Raleigh Weather Forecast

Doing something about the weather

A small Morrisville company has an audacious goal: revamping the nation's weather technology.

AirDat contends that the weather sensor it developed and has installed on more than 200 airplanes provides more detailed and more timely data from the atmosphere than the weather balloons that the National Weather Service relies on for much of its information.

Jonathan Blaes, senior operations officer for the National Weather Service in Raleigh, said the data the agency's meteorologists receive from AirDat helps them make more accurate forecasts - especially for critical weather events such as thunderstorms or projecting if and when rain will turn to snow.

"We're big advocates for it," Blaes said. "We wish we had more."

Supplying more information to the government is AirDat's goal as well. But founder and CEO Jay Ladd said efforts to persuade the U.S. government to expand its purchase of AirDat's weather data - especially for aviation - have been stymied by the federal budget crunch and bureaucratic turf battles.

Over the past four years the parent of the National Weather Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has spent as much as $3.5 million a year on the company's data, Ladd said. But last year it limited its purchase to $1 million.

"As the budget crisis worsens, the numbers get smaller," Ladd said. "We have customers in the government who want to increase their funding to us without having the funds to do it."

Ladd estimates that if the government spent as much on AirDat data as it does on weather balloons, the government would have at least six times as much weather information at its disposal.

AirDat charges the government $50 per sounding - that is, data obtained during a plane's ascent or descent. By contrast, Ladd estimates that it costs the government $300 every time it launches an air balloon, not counting the ground-based infrastructure the program requires..

Frustrated by its inability to gain more traction with the federal government, AirDat, which has spent "many millions" developing and deploying its sensors, is focusing on furnishing forecasts to weather-sensitive businesses. It also is vying to supply weather data to foreign meteorological agencies.

"We're in discussions ... with the Mexican government," Ladd said.

In addition to its contract with NOAA and its work for businesses, AirDat has some small Department of Defense research and development contracts and is a subcontractor to GE Aviation on a Federal Aviation Administration contract.

FEMA: Make Dad's Day Safer - Give Him a Weather Radio

MAKE DAD’S DAY SAFER – GIVE HIM A WEATHER RADIO

RALEIGH, N.C. – Father’s Day is Sunday.  While you’re out shopping for the perfect power tool for dad, think about the one he might not have.

“A weather radio could be the tool that saves your life during a storm, just like a smoke detector is in a fire,” said Federal Coordinating Officer Michael Bolch. “It can give you precious seconds to get to safety when threatening storms approach.”

Unlike a standard AM/FM radio which may air a local forecast, a weather radio broadcasts National Weather Service warnings and watches around the clock. The radio sounds an alert to provide warnings of potential danger from floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and other severe weather conditions.

“A battery-operated weather radio will work even when power goes out, like it did when the April 16 storms and tornadoes hit,” N.C. Emergency Management Director Doug Hoell said.

The National Weather Service broadcasts forecasts and severe weather warnings and watches 24 hours a day over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) radio network. A watch means that potentially life-threatening weather is heading toward your area.  A warning means that it is imminent or already occurring.

Weather radios are available at many retail stores, electronics stores, marine supply stores, truck stops, cable shopping networks and on the Internet. Prices range anywhere from $20 to $200.

For more information about this disaster, go to www.nccrimecontrol.org and click on the red “April Tornadoes” tab. More information is also available at www.fema.gov .

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

The Severe weather warning process using the WSR-88D at the Raleigh Weather Forecast Office

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