How Better Technology Helps Keep You Safe

May 21, 2009

Merril Teller standing in front of our new HD virtual set.

By Storm Team 12 Meteorologist Ross Janssen (WICHITA, Kan.)

Tracking severe weather and the ever-changing conditions here in Kansas requires more than just experience and knowledge. It means using a variety of different tools to understand the severity of each storm. Just like every other form of technology...it's constantly changing.

You've probably noticed, Storm Team 12 recently upgraded our equipment to high definition. This means a better product for you, the viewer - but it also meant a significant amount of learning for our meteorologists.

There's an enourmous amount of weather data available to meteorologists. Because the conditions are always changing, that information must be as accurate as possible and available in a timely fashion.

Weather Central's unique display of severe weather is one of the main reasons we decided to bring their tools into our storm center. From radar to temperatures, weather information is collected in Madison, checked for errors, and then sent to us via satellite. Seconds later, we get that data directly to you.

For example, if the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning, it takes less than a minute for it to pass through Weather Central, hit the satellite, and come to us in the weather center.

The tools in our storm center are unique, and offer some very valuable information. Systems like Super Microcast allow us to zero in on storms closer than ever before.

"It helps zero in on the neighborhood level," says Steve Smedberg with Weather Central, "So in the past when you would do a future scan, you could look at something with the resolution of a township. We could kinda produce a forecast for a township-sized square on the map. With Super Microcast, you can get right down to the neighborhood and you can really tell, in advance, where the weather's going to happen right down to a neighborhood level, and that's really important"

It's what Storm Team 12 calls HD Future Track live on the air. It is a real time simulation of weather conditions you should expect at a given time. HD Future Track can be updated every hour if necessary during life-threatening severe weather.

This system isn't just useful in the spring and summer months, it's informative during significant winter weather events, too.

Once storms are underway, Weather Central's radar computer starts working overtime to keep you informed of the danger headed your way. It's called "ESP" by Weather Central, but you already know this tool as "HD Super Doppler". It's by far the best radar picture anyone can show you on TV.

Bill Boss, Senior Product Manager with Weather Central and his team of professionals have developed some amazing tools to look inside a storm to see what dangers the storm carries with it.

HD Super Doppler will be able to display live radar imagery from across the entire central plains, allowing us to follow storms from the minute they start developing.

Expect better storm analysis and more time to prepare for changing weather from the weather team that truly understands Kansas weather.

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