Residents safer with new winter weather sensors

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Saturday, weather researchers in Oklahoma unveiled new technology that could help keep you safe this winter.

It's called the Oklahoma City Micronet, a network of 40 weather observing stations throughout the metro.

Oklahoma City partnered with researchers at the National Weather Center in Norman on this project, and will put the Micronet to use during the winter season.

The Oklahoma City Micronet stations are atop light poles and can collect air temperature, relative humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction.

"Are there certain areas of the city that are freezing while others aren't? Sending trucks everywhere is not necessarily the best option from a cost standpoint," said Dr. Jeff Basara with the Oklahoma climatological survey.

Developers said it will be helpful during severe weather.

"We're actually going to have the observations at that moment to be able to say ‘Yes, there are severe winds occurring in this location and these people really need to be careful,'" Dr. Basara said.

To check out real time weather data, visit the Micronet website.