Reynolds Mountain Partners With Homeland Security and WeatherBug.com

Weather Tracking Station On Reynolds Mountain Delivers Live Local Weather Conditions to First Responders, Consumers and Educators Reliable weather allows for better planning and action to be taken in the event of severe weather.

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) November 13, 2005 -- In the wake of the tragic hurricane season, Western North Carolina officials are paying attention to how they might prevent the same sort of devastation the Gulf has been experiencing.

With a premium weather tracking station on Reynolds Mountain , Asheville now has the most up-to-date weather technology in the United States , the same technology used by the National Weather Service."

Congressman Charles Taylor has helped to establish Asheville as a weather technology and education leader by obtaining funding for several organizations to be based here. The most notable group is the ERC (Educational Research Consortium). The ERC has helped to secure grants from the Library of Congress to create a school curriculum based around weather and the science behind prediction models to teach students from elementary schools through seniors in high school. But the benefit to our community extends beyond education.

The ERC, in cooperation with WeatherBug and Reynolds Mountain provide a strategic surface location for a premium grade WeatherBug Tracking Station delivering live, local weather conditions, forecasts and severe weather alerts for Asheville and Northern Buncombe County .

Founded in 1992, WeatherBug ensures that individuals, schools, businesses and government agencies receive the most precise live weather information, the most relevant weather reports, and the earliest weather warnings to safeguard property, lives and to plan with confidence. With 8,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations and over 1,000 cameras primarily based at neighborhood schools and public safety facilities across the U.S. , WeatherBug maintains the largest exclusive weather network in the world.

“Reynolds Mountain is proud to play a part in helping officials to predict weather and give our community the best information to help plan and prepare for severe weather, like Katrina, ” said Brad Rachman , managing partner of Reynolds Mountain.

“Traditional hourly weather updates may be insufficient for predicting how the Asheville area will be affected by impending severe weather conditions. During potential weather emergencies, weather data needs to be available in real-time, accurate and immediately accessible,” said Rachman.

The ERC sought cooperation with Reynolds Mountain to have a WeatherBug Tracking Station on its 3000 foot peak in May of 2004. The ERC also installed a web-camera that looks across downtown Asheville , providing an immediate picture of local weather and offering historical data from the last 24-hours, 30-days and 365 days.

WeatherBug and the Educational Research Consortium make available the Reynolds Mountain location data with local, state and federal emergency managers to precisely assess the impact of current weather conditions on hazardous situations and natural disasters- helping them determine which municipalities to evacuate, selecting approach routes for first-responders, and choosing the type of equipment to dispatch to a disaster site. The data from the site is also made available to the National Weather Service.

“The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that we experienced last year during hurricane season emphasizes how vital live, accurate weather conditions are to understand the impact and ever changing path of storms, said Jerry Vehaun , director of Emergency Services of Buncombe County. “We are grateful to Reynolds Mountain for their participation and willingness to serve the public through their association with the ERC and WeatherBug.”

The Reynolds Mountain weather tracking system and web-camera can be found online at:

http://www.reynoldsmountain.com/weather.htm

For more information, contact Leslie Sloan (public relations coordinator) at 828/280-6043.

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