November 8, 2008. Galveston, TX. New weather stations designed to withstand hurricane-force winds successfully captured wind speed data throughout Hurricane Ike, while national stations failed, according WeatherFlow Inc., a leading provider of weather observation data and forecasting models.The hardened stations – which recorded wind speeds at seven locations in the Houston/Galveston area during Ike – are part of WeatherFlow’s Hurricane Network. This network is the result of WeatherFlow’s partnership with several government, research and business entities to better capture information during extreme wind events. The company has installed or is completing installations of over 100 weather stations along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
“Our Hurricane Network worked exactly as we expected, even though the area lost power and cellular communications during the hurricane,” said Buck Lyons, CEO of WeatherFlow. “The stations recorded wind speed data continuously throughout the storm, in an environment where 12 of the 13 National Weather Service stations failed.”
The stations are sited strategically around Houston and Galveston to record wind speeds in locations with the highest risks to both lives and property.” Mr. Lyons added: “We believe we have created the ‘gold standard’ for hurricane-force wind measurements. Our Network will help to advance the understanding of how hurricane-force winds behave as they move over land. This will have substantial consequences on everything from government hurricane preparedness to new insurance products”
RMS, a leading provider of hurricane models and financial indices to the insurance industry, has contributed to WeatherFlow’s initiative. Peter Nakada, managing director of RMS Consulting said: “The success of the WeatherFlow Hurricane Network during Ike validates our participation in this project. In addition to the obvious benefits of understanding these storms more thoroughly, we hope to use the information to open up new capital sources for catastrophe insurance by utilizing the data for financial indices”.
About WeatherFlow
WeatherFlow Inc. owns and operates a network of over 350 proprietary weather stations including the recently installed section of its Hurricane Network. The company’s largely coastal observing system gathers weather data which fuels both primary applications and its WRAMS mesoscale forecasting model. WeatherFlow serves a broad array of clients in business and government, and also maintains information services for sailors and other watersports enthusiasts. For more information visit www.weatherflow.com.
