Federal Government Solutions for Weather Safety

Earth Networks offers a variety of weather safety solutions for U.S. Federal Government Agencies, including the best lightning data and real-time weather observations. 

Federal Solutions: Reliable Weather Intelligence

Weather safety is our mission at Earth Networks. The United States government needs reliable, accurate weather intelligence when it comes to severe weather safety and ensuring smooth operations for critical services. Earth Networks works with 30+ federal agencies to provide multi-hazard weather solutions to safeguard assets and keep staff, visitors, and infrastructure safe.

Earth Networks provides weather intelligence that powers federal agencies. At any given moment, severe weather has the potential to impact the safety and operations of thousands of government facilities. Our weather solutions help safeguard assets and keep staff, visitors, and federal infrastructure safe.

Importance of Severe Weather Solutions for the Federal Government

Various aspects of government operations can be impacted by severe weather risks, including lightning and severe storms. Federal organizations rely on the world’s best environmental data products and services from Earth Networks to support their operations. These organizations include:

• Defense, land management, and intelligence agencies
• Emergency response departments
• Scientific and research institutions

Why is accurate and reliable weather data essential for the federal government? The U.S. federal government utilizes accurate and timely weather data in order to:

• Make critical decisions
• Safeguard capital assets
• Advance science-based literacy and education programs

How does the federal government benefit from weather intelligence?

Asset Protection

The federal government can protect its critical assets from severe weather conditions such as lightning and wind by using real-time commercial grade weather data to make critical operational decisions.

Safety of Staff & Visitors

Through the use of automatic alerts, the federal government can protect staff and visitors from dangerous weather by getting them to safety before they are at risk.

Increase Response Lead Times

Earth Networks’ groundbreaking total lightning network powers the industry’s best severe weather alerts. Our severe weather alerts allow you to get to safety and put your plans into action 50% faster than the competition.

Collaborate with Teams

Federal government customers can display and share live weather maps and data to distribute critical information to colleagues in other locations or in the field.

Weather products that advance federal government operations

Earth Networks provides access to the world’s best weather and lightning technologies for many U.S. federal agencies. The following federal agencies benefit from our flexible solutions for operational support and risk management, including:

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Department of Defense (DoD)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Individual agencies have different needs when it comes to weather services. Accordingly, Earth Networks provides complete weather tracking and alerting solutions for every agency, as outlined below:

Federal Government Solutions: Key Products for Severe Weather Safety

Earth Networks’ observations inform and alert federal government customers by providing them with advanced environmental intelligence for decision making and safety.

Outdoor Alerting System

Outdoor alerting systems for lightning take the guess-work out of deciding when to take cover when lightning and severe storms threaten outdoor activities for federal operations. Automate severe weather decisions with our outdoor lightning detection system featuring an audible horn and
visible strobe light that activates when lightning approaches a predefined radius around a facility. Sferic Siren is an effective tool for getting federal employees out of harm’s way quickly with the world’s best lightning warning system. Sferic Siren includes:

• Total Lightning Detection
• 360 Audio & Visual Signals
• All-Clear Countdown

Federal government outdoor facilities have access to the first commercially available outdoor mass notification system that is fully integrated with in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning detection technology.

Sferic Maps & Mobile

Sferic Maps provides real-time weather alerts and situational awareness to manage federal operations. Government agencies can track incoming weather with our collaborative web-based storm tracking and alerting dashboard and its companion app for iOS and Android mobile devices. Sferic Maps & Mobile provides personalized real-time weather alerts for government agencies to safely manage operations based on weather conditions.

Lightning Data

Get access to real-time and historical total lightning data including detection of both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. Earth Networks’ lightning and weather data provides government agencies with a competitive edge by helping to protect assets, improve operations and plan for every weather scenario. Earth Networks’ lightning data products lead to great decision making for federal agencies, including:

• Historical or live total lightning data
• Sferic Maps Lightning Archive for decision making
• Lightning API
• Lightning Data Feed

Weather Station with Total Lightning Sensor

Earth Networks’ sister company, Lambrecht meteo, provides high quality weather stations for measuring atmospheric conditions, which provide weather forecast information for government agencies. These top of the line weather stations detect and report live lighting strikes, temperatures, winds and rain from federal government location(s). Our weather stations are built to withstand and measure all kinds of threats, and quietly record crucial information about the environment to create useful data for federal operations.

