Published: August 5, 2002
preview / download MIRAMAR, Fla. — August 6, 2002 — NBC 6 announced today that it is working with nearly 60 area schools as part of a new national homeland security program unveiled this week by the National Weather Service (NWS) and AWS Convergence Technologies (AWS). The new program is designed to protect lives and property in the South Florida area as well as in major cities across the United States.
If a homeland security incident occurs, the NWS will now have access to real-time weather data from NBC 6s network of weather stations to provide precise forecast models that government agencies, the military and emergency managers can use to make critical decisions. Nearly 100 broadcasters and 6,000 schools around the country that have AWS monitoring stations are participating in the national program.
The unique value and quality of highly localized, up-to-the-second weather information provided by our weather stations is critical for homeland security and emergency response applications. We are proud to support and be involved in this effort, said Tim Geraghty, NBC 6 Vice President and News Director.
NBC 6 will play a key role in protecting lives and property in the South Florida area, where the station has a high concentration of weather monitoring stations. In a homeland security event, such as a bio-terrorist or chemical attack, the National Weather Service will now be prepared to more quickly and more precisely assess local weather conditions, such as surface wind speeds and temperatures, which could spread airborne hazardous materials and affect nearby communities.
Weather information has long played a pivotal role in the governments ability to respond to major disasters. After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the NWS installed a mobile weather station near Ground Zero that provided rescue workers with more precise wind forecast models that helped them to predict the direction smoke would spread and adjust their response accordingly. AWS has more than forty weather stations in the area, the closest of which is just a half-mile from the site. In this case, the AWS weather stations would have significantly accelerated the government’s ability to respond.
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