Columbia Weather Systems

🌀 June marks the start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, and we're throwing it back to our 2005 ReCap newsletter article by our resident meteorologist at the time, John Gerrish. John detailed how hurricanes are formed and tracked. He writes: "Hurricanes are the most dynamic and destructive of all atmospheric storms . . . We cannot stop hurricanes, so we must learn to get out of their way. Advanced warning is the most crucial part of the mitigation process, and learning more about these dynamic forces helps us to better understand and contend with nature’s most devastating storms." The details are just as relevant now as they were then - read the full article here . Preparing for storms ahead of time is key. Click here are some practical Hurricane Preparedness steps from NOAA.

“ H aving the best up-to-date information on when to shelter in place from hurricanes” was the goal for Tidelands Health to purchase Orion weather stations for two hospitals in South Carolina. Patrick J. Devlin is Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness for Tidelands. An early adopter of the CWS Cloud Weather Server, Devlin describes how he shares meteorological data regularly with staff and first responders and that it helps with real-time decision making: “This is the link I drive our organization and partners to due to the security of it not having to access our secure network.” Recently put to the test with Hurricane Isaias, Devlin commented, “We were able to monitor the storm through the cloud server. I was monitoring things from home and had no issues. I also know the weather stations were pulled up in the county emergency operations center and 911 center. It has been a great tool for us to share with our local emergency responders.” Thanks for the update! The CW...

“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 .

The roof was blown off a building in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, Canada, as high winds battered the area on November 29. The incident was brought to our attention by our customer Marine Atlantic. They contacted us with the data log file to help verify the wind speed at the time of the incident. The company operates the ferry service to Nova Scotia, and has an Orion Weather Station situated on an island not far from the building. The graph below shows a peak of 88.3 mph fo r the 10-minute average gust at about 8:30. According to local news reports, hurricane-strength winds caused widespread power outages and property damage to the region.  “Weather stations are working great and very pleased with the equipment,” they concluded. The company has multiple Orion Weather Stations with MicroServer, Weather Display console and WeatherMaster Software.  Roof Blown Off During Storm in Newfoundland Video

After Hurricane Irma, the Boca Raton Fire Department turned to CWS for accurate weather data in preparation for future storms. With a network of Orion™ Weather Stations utilizing the CWS Cloud Weather Server, the Boca Emergency Operations Center is now able to determine whether it is safe to send out First Responders in risky weather conditions. Thanks WPTV for the highlight!

Last week we received a call from Air Liquide, an industrial gas production company, for help connecting their Orio­n Weather Station™ to Weather Underground® in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey. All CWS weather stations can feed data automatically from WeatherMaster ™ software or the Weather MicroServer ™ to Weather Underground, where the information is readily available online. Click Here for instructions on how to connect your CWS weather station to Weather Underground. Graph of Air Liquide’s data from Weather Underground for Sunday, August 27. Note significantly high winds between 3:30 and 10:00 p.m. (gusts up to 42 mph) with lowered air pressure.