Coppell City Council approved a switch from the current lightning prediction system, Thor Guard, to Perry Weather during its Nov. 8 meeting. The Perry Weather Outdoor Weather System is a wireless, cloud-based emergency alert and lightning warning system. Thor Guard is being replaced because it has become outdated and is no longer being regularly serviced and supported by the vendor, according to the agenda item.
Perry Weather OWS provides around-the-clock weather risk monitoring and lightning warning. The new system can also broadcast personalized text-to-speech messages to on-site crowds or automatically announce a lightning delay after the siren sounds.
Five weather stations will be installed at various unspecified locations. The weather stations will utilize the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature model, which will help venues, cities and organizations safely track and monitor heat stress. The outdoor weather stations can simultaneously measure weather readings such as temperature, Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, windchill, rainfall, wind speed and more, and will keep a historical data log, according to the agenda.
Perry Weather is the only company that offers weather stations with the ability to monitor and alert city staff when extreme temperatures have reached unsafe levels, according to the agenda item. Coppell ISD upgraded from Thor Guard to Perry Weather’s OWS and weather stations within the past year, and several surrounding cities utilize the system, including Lewisville.
The upgrade will cost $150,173 and is budgeted in the city’s recreation development corporation fund.
