CLIO -- This morning I talked a bit about a project I am very excited about and hope everyone wants to get involved in, The PING Project.
The National Severe Storms Laboratory has put this website together, along with a downloadable app for smart devices, to make anyone a weather spotter!
You can help the National Weather Service out which in-turn helps us broadcasters out by recording information about precipitation amounts.
The reason why is simply this, radar and satellites work well, but not well enough.
The beam sent by a radar begins at an angle, not flat to the ground, so by the time it gets many miles away it is already far above the ground.
Places like the Tri Cities or areas in the Thumb that are in between NEXRAD radar sites, need places on the ground to collect data, and that’s where you can certainly help!
The website and app are easy to navigate and you can even record wind speed and direction, and temperature along with the type and amount of precipitation, for those that want to be a little more involved.
The NSSL then takes all the data collected and compares it with satellite and radar data to see if it is plausible (No Faking!) and then sends information out based on what they see.
Quick, easy, and very important for us to help the people we broadcast to, you, be as informed as possible about what is happening in your area.
For teachers, why not make it a class project?
Get involved with weather and be a part of the information we use everyday!
The website is; http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/ping/
- Meteorologist Ahmad Bajjey
