18 Weather Monitoring Hand Held Weather Meter
For thousands of people who deal with environmental conditions in the field or workplace, having accurate and reliable weather information is a necessity. Richard Paul Russell is proud to be the UK distributor of Kestrel hand held weather meters.
Kestrel hand held meters were developed as high precision tools. Each instrument is calibrated to strict specifications providing years of reliable use. Kestrel offers a full line of hand held weather meters with the ability to measure and track many critical factors affecting the work environment, including; Wind /Air Speed, Air Flow, Wind Direction, Barometric Pressure, Altitude, Temperature, Relative Humidity, Wet Bulb Temperature, Heat Index and Wind Chill. They are fully waterproof, float and have a large, liquid-crystal backlit display.
Some Kestrel meters also offer data logging capability — a very useful function for hazardous materials spill response, construction activities, outdoor maintenance activities (painting and abrasive blasting), and any other situations where knowing the impact zones (downwind) are important. Steve Verret of the Environmental Measurements Corporation of Baton Rouge, LA, uses the data logging capabilities of the Kestrel 4500 to ensure that projects can be properly documented. These capabilities are of particular use for air exchange rate studies where a running log of weather conditions is required. “EMC’s technicians and industrial hygienists have been using Kestrel weather instruments since the summer of 2000. They have performed flawlessly and are a standard instrument in our tool bags,” says Verret. Kestrel also offers a Portable Vane Mount which allows users to set up their Kestrel 4500 on location to collect accurate wind direction data. The ability to deploy a Kestrel on-site in minutes and store data makes it an ideal solution for Industrial Hygiene professionals.
Mr. Verret also uses Kestrels to evaluate ventilation in hazardous materials remediation (e.g. asbestos abatement and mould remediation) where contractors must set up negative pressure containments using HEPA filtered fan units. “Our specifications require a minimum number of air changes per hour in the work area. By measuring the output of the fan units, we can determine if the contractor is in compliance with our specifications.”
A new feature for 2010, the 4000 range of Kestrels now come with Bluetooth® wireless capability for instant data transfer. In many current applications, the key environmental
measurements from a Kestrel instrument are input into other systems – ballistics calculators, fire behavior models, hazmat plume predictors, heat stress models, weather reports, research data sets and more. Now, both real-time and logged data can be transferred wirelessly and automatically to a laptop or PDA, making a Bluetooth Kestrel 4000 series weather meter the perfect tool for virtually any job that requires quick and truly accurate environmental data.
Reader Reply Card no 49 Met Office Unveils ‘Game Changing’ Weather Analysis Tool
The Met Office, the world leading authority in weather forecasting and observation, has released a new tool designed to enable utilities, hedge funds and energy traders to interpret the weather more effectively. Named Decider, the groundbreaking product makes it easier to analyse future weather conditions, providing a probabilistic breakdown of the likelihood of various scenarios. Users of the tool are able to take an objective evaluation of the risks associated with each and prepare accordingly.
Far removed from the deterministic forecasts consumed by the general public, Decider works by condensing large volumes of diffuse information into 29 weather regimes across Europe, each of which has a specific set of characteristics. Data on temperature, pressure, rainfall, cloud cover, and wind speed and direction, is displayed in a clear map and table format. Decider’s unique analysis acts as a key to deciphering the data, providing their percentage probability and laying the foundations for an assessment of the local weather patterns embedded within each of the wider regimes.
Three different versions of the product are currently available (a 15 day forecast updated once or twice per day, a 30 day forecast updated weekly, or a daily conditioned alternative of the 30 day version updated once or twice per day) and can be taken either separately or in conjunction to provide a seamless view of the weather for up to a month ahead. The Met Office has been trialling Decider for over a year with several of its long standing clients, all of whom have since subscribed to the most comprehensive package.
Commenting on Decider, Dr. Matt Huddleston, Principal Climate Change Consultant at the Met Office said, “Decider has been developed specifically for businesses which face the greatest weather-derived risks, offering fuller and faster information about weather patterns.
“No other tool offers long-term daily forecasts in this way. By providing traders, utilities and others who buy and sell energy with a spread of likely outcomes, Decider provides a competitive advantage that will help them stay a step ahead of the pack. We think that it will be a game changer for the industry.”
“Decider can be used to allow traders to take multiple positions within the market in order to hedge risk or to exploit less likely weather scenarios to maximise opportunities within the market.”
Dave Parker, Head of Meteorology at EDF Energy, added, “We have been trialling Decider for over a year now and it has revolutionised the way that we interpret the weather. Its value stretches across the entire business, and has applications as diverse as forecasting our customers’ energy demand to understanding weather risks affecting our network.”
Reader Reply Card no 50 For immediate information on products featured in this issue Please email us today!
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Weather Observation Systems Support Forecasting at Vancouver Winter Olympics
The world’s best athletes have just pushed themselves to the limits in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Somewhat less visible, but equally hard at work has been a league of behind-the-scenes organisers, such as weather forecasters.
Reliable and timely weather information is a prerequisite for the success of any outdoor event, the Winter Olympics being no exception. Not just sports, but the safety and security of the entire event are affected by weather. In order to support accurate forecasting for the Winter Games, Environment Canada, the Games’ official weather services provider, decided to expand its observational network in the area using several of Vaisala’s instruments.
The newly extended weather observation network consists of a host of measurement instruments, including ceilometers for cloud height detection and boundary layer characterisation, visibility and current weather sensors, Doppler weather radars, and wind profilers. Advanced meteorological sensors often used at airports were also deployed for remote locations, chosen for of their ability to provide rapid updates of high-impact weather events.
Several outdoor venues of the 2010 Winter Games were located along a u-shape valley north of Vancouver called the Sea-to-Sky Corridor. The complex terrain conditions found here are subject to high winds, reduced visibility and mixed-phase precipitation, creating significant challenges for weather forecasting.
The observation data from Environment Canada’s new network is also helping researchers within a program called Science and NOWcasting of Olympic Weather for Vancouver 2010 (SNOW-V10). This program, operating under the World Meteorological Organisation, focuses on delivering short-term forecasts or nowcasts (within 6 hours) of high-impact weather over the complex terrain.
Vaisala has provided weather observation systems for all Olympic Games since Sydney in 2000. After the Olympics, the newly installed equipment in the Vancouver area will be used as part of Canada’s national weather observation network.
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IET
May/June 2010
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