Maritime Weather Group in Canada Prefers AcuRite!
As a non-official weather source, the Maritime Weather Agency has grown to become one of the most popular weather outlets for Atlantic Canada. The Maritime Weather Agency's coverage area includes the three Maritime provinces. This area is approximately 165,192 km² in total, and their coverage focuses on the most severe or active weather happening in the region at the time. The members of the group have come together as weather enthusiasts and not affiliated with Environment Canada, The Weather Network, or any other official weather agency.
The group uses publicly supplied forecast data to create their own forecasts for the Maritimes, in hopes to help spread the word of inclement marine weather and help keep the community in the coastal region safe. While not an official weather source that issues alerts, the group has grown to become favored by the community to provide and relay local weather alerts over social media. The agency is now a trusted marine weather forecast source for the region.
Problem:
Every summer, the group does a few storm spotting events called “STORM HUNT.” Hyper-local weather data in real-time is essential to stay updated on rapidly changing environmental conditions required for storm spotting. Often the storms are nowhere near the weather data. Usually, the closest weather station is hundreds of miles from the severe weather system, and this results in difficulty determining whether systems are strengthening and becoming a threat or weakening.
Solution:
Install an AcuRite Atlas™ with Lightning Detection on the mobile STORM HUNT vehicle! The team utilizes the new Atlas weather station by tracking severe weather data on the go in the local area. They can now monitor conditions in real-time in more localized areas, which gives them a better idea when watching the system for development and movement.
Results:
The lightning detection is by far one of the most helpful features of the station, unlike any of their other weather monitoring tools. It gives them an idea of how frequent and how far from the station these strikes are occurring so they can better plan to warn the public of such severe weather conditions.
AcuRite Access™ makes it easy for them to share the weather conditions they are experiencing with all team members in real-time. Additionally, they rely on the alerts set up through My AcuRite, to notify the team when specific weather conditions or changes occur. They have set up alerts such as nearby lightning strikes, peak temperatures, and rainfall.
“Our team is happy with how the unit has been so far and are very satisfied with how the unit is performing. The Atlas makes our forecasting and severe weather coverage much easier!”
- Adam Reid, President and CEO, Maritime Weather Agency
