WeatherSTEM, an innovative platform used to track intense weather conditions, introduced its latest new service, OrangeSTEM, at the Annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference in West Palm Beach. The resource will provide forecasters and emergency managers in Florida with an effective new tool to prepare for and respond to hurricanes and other weather-related emergencies.

As meteorologists point to another above-average hurricane season, WeatherSTEM introduced OrangeSTEM, a service to provide reliable, hyper-local information on weather conditions to better prepare Florida’s universities, state and county governments, and disaster response teams to monitor, plan, and respond.

“It is impossible to know when a hurricane will hit Florida, but we know it will happen – and reliable advance warnings can make a lifesaving difference,” said Ed Mansouri, founder and CEO of WeatherSTEM. “Our emergency managers need every tool available to help protect our families, friends, and neighbors. That’s why it’s comforting to know that tools like OrangeSTEM can make a real difference.”

WeatherSTEM provides a highly customizable alert platform that responds to a wide variety of current and forecasted conditions. The provider has been working to install weather systems across the state to help officials track weather conditions year-round. With the implementation of OrangeSTEM, the new service will provide a statewide network of units to monitoring weather conditions specific to Florida.

By instantaneously compiling data from units across the state to track storms, OrangeSTEM can notify residents and state officials via web, mobile, and social media platforms where a storm’s greatest impact may occur and when conditions become safe. This will get first responders onto the streets of impacted communities even sooner.

“One thing is certain: Advance warning saves lives and protects property,” said Mansouri. “I’m proud that my company has been working tirelessly to ensure the safety of Floridians, not only in hurricane season, but year-round.”

The most recent hurricane season featured 17 named storms with $316 billion in damages, making 2017 the costliest hurricane season on record. Mindful of that impact, WeatherSTEM developed OrangeSTEM to provide Floridians time to secure their valuable assets, protect their homes and businesses, and relocate to a safer place.

As governmental entities and businesses continue to install more WeatherSTEM units along Florida’s coastlines and in interior regions, OrangeSTEM will be able to utilize the additional data to produce even more detailed forecast information, which will further enhance the system’s alerting capabilities.

WeatherSTEM was a key player at the 32nd Annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference, held May 13-18. The conference is dedicated to connecting Florida communities’ expertise and resources to ensure that our state is ready to withstand hurricane events, and tools like OrangeSTEM will make sure the state is fully prepared for the upcoming hurricane season.