Improved weather forecasting brings substantial savings

Extreme weather phenomena, such as floods and storms, cause substantial economic loss and damage all over the world. For example, in the USA alone, the combined cost of the biggest weather disasters over the period 1980-2007 exceeded EUR 385 billion (source: U.S. National Climatic Data Center, Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters). 

With this in mind, weather service providers are endeavoring to issue more accurate weather information and to improve the quality of their forecasts, and Vaisala’s customers around the world are looking to the company to provide them with increasingly comprehensive and diverse weather observation systems.

Growing emphasis on comprehensive weather observation networks

Vaisala has been commissioned to deliver a weather observation system to the authorities in the northwest province of Galicia in Spain. Galicia’s western and northern coastline borders the Atlantic Ocean. Severe electrical storms and other severe storm conditions are very common in the area, and they cause many injuries and a great deal of property damage every year. It is important for the authorities in the province to be able to issue early warnings of these threatening weather conditions.

Detailed meteorological data improves the reliability of forecasts

The weather observation system being delivered to Galicia consists of a weather radar, lightning detection network and sounding system. The system being delivered to Galicia makes it possible for data collected from various sources to be combined, and this will noticeably improve the accuracy of the area’s long-range and short-range weather forecasting.

Solution utilizes versatile weather data

The weather radar is for observing the intensity and progress of precipitation, and the Vaisala radar selected is a dual polarization radar that transmits and receives both vertically and horizontally polarized microwaves. This will allow the authorities to identify accurately different forms of precipitation, differentiating e.g. hail, rain and snow. The weather radar also provides improved measurement accuracy in both temporal and spatial terms in comparison with many other surface weather observation devices.

With the lightning detection network, the authorities will be better able to forecast the arrival of severe weather and the path it will take. The network also gives accurate information on lightning, indicating where and when it will occur, and its severity. This information is essential if the authorities are to be able to improve the reliability of warnings about the dangers of severe weather.

Vaisala’s sounding system, composed of ground equipment and radiosondes, offers valuable support for longer term forecasting. These upper-air measurement devices produce the raw data needed for forecasting 5-7 days ahead. Radiosondes are weather observation devices for upper-air measurement of pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed and direction. The radiosonde climbs to a height of up to 30 kilometers, transmitting data continuously to a receiver on the ground, which processes and converts the data into meteorological weather reports.

The Galicia weather solution is delivered to the customer in the spring 2009. The customer is actively involved in equipment testing at Vaisalas factory in Finland.