Real-time Weather Stations, Advanced Weather Visualization, and State-of-the-Art Nowcasting System based on Total Lightning Data to Help Large Regional Healthcare Organization Provide Faster 24/7 Helicopter Medevac Services

GERMANTOWN, Md. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — November 22, 2010 — WeatherBug®, the leading provider of consumer and professional weather products and services and operator of the largest weather observing and lightning network, announced its selection by SESCAM (Servicio de Salud de Castilla-La Mancha), a regional healthcare organization in central Spain that serves more than two million living throughout the region of Castilla-La Mancha. With the agreement, WeatherBug Professional is providing real-time weather stations with integrated total lightning detection technology, web-based weather visualization tools, and alerts during severe weather events. Together, these solutions form an advanced nowcasting weather solution that will help SESCAM monitor live, local weather conditions and use that information to more safely deploy emergency helicopters 24/7 and better serve its constituents when urgent medical response is required.

An advanced nowcasting weather solution from WeatherBug Professional will help SESCAM monitor live, local weather conditions and use that information to more safely deploy emergency helicopters 24/7 and better serve its constituents when urgent medical response is required. (Photo: Business Wire)

The WeatherBug network management and data quality control solutions, combined with high-end, aviation-grade weather stations, will ensure that SESCAM helicopter medevac operations are constantly supplied with the most accurate and up-to-date local weather conditions at the helipad and throughout the region. When the implementation is complete, SESCAM will receive detailed weather data from more than 200 weather stations located at helipads throughout the Castilla-La Mancha region, where installation is now underway.

To support SESCAM, WeatherBug Professional is providing a comprehensive weather monitoring solution that includes:

• Aviation-grade Weather Stations: A surface mesonet of local aviation-grade weather stations, integrated with total lightning detection sensors, will provide detailed, live information regarding severe weather activity and weather variables, including temperature, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure and more;
• Weather Network Management and Data Quality Control Services: Access to the WeatherBug automated weather sensor monitoring services will provide critical network operation information to local field engineering crews to maximize weather station uptime and sensor accuracy;
• Thunderstorm Cell Tracking and Nowcasting: A network of WeatherBug Total Lightning Sensors will detect both cloud-to-ground and in-cloud lightning to deliver advanced warning of developing thunderstorms to SESCAM operations. The Total Lightning Network in Castilla-La Mancha will be enhanced by data derived from the WeatherBug Total Lightning Network, which currently includes more than 300 additional lightning sensors from around the world;
• Web-based Weather Visualization: A real-time, GIS-based weather visualization tool called StreamerRT will simultaneously monitor multiple weather layers, including the weather network, and provide alerts from AEMET, the national meteorological service of Spain, in real-time for rapid visualization of changing weather conditions.

“To rapidly respond to calls made to our 112 emergency call center in the safest and most effective manner possible, accurate, local weather information at the helipad and throughout the region is essential – particularly at night when Visual Flight Rules no longer apply,” said Antonio Alvarez Rello, General Manager, SESCAM. “The WeatherBug solution will make it possible for SESCAM to more safely send emergency helicopters to all of the communities throughout the region twenty-four hours a day, and seven days a week when first-responder attention is required.”

“By selecting WeatherBug to provide advanced weather monitoring and severe weather alerts, SESCAM gains access to the expertise WeatherBug has developed over the past 15 years in building and managing the largest, private weather network, which currently consists of more than 8,000 weather stations,” said Jeremy Usher, Vice President, EMEA, WeatherBug. “We are extremely honored to be bringing our weather networking and visualization solutions to SESCAM and introducing our total lightning detection and nowcasting technology to Europe.”

To learn more about the advanced total lightning solutions provided by WeatherBug Professional, visit www.weatherbugprofessional.com.

About WeatherBug

WeatherBug ( http://www.weatherbug.com and http://www.weatherbugprofessional.com) precisely monitors, organizes and disseminates global weather information. As a trusted source for live, local dynamic data, WeatherBug empowers society with weather intelligence for making more informed decisions. Millions of consumers and professional organizations, including the National Weather Service, rely on WeatherBug to plan daily activities, safeguard lives and improve business operations. WeatherBug is a brand of AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. ( http://www.aws.com).

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