Columbia Weather Systems

“It came in real handy for Hurricane Hanna,” said Danny Ramirez, Director of Communications and Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator for the  City of Pharr , Texas. Danny sent us a message with the attached photo showing wind speed of 91.9 mph displayed on their new WeatherMaster֭™ Software. Hanna was the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season, making landfall in southern Texas late on July 25, just about a week after the City of Parr received their Magellan M X600™ weather station from CWS. The weather monitoring system was purchased with an emergency preparedness grant through Coastal Bend Regional Advisory Council. The image shows WeatherMaster’s Daily Statistics Screen which displays statistical data for a user-selected date. It reports minimum, average, and maximum values for key parameters including temperature, humidity, wind, and barometric pressure.  WeatherMaster displays Maximum Wind Speed at 91.9 mph during Hurricane Hanna .

This Day in History: On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law, establishing NASA as a civilian agency. Columbia Weather is proud to play a small role in space research and exploration efforts, supplying high quality weather monitoring equipment to NASA facilities across the U.S for over 17 years. Space shuttle Atlantis is seen at a 2011 launch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. (NASA/Bill Ingalls) 🚀 Learn more about NASA's history here

“Our city is really built on oil and gas and agriculture, so we have a large presence of oil and gas development with a lot of hazardous materials in our community.” In the video*, Fire Chief Fred Burrows explains the requirement for the Hazmat Command Truck for the City of Fort St. John, British Columbia.  The specs include an Orion™ Weather Station with WeatherMaster™ Software. Located along the Alaska Hwy, the city of 25,000 has a fire protection area of 16 square miles, with highway rescue 200 km west and north. The Hazmat vehicle was built by SVI Trucks of Fort Collins, Colorado, featuring a dual slide-out command center equipped with the advanced technology, custom storage, and equipment to keep incident responders working in potential subzero temperatures. The Orion all-in-one meteorological sensor module is custom-mounted and stored in an enclosure on the roof. Interface to weather station is available with interconnected interior, exterior, and cab workstations providing u...

WHAS11 News Meteorologists pose in front of the Weather Beast. A bout a year ago, WHAS11 of Louisville, Kentucky, debuted the Weather Beast, a Dodge Ram specially outfitted for storm chasing and broadcast including a Magellan MX600™ Weather Station with Weather Display™ console and WeatherMaster™ Software. “While chasing storms and tornadoes with a vehicle like the Beast can be a thrill, the main goal is to match up what we see on the radar with live video of what’s happening from the ground.  We often call this ‘ground truth.’  This ability increases accuracy and immediately shows us and viewers at home how severe the weather actually is,” said  WHAS Chief Meteorologist Ben Pine in an announcement . “Yes, the Beast looks super cool, but more importantly, it is an amazing tool for the WHAS11 First Alert StormTeam."   The Magellan MX600 Weather Station includes ultrasonic wind speed and direction measurement, temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, and rainfal...

Orion Weather Stations are utilized by Bear Valley Electric for wildfire mitigation.  A s a critical part of their Wildfire Mitigation Plan, Bear Valley Electric Service (BVES) in California installed 20 Orion™ Weather Stations throughout their system. At 6800-ft elevation, with heavy forests and steep terrain, the area is considered high fire risk. With fire season growing more extreme statewide, the utility has put a new wildfire mitigation plan in place. Including vegetation management and equipment upgrades, operational improvements involve managing circuit controllers during fault conditions when re-energizing might be dangerous, as well as proactive shutoff (de-energization) during extremely high-risk weather conditions. Real-time meteorological data at the various locations can be monitored via a phone app, offering “instant data that experts can analyze when time is short.” Eric Cardella, Engineering Supervisor, says, “In terms of fire safety, that’s important so that...