RMS WEATHER LAB

More than 6,000 Schools to Help Protect Lives and Property Washington, D.C. - August 6, 2002 - The National Weather Service (NWS) and AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. (AWS) today unveiled a major new public-private partnership that will bolster the government's ability to respond to a homeland security event and protect lives and property. Ruppenthal Middle School and Luray/Lucas Elementary participate in this program through Weather Bug. If a homeland security incident or disaster takes place, the NWS will now pull in real-time weather data from the AWS WeatherNet network to provide very precise forecast models that government agencies, the military and emergency managers can use to make critical decisions. The AWS WeatherNet network, established in 1993, is a highly dense, nationwide commercial weather network that includes more than 6,000 automated weather station locations based primarily at schools. Click on the Homeland logo for details.