NOAA announced recently they are updating their sea surface temperatures dataset. Some interesting improvements are being added to the dataset. I am looking forward to seeing if this new data will be used in commercial applications that take advantage of sea surface temperatures. Sea surface temperatures are beneficial when tracking tropical weather, and it is great to see NOAA making these great improvements to their dataset.

With the upcoming solar eclipse, Earth Networks has released an excellent article about some things people need to know about it, including how to safely and effectively watch the upcoming solar eclipse. It’s a great article with some excellent information about this exciting weather phenomenon coming up.

Who all is going to be watching the upcoming solar eclipse?

WeatherNation recently launched an excellent article about the upcoming changes to the NWS Winter Weather messaging. While it may be too hot outside right now to think about winter, it is a good time to read up on the article and be aware of the changes arriving to how the NWS handles Winter Weather messaging whenever winter does arrive upon us later this year.

Here’s a roundup of some of the recent excellent weather blog articles from Earth Networks that I’ve found to be interesting to read:

Business Checklist for Hurricane Preparedness

Tornado Safety for Schools

Top 10 U.S. Cities with the Most Unpredictable Weather

Warning Signs a Tornado May Develop

Effects of Extreme Heat on Your Health

Swing States: America’s Most Extreme Temperature Ranges

Steps to Preventing Dehydration and Heat Exhaustion

Is Your Workplace Hurricane Prepared?

5 Safety Tips When Working in Heat

UK Weather Watcher Catches Lightning Display

The 1o Worst Beach Hazards You Need to Look Out For

What You Need to Know About Indirect Lightning Strikes

Enhancements to Earth Networks ENCast

WeatherTogether is a member of the NWS WRN Ambassador program. One of the responsibilities of this program is to relay severe weather safety information given to us by the National Weather Service through this program.

Two links the National Weather Service wanted us to share are the articles on Be a Force of Nature and WRN Ambassador Success Stories. I hope you’ll take a moment to look over those two articles and enjoy reading them.

Below is another email we received from the NWS this week with some additional severe weather safety information relevant for this time of year we wanted to share with you and hope it will be beneficial to you as we kick off summer and as the tropical season begins to ramp up.

–Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors–

Summer officially arrived today (June 21) just after midnight.  Summer means vacations and spending more time outdoors enjoying recreational activities and cooling off at the beach, lake or pool.

Summer is also an important season to know your risks when outdoors, be prepared, and to take the appropriate action.  On June 1, the National Weather Service launched its Summer Safety Campaign: https://www.weather.gov/wrn/summer-safety.

Here are a few hazards that we want to highlight and encourage all of our WRN Ambassadors to engage their employees, social media networks, communities and beyond.

Lightning

Historically, the most lightning deaths occur in the months of June and July.  The most important message everyone should know is if you can hear thunder, you are in danger.  That is why we ask all our WRN Ambassadors to use the slogan “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors”.  New this year for the deaf & hard of hearing community “When You See a Flash, Dash to Safety.”  Visit weather.gov/lightning for lightning safety content.

Extreme Heat

Many parts of the country are already experiencing heat waves.  Always look for ways to reduce exposure to extreme heat and ensure young children and pets are especially protected.

For preparedness information on extreme heat, please go to weather.gov/heat.

Rip Currents

There have been way too many tragic stories recently of drownings due to rip currents. Rip currents can be a clear and present danger when entering the ocean (and even the shores of our Great Lakes).  Simple actions like staying out of deeper water during elevated rip current conditions, and always swimming within lifeguard areas can save your lives.  During summer vacations, many tourists are unfamiliar with the rip current danger, so spreading the word even across interior states can help reduce loss of life.  Visit weather.gov/ripcurrent for safety resources.

Tropical Activity and Heavy Rainfall

Though hurricane season just started three weeks ago, we already have our third named system (for the latest information on these threats go to www.hurricanes.gov)

An immediate threat to the U.S. is Tropical Storm Cindy, which is forecast to drop heavy rainfall this week over parts of the Gulf Coast and inland areas that are already saturated.

Below is an infographic that describes the inland flooding threat from tropical cyclones.  If your organization has interests in the Gulf region, we encourage you to use this graphic to help people prepare for the flood risk.

Thank you for helping build a Weather-Ready Nation.

Follow us @WRNAmbassadors

Earth Networks recently released two great articles this week, one on activities to do on the first day of summer, another on lightning safety awareness week. Both are excellent articles to read, especially the article on lightning safety awareness week which contains some valuable information on lightning safety.

Earth Networks released a blog post this week on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature. It is an interesting read on comparing the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature versus the Heat Index. It also mentions ways to stay safe during high temperatures, as well as how meteorologists are forecasting when high temperatures can cause possible heat stress conditions on individual’s bodies. It is an excellent article to read.

Earth Networks recently released an excellent article on tornado safety for businesses. The article is educational and beneficial not only for businesses, but also for homeowners as well. I highly recommend checking it out and giving it a read.

Earth Networks released an excellent blog post on lightning detection and parks. It is an informative article on the difference between lightning prediction and lightning detection and how parks can benefit from increased lightning detection. Since I live in a city with a national park, I hope our local government reads over this and implements additional lightning safety measures in our national park, as well as the state follows a similar suit with state parks.

AllisonHouse released an informative article today concerning the radar upgrades taking place across the US. Radar towers across the US will receive new signal processors by July 2017, increasing the speed and reliability in which we receive radar images from the National Weather Service. By 2019, all radar towers will receive a transmitter refurbishment, and by 2020, the pedestals on radar towers will be rebuilt as well. This, combined with the more major upgrades we saw to radar towers in the recent past such as the upgrading of all radar towers to dual-polarization radar, will ensure we continue to have a wealth of reliable storm tracking information at our fingertips for years to come.