The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) has announced upgrades to its flood warning and observation system.
The Pennsylvania Integrated Flood Warning and Observation System is known as I-FLOWS 2.0 and will include the installation of 30 new weather stations across the state.
The enhanced system will help detect severe weather sooner and with earlier warnings.
Jonathan Porter, Senior VP and Chief Meteorologist at AccuWeather, says the upgrades will provide better real time information and alerting tools to emergency managers and the public.
“It’s another input that we would be considering when we’re issuing forecast and warnings to order to make sure people in any particular area have the best information as it relates to a rapidly evolving weather situation, including something like flash flooding or a line of thunderstorms,” said Porter.
These enhancements come amidst nationwide concern around weather monitoring and alert systems following fatalities and slow or mixed responses to major disasters like the recent flooding in the Texas Hill Country.
Flooding is the top natural hazard in Pennsylvania.