knowing which direction and how strong the wind is blowing can ensure adequate response in the event of an emergency.” The City of San Luis Obispo’s Water Resource Recovery Facility treats 4.5 million gallons of wastewater daily in central California. A Pulsar 700 Weather Station was recently installed at the plant as part of a major facility upgrade that will help improve over...

Some of our customers really take weather monitoring to the next level! In the video below, WKRG News 5 in Mobile, Alabama debuts The Beast, their new mobile weather lab with the Pulsar 800 Weather Station : “From hurricanes to tornadoes to flash floods, it’s safe to say the Gulf Coast has some of the wildest, most active weather in the country. Reporting on these life changing weather events is top priority for WKRG News 5.” If you take weather monitoring seriously, check out our professional weather stations at Columbiaweather.com or give us a call! If video does not display, click here .

Take a look at this “Storm Center on Wheels”! Built by LDV for Delmarva Power in Delaware, this Mobile Command Vehicle is equipped with a Magellan MX500 Weather Station and a Panel Mount Weather Display. According to a CBS Philly article , “Delmarva says crews have been improving the electrical grid to provide safe and reliable service. State and county emergency management officials say now is the time to prepare for severe weather. ” The Panel Mount Display (center) is shown in the interior of the vehicle. Delmarva Power’s social media posts also highlight the vehicle being dispatched to storm-hit areas in the wakes of Hurricanes Irma and Dorian. Curious how professional weather monitoring equipment can benefit your operations? Visit the links below: →  5 Reasons Incident Response Needs a Weather Station → Vehicle-Mount Weather Stations   → Emergency Management Application   Photos courtesy of LDV Inc.

"A big push for utilities in the Pacific Northwest is to attempt to prevent wildfires within their respective service territories. UEC has invested a ton of effort to support this big push, and ultimately stay ahead of it. We installed the Orion at a piece of downline equipment in our more high-risk area, and have the information it provides returned to our system control room...” –Electric System Engineer Ryan Young Thanks to Oregon utility Umatilla Electric Cooperative for sharing with us how they use weather data from an Orion Weather Station for critical decision-making. Read the Application Page by Clicking Here . Thanks for reading, and make sure to s tay up to date with Columbia Weather by following us on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube !

"It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside." ―Maud Hart Lovelace Happy First Day of Summer! ☀️ Wherever you are, we hope you are enjoying the weather and are keeping safe in the heat! For summer safety tips, check out the National Weather Service’s resource here: https://www.weather.go#summerweather Photo credit: Nader Khoury