Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C., is using an advanced radar system to track storms and other dangerous weather.
For years, Kidd Brewer Stadium has had a problem. It has its back to the weather.
The 24,050-seat football stadium, home to the Appalachian State Mountaineers, sits high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Boone, N.C., where the climate can change on a dime. Since the stadium was built in the 1960’s, thunder storms have rolled in from the West without warning, giving those in the Eastward-facing press box little time to react.
In June, the university solved their long-standing issue with weather by partnering with a local company Transportation Equipment & Services (TES) to implement a commercial-grade weather monitoring system with forecasting capabilities. Appalachian State is the first higher-education institution to install a system of this magnitude.
Sales Consultant at TES Mark Holland, who headed up the project, said the forecasting ability of the school’s new toy is on par with that of an airport.
“If lightning’s approaching,” said Holland, an Appalachian State grad, “we can see it as it comes in and within one second when it strikes. And we have 100-meter accuracy, so we can know exactly where the lightning is and make decisions about whether to evacuate the stadium and when we need to do so.”
The weather in Boone is known for its unpredictability. The area receives approximately 52 inches of precipitation each year and averages 139 days per year with either rain or snow. So for nearly half the year, Appalachian State is using the new system to track incoming precipitation.
“You can have rain, then three hours later it’s sunshine,” Holland said. “The stadium is about 3,300 feet elevation. When you’re at that elevation and a storm is approaching, it happens faster. The weather is so dynamic and changes so much.”
The system is made up of two components. The first is the Lufft WS600, which is a 12-inch wide compact weather station that looks like a lamp and has sensors to measure air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind direction and wind speed.
Lufft is a German weather instrumentation company that was founded in the 1880s and has been in the U.S. market for 50 years. Its patented Precipitation Detection Doppler Radar is accurate enough to gauge the size of rain droplets.
Part two is the Schneider Electric Total View weather forecasting and decision support system. The Total View connects to the WS600, providing immediate reports to university staff that can be accessed on any computer or smart phone.
“The system actually learns,” Holland said. “With a mountainous region, you have micro-climates. It will collect that data and learn from the patterns, then provide more and more accurate forecasts based on that data.”
According to Holland, it took just one day to install the system, placing the WS600 at the top of the stands on the East side of the stadium.
Appalachian State officials say the football stadium and entire campus are made safer and more efficient with better weather tracking.
“Previously we were just using weather.com and some different web cams,” Assistant Athletic Director Doug Justice said. “It wasn’t directly for our campus or the surrounding mountains. Now, especially on game days, we’re able to see the weather and contact meteorologists and make better decisions.”
Decisions like whether to ask fans to evacuate the stadium with severe weather approaching.
“We have a command post we operate from on game day,” Justice said. “We’re monitoring the weather all the time on our computers. We’re getting real time data on what the weather is like, so if we know a weather system is coming, we start communicating with our emergency manager and make a decision.”
If bad weather is on its way, officials are able to take the proper time to move fans out of harm’s way as opposed to masses of fans rushing toward the exits after a close lightning strike.
Holland said that the system goes beyond storms in terms of improving safety. It also helps protect student athletes from being exposed to extreme heat. Between 2005 and 2009, 18 students died as a result of heat-related illness at U.S. universities.
“We can monitor things beyond the temperature such as the dew point and relative humidity,” Holland said. “We will know when athletes will need to make sure they stay better hydrated or when they should be taken off the field because it isn’t safe.”
Football isn’t the only sport that benefits. The baseball team uses the system to decide when to put their tarp over the infield, when to warm up pitchers during a rain delay and even which way the wind is blowing on a particular day.
The entire campus community has access to the weather system, too. The university is using the information on whether to cancel classes, giving grounds crews a better idea of when to mow or water grass and providing students interested in weather tracking with an opportunity to learn.
Most Division-I universities have some form of weather tracking system, but Holland said none are on the level of Appalachian State — something he hopes changes in the near future.
“I honestly believe that if others, especially in high temperature and lightning states like Florida and Texas, improve their tracking, that we will save lives,” he said.
Interviewed for this story: Mark Holland, (877) 499-8727; Doug Justice, (828) 262-2000