Above: A mobile app allows anyone to access data recorded by the Southborough Public Safety Weather Station. (image from Davis website)
Southborough Emergency Management announced that the public can access data from a Weather Station at the Public Safety Building.
You can find the WeatherLink mobile app info here. (It’s a free download through the Apple App Store or Google Play.) Or you can create an account to use a website to view data here.
I checked it out, and it’s kind of cool. As wind gusts shifted outside my windows, I was able to watch the data change at the nearby station. (Click on a few images below from earlier this morning.)
Still, I wondered what the purpose of the station was. So, I reached out for some more background.
Lt. Neal Aspesi explained:
The weather station provides emergency services with the ability to monitor and record real-time location-specific weather data which is used to help emergency services make safety and operational decisions during [severe] weather events. It also provides a historical record that can be used to help investigate post-storm damage and write post-event reports. With the addition of the web access feature, responders in the field and management in remote locations now have the capability to the data as well, enhancing safety and operational decision making.
Aspesi also noted that there was a station at the old Fire Station, but it wasn’t in good enough condition to be relocated. Purchasing new equipment was made possible through a federal grant:
SEMA acquired a federal grant in 2021 to purchase a new Davis Instruments professional grade weather station, which was installed at the Public Safety Building (PSB) in the fall of 2021. We have three display consoles within the PSB: Dispatch Center, Fire Administration & Fire Living Quarters. The one in Fire Administration is identified to be relocated to the EOC when activated. To expand capabilities, we added the web remote access capability, which was also funded by a federal grant.
We felt that sharing access with the public to monitor the weather station would be helpful for citizens on a day-to-day basis and equally help them make safe decisions during severe weather events.
