Boston Startup Company Uses Sensors To Track Hail
BOSTON (CBS) - When icy chunks of hail went flying last week, the Understory Weather team went chasing.
Nicole Homeir knew this was going to be a big opportunity.
"This is a map of our area with radar estimated hail on top of it," she told WBZ-TV.
Radar is great for showing us what's inside a storm.
But what understory is looking at is actual ground impact.
"It's good to measure the clouds but it doesn't tell you what's happening on the ground there's a lot that can happen in between," Homeir added.
These sensors tell the real story.
"There's really a range of stone sizes. We're not just getting one size and that's really important. If it's an inch-and-a-half or three quarters, it really makes a difference," said Homeir.
To learn how it works, we went to the lab where the team, including founder Alex Kubicek, engineer their sensors.
"Nothing like this has really existed before so we need to do a lot of testing and that's what the hail gun is about," Kubicek explained.
Homemade hailstones are made and fired at the sensors to calibrate them. That way they know the size and speed of anything that strikes when it's out in the storm.
"When a hail storm hits, say like last week, we can see the hail size instantaneously without having to go out there take a picture and put a ruler next to it," said Kubicek.
The perfect spot for one of these stations?
How about the roof of Somerville High School.
The sensors measure temperature, winds, pressure, and collect solar data on a very small grid - one every 2-to-4 miles.
It's information that's critical for insurance companies, agriculture, utilities, and local towns that want to respond to weather as quickly as possible.
Although in Boston, it may be a while before we see another show like this.
"We'll probably have to wait another 50 or 60 years to see something like this again here," Homeir said.
