WeatherSTEM at Virginia Tech

VIrginia Tech Emergency Management partnered with Florida-based company WeatherSTEM to install the university's first publicly-accessible weather station on the roof of Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The WeatherSTEM station uses a combination of weather instruments, agricultural probes, and other sensors to take environmental measurements every minute. It also includes two sky cameras, one facing west across campus from the top of Lane Stadium and the other facing east from the top of Burruss Hall, that provide a live glimpse of campus as well as daily time-lapse videos.

Anyone with internet access can visit the Virginia Tech WeatherSTEM station page to view real-time weather conditions including humidity, temperature, and rainfall. User can also exporting data collected by the unit. The information is also available via the WeatherSTEM mobile app and social media accounts.

Users who create a personal WeatherSTEM account are able to set-up custom weather notifications based on their interests. Alerts can be automatically pushed to cell phones, email addresses, and social media profiles, and ultimately help users become more aware of daily local conditions.

WeatherSTEM also provides an online library of educational materials that use live information from the weather unit to create and deliver interactive activities and assessments geared toward K-12 students.

The university hopes to install a second unit at one of Virginia Tech’s farm facilities in the future.