National Weather Service, AWS Convergence Technologies in New Public/Private Partnership to Expand Use of WeatherBug Data

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, AWS CONVERGENCE TECHNOLOGIES IN NEW PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO EXPAND USE OF WEATHERBUG DATA

The leaders of NOAA's National Weather Service and AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. today signed a new memorandum of understanding between the organizations to more effectively incorporate data from AWS' nationwide, real-time weather sensor network into NWS operations. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Calling the new agreement “an excellent example of the public and private sectors working together for the good of the American people,” retired Air Force Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, director of NOAA's National Weather Service, signed the new MOU along with Robert Marshall, president and chief executive officer of AWS Convergence Technologies. “I salute AWS' civic minded approach to safeguarding lives and hope others in the private sector will follow their lead,” Johnson said.

“This ground breaking partnership should be a model for how corporations and the government can work together to protect lives and property. It is truly gratifying to know that our WeatherBug data will be used extensively by experts across the NOAA/NWS to improve weather forecasting, emergency response operations and to issue timely severe weather warnings,” said Robert Marshall, CEO of AWS.

The new MOU strengthens the existing partnership between NWS and AWS and allows for additional exploration of cooperative ventures between the two organizations. The AWS WeatherBug® Network, consisting of more than 7,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations across the U.S., offers weather updates every second. These tracking stations are placed largely on school grounds and the exclusive network provides live data to subscribers and other entities such as television broadcasters and schools. AWS also provides this proprietary data feed to NWS, which uses the data to complement its existing data collection resources.

“Data is the fuel that feeds all the services NWS provides,” said Johnson. “Accordingly, we are looking forward to working with AWS on joint research programs employing their data to improve products and services.”

“The WeatherBug network of tracking stations is used by millions of at-home and at-work Internet users, media broadcast partners, educators, businesses and state/local governments,” said Marshall. “We have a substantial investment in our proprietary network and technology that exclusively delivers up-to-the-second local weather and life saving alerts to our customers,” said Marshall.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

WeatherBug (weatherbug.com) ensures that individuals, schools, businesses and communities get the most precise live weather conditions, the most relevant reports, and the earliest weather warnings to safeguard their property and their lives. WeatherBug owns the world's largest weather network, which has more than 7,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations and over 1,000 cameras that generate neighborhood level reports every second. This network powers various products and services, including: WeatherBug, the number one weather Internet application with over 47 million downloads, streams live neighborhood conditions to its home and work users; WeatherBug Media Services, which delivers live weather information to over 80 million U.S. households through partnerships with more than 100 local television stations; WeatherBug Education, which provides engaging weather information and educational tools to schools and colleges, including an online learning program for K-12 schools called WeatherBug Achieve; and WeatherBug Professional Services, which uses the company's unique weather network and software to provide high-value solutions for vertical industries such as energy, transportation and first response. WeatherBug is a brand of AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. (aws.com).