Press Releases

Press  >  August 20, 2009 Release

WeatherBug® Professional Announces Enhancements to Weather Visualization Tool for Supporting Emergency Response and Mitigation Planning During the 2009 Hurricane Season

StreamerRT tropical weather features provide live, localized weather information and forecasting tools for real-time storm tracking and alerting.

Germantown, MD — WeatherBug® the leading provider of live, local weather information services today announced the latest release of WeatherBug Professional StreamerRT with tropical enhancements. StreamerRT is an advanced web-based platform that provides professionals responsible for making weather-related decisions with precise detail into the current conditions of hurricanes, tropical storms and severe weather events.

The enhancements to StreamerRT organize tropical data by ocean basin, providing for single storm selection of active and historical plots. The new Map-Tips function shows storm data and bulletins for each historical, current and forecast point. The system enables the user to have multiple views of a storm for location-specific analysis and interpretation.

Users are able to select parameters for National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast tracks, hurricane cones, wind swaths and forecast model tracks for optimal storm visualization and tracking. Additional real-time weather parameters including intracloud and cloud-to-ground lightning strike data, temperature, wind speed/direction and maximum wind gust are also included within the system. "StreamerRT provides superior visibility into storm tracking and changing weather variables with the pinpoint accuracy needed by professionals responsible for public safety," said John Bosse, Director of Government Services. "During the severest weather, variables can change in seconds and StreamerRT is the only tool that provides live updates with precise data from the thousands of stations in the WeatherBug network."

A true web-based application, requiring no downloads or plug-ins, StreamerRT integrates weather data aggregated from the National Weather Service (NWS); the WeatherBug real-time weather network of more than 8,000 weather stations; and the WeatherBug Total Lightning Network (the largest real-time lightning sensor network). StreamerRT also provides standard weather alerts from the NWS and WeatherBug proprietary weather alerts to keep users informed as weather warnings, watches and others alerts are issued.

"During a hurricane or tropical storm event, the value of having access to live weather information combined with NHC forecast data and models cannot even be quantified when lives are at stake," said Mark Hoekzema, WeatherBug Chief Meteorologist. "Providing live, local weather data for making decisions that safeguards lives and property is what WeatherBug is all about."

WeatherBug is a trusted source for hurricane news and information providing live weather data to media outlets, government agencies, schools, districts, sports and recreation organizations, golf clubs, businesses and consumers. During severe weather events, government agencies rely on StreamerRT localized weather data in emergency operations centers to track storms; make operational staffing decisions; and for managing emergency and evacuation plans to ensure route efficiencies and community safety.

About WeatherBug
WeatherBug (http://www.weatherbug.com and http://www.weatherbugprofessional.com) observes, organizes and distributes the most precise global weather intelligence. As a trusted source of dynamic weather information, WeatherBug empowers society to make more informed weather-related decisions. Millions of consumers and professional organizations, including the National Weather Service, rely on WeatherBug to plan daily activities, safeguard lives and improve business operations. WeatherBug is a brand of AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. (http://www.aws.com)