• Prepare for severe weather
• Protect people and property
• Automate and streamline operations

Federal Projects Supported by Earth Networks’ Weather Intelligence

Earth Networks has aided many government agencies on their federal projects. When we provide weather safety solutions for the federal government, each project we support looks a little bit different. Depending on the agency and the needs of your specific project, we can provide one or more of the below services:

• Weather observation data
• Lightning detection data and/or alerting
• Outdoor severe weather alerting systems
• Commercial-grade weather stations
• On-the-go weather alerting and monitoring
• Professional weather forecasting support

Client: National Air and Space Administration (NASA)
Location: Wallops Island Flight Facility
Implementation Highlights: NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility leverages Earth Networks total lightning data, surface in-situ weather observations and decision support SaaS-based visualization platform to effectively manage weather impacts on its mission critical space launch and aviation operations. Sferic Maps’ alerting functionalities are used to notify personnel base-wide of threatening weather. Additionally, the archiving feature is utilized for post storm damage analyses.

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is located in Virginia’s tidewater region on the Delmarva peninsula approximately 100 miles southeast of Washington DC. The facility is host to numerous partners including the U.S. Navy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, Virginia Space and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Airfield and launch capabilities support flight operations ranging from research aircraft, unmanned aerial systems and high-altitude balloons to suborbital and orbital rockets which meet the needs of science, aerospace, defense, and commercial industries.

Client: U.S. Army
Location: Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall
Implementation Highlights: The U.S. Army’s Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall leverages Earth Networks total lightning data and Sferic Siren outdoor alerting system to effectively manage weather impacts on critical military operations, training, and events. Decision-makers at this Joint Base initially installed a Sferic Siren system with horn and strobe warning capabilities to protect the thousands of members of the public that visit every summer for the weekly, live military performance called the Twilight Tattoo. Since then, they’ve expanded their weather intelligence suite to include real-time lightning data for tracking storms.

Located near Arlington, Virginia, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall is comprised of Fort Myer, Fort McNair, and Henderson Hall. Joint Base Myer-Henderson hall is headquarters to serve personnel working throughout the National Capital Region and provides housing, support, and services to thousands of active-duty, reserve, and retired military, members of the U.S. Coast Guard, and their families stationed in the United States Army Military District of Washington. This Joint Base is also home to the military’s largest child development center, the Cody Child Development Center (CDC). In addition to being an active Joint Base, Myer-Henderson Hall is also a visitor destination as it resides close to Arlington National Cemetery and hosts the Twilight Tattoo.

Client: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Location: Nationwide
Implementation Highlights: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been an Earth Networks partner since 2006. NOAA’s line offices including the National Weather Service (NWS) and Oceans and Atmospheric Research (OAR) use Earth Networks total lightning data and surface in-situ weather observations to enhance its nowcasting and severe weather forecasting at its Weather Forecast Offices (WFO’s) across the nation as well as at its world class research laboratories.

Via a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA), Earth Networks established and deployed a system to meet the needs of the NWS and others that uses GPS data for determining the amount of total water vapor in the atmosphere, giving forecasters access to unique information to drive improved numerical weather prediction. Additionally, Earth Networks SaaS-based visualization platform, Sferic Maps, is available to NWS WFO’s to assist forecasters in storm tracking and alerting of rapidly changing weather conditions.

Earth Networks has played a key role over the years in driving public-private-academic partnerships, which is a primary tenant called for by the bi-partisan Weather Research and Forecast Innovation Act that was signed into law in 2017. In particular, Earth Networks and NOAA initiated the National Mesonet Program in 2006, which now includes 40+ commercial and academic organizations delivering timely, valuable and cost-effective weather observations to the federal government and is a major component of the NWS Weather Ready Nation initiative.

When you need commercial-grade weather intelligence and support for your federal agency, Earth Networks is the partner you’re looking for.

Edwards Air Force Base

Edwards Air Force Base utilized Earth Networks to replace their former Weather Tower Network at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), with a system that can be easily maintained. Earth Networks won the bid for this federal project, and successfully provided a turn-key solution for the weather tower network upgrade system, including installation, function testing and all support documentation, plus maintenance manuals.

Earth Networks  operates the world’s largest weather network, with 17,500+ neighborhood-level sensors installed throughout the United States and globally. We process 25 terabytes of data from our 25+ weather variables daily, and deliver our comprehensive analyses to our federal customers through easy to understand applications, that are accessible on any device. Our extensive weather network — in conjunction with proprietary forecasting algorithms and technology — provides the most current conditions, refreshed every few minutes, from more than 2.6 million locations worldwide.  An improved weather network can benefit your federal operations, with weather information that is simplified in a manner that best fits the needs of the federal government, with an emphasis on precision and accuracy.

Keeping federal government operations safe

Severe weather conditions can affect operations at federal agencies, which is why it’s important to stay prepared. Stay ahead of the weather with Earth Networks’ severe weather safety and monitoring solutions.

To learn more about our products and services, feel free to check out our resources page or reach out to our customer service team by contacting them below.