Editors’ Note: This feature appears as it was published in the summer 2019 edition of UT Dallas Magazine. Titles or faculty members listed may have changed since that time.
A new weather station at UT Dallas is helping administrators better monitor inclement weather and its possible impact on the campus community.
The new WeatherSTEM station provides a micro-local forecast and current weather information for the University and the surrounding area. The station, installed on top of Residence Hall West, has additional cameras facing north atop the Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory and south and west on a Canyon Creek Heights apartment building.
“We are now able to get an accurate forecast for the campus area instead of having to type in our 75080 ZIP code and getting the other side of North Central Expressway,” said Angela Dees, emergency management specialist.
UTD students, faculty and staff can click on the weather station’s dashboard (dallas.weatherstem.com/utdallas) to see views of the horizon and get the latest information on conditions, including the temperature, wind gust, barometer, dew point, heat index, rain total and closest lightning.
The station provides real-time data to help with decisions about such things as delaying classes, canceling an on-campus event or postponing an athletic game, said Mariah Armitage, director of emergency management and continuity planning. The station also will provide automatic alerts about severe weather to key University administrators who can then communicate to students, faculty and staff.
“I think this is invaluable to the campus community,” Armitage said. “It takes human error out of the equation.”
