Project Overview and Goals

To be effective Emergency Managers we must have access to the latest, most accurate information available on the weather and how it might affect our community. We live in an area where the weather is very difficult to predict. Severe weather is common in and around Fort Collins, and changes can occur rapidly. For those reasons, we need timely access to the most current weather discussions and reports. Time would be critical should it become apparent that some type of evacuation is required.

The Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) is a computer data broadcast of emergency and weather information including weather graphics, satellite images, and text reports such as weather warnings and watches. The intention of the National Weather Service is to make their weather satellite information directly available to local emergency managers, who in turn can transmit the information to other private and public agencies, or to the community at large.

Throughout the day we can consult EMWIN to help us evaluate and predict the weather. During the development of potentially dangerous weather situations we can be alerted to weather warnings and watches, even when we are in the field. By using EMWIN, supplemented by our other emergency management tools, we are better equipped to protect our community by being able to alert the public at the earliest possible moment and give them them maximum opportunity to prepare for the impending event.

Design Specifications

The Office of Emergency Management in Fort Collins receives the weather datatstream directly from the GOES satellites circling the earth in geosynchronous orbit. Information is uplinked to the satellites from the NOAA Command and Data Acquisition Station on Wallops Island, Virginia. We use a small satellite dish that receives the information and downlinks it into an OEM desktop computer. The data is in real time, live, and in a continuous information stream using computer "push" technology. This means that we don't have to search for the information, wait for it to appear, or compete with others trying to get the same information.

The software allows us to alarm chosen broadcasts or information (i.e., weather warnings) and can alert us to the information by audible computer alarm, automatic printing, or can 'beep' our pagers.

The EMWIN system contains many categories of weather data products, both from the National Weather Service and other sources, which include:

• Forecasts:
  Hydrological, Local and Area, Recreation and Travel Advisories, River, Flash Flood, etc.
• Graphics:
  AFOS charts and map overlays
• Images:
  GOES satellite images
• Reports:
  Radar, Seismic, Synoptic, Hydrological and River, Ice, Civil Emergency
• Severe Weather:
  Warnings, Summaries, Statements, Advisories
• Analyses:
  Environmental and Air Pollution, Hydrological, Surface

Our intention is to eventually rebroadcast the information via a local radio frequency to the Fort Collins community. Schools, citizens, or businesses could intercept the retransmission on their personal computers with the installation of an inexpensive radio receiver connected to a serial port. This transmission would extend approximately 40-50 miles from our downtown Fort Collins office.

Partnerships

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
National Weather Service
Mr. John Weaver, Research Meteorologist, NOAA

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