Storm Hawk Puts Weather Warnings in Your Hand

WeatherData, Inc., Wichita, Kan, has introduced the Storm Hawk, a hand-held weather and navigation system designed to improve safety for drivers, outdoor enthusiasts and weather sensitive operations.

Storm Hawk features weather-overlaid mapping based on GPS data displayed on an HP/Compaq iPAQ handheld computer. Storm Hawk uses cellular or satellite communications to provide customizable weather information. Real-time radar and lightning data provides exact storm locations; reporting features include land and sea surface observations such as temperature, visibility, wind direction, wind speed and National Weather Service storm warnings. Storm Hawk displays real-time, street-level mapping while users are in motion. Maps rotate so the top of the display corresponds to the direction of travel.
Storm Hawk incorporates a powerful zoom capability of one mile to 250 miles and has a radar download time of less than one minute. Future versions will predict the location of storms ten to 30 minutes into the future and will predict cloud-to-ground lightning with up to 97 percent accuracy.
Information comes from SelectWarn, WeatherData's command center. SelectWarn displays the location of each Storm Hawk so each member of the fleet can be tracked from a home location, whether the unit is carried by a person or a vehicle. SelectWarn's unique addressing capability allows messages to be transmitted to all, individual or a select group of StormHawks.
A full wireless Storm Hawk package includes Storm Hawk software, HP/Compaq
iPAQ PDA, HP dual-slot expansion pack, PC card GPS, and a Sprint AirCard for $1,595. The satellite phone package includes Storm Hawk software, HP/Compaq iPAQ PDA, HP dual-slot expansion pack, PC card GPS, Globalstar satellite phone, satellite phone data adapter cable, and PDA adapter/data cable for $1,850. Users must subscribe to monthly cellular or satellite phone service as well as a $9.95 monthly Storm Hawk weather subscription.
For more information visit www.storm-hawk.com.