The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is now home to the ninth installment in Bay County of a WeatherSTEM solar-powered weather monitoring system. Bay County Emergency Management, in partnership with the state of Florida, will receive a total of 10 WeatherSTEM systems that will aid emergency management officials in preparing and planning for and responding to, weather events.
“WeatherSTEM allows us to monitor the weather throughout Bay County live,” Bay County Chief of Emergency Management Frankie Lumm said. “These resources will assist us significantly in assessing the real-time status of assets throughout the county, even in the worst conditions.”
The units are rated for 185 mph winds, solar-powered, and provide such data points as past, current and forecasted conditions, temperature, lightning strikes, barometric readings, rainfall rates, and wind speed.
“We are glad to be a part of the WeatherSTEM system,” Sheriff Tommy Ford said. “I believe it will serve to increase weather awareness and help us in making public safety decisions.”
The Florida Legislature funded the deployment of 50 WeatherSTEM systems throughout the state at no cost to local governments for the first three years and a later annual fee of $1,800 per unit. Lumm said Bay County will seek grants to fund the system when the free period concludes. A tenth and final unit will be established in Mexico Beach as soon as possible, Lumm said.
WeatherSTEM offers mobile apps for iOS and Android, and the camera feeds for all units are available at https://Bay.weatherstem.com