measuring hail and wind ground-truth to facilitate rapid response · 2016-07-25 · 2016 esri user...
TRANSCRIPT
Measuring Hail and Wind Ground-Truth to Facilitate
Rapid ResponseAlex Kubicek
CEO and Co‐founderUnderstory Weather
Overview
• Introduction to Understory• Understory technology• Data case studies
• Real‐time alerts• Minor tornados• March 23rd Hailstorm in Dallas• May 26th Hailstorm in Kansas City
• How to access Understory data• Understory Platform and API
Unique damage analytics web-based platform directly measuring ground truth weather
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but they miss what’s happening on the groundbut they miss what’s happening on the groundsatellite and radar monitor the skyRadar and satellite monitor the sky,
But they miss what’s happening on the ground.
We know what’s happening on the ground,where it really matters.
That no one else has
Hyper-local data and analytics
The current state of hail detection consists of simple models and radar technology that typically leads to a
poor understanding of storm damage.
Expected Damage Actual Damage
What’s wrong with radar?
Radars work by emitting microwave beams from a transmitter, the beams bounce off objects such as hailstones and raindrops, and are detected with receivers
It takes a full 5 minutes for a radar to sweep at all angles and elevations
Radars cannot emit and receive above an angle of 19.5o, leading to a “cone of silence” for hail detection of 2 to 5 miles surrounding each radar
We do not have enough information from radar’s limited view and poor resolution
The RTi, Understory's weather station, is a self‐contained station that currently reads:
• Hail (size, mass, velocity)• Wind (direction and speed)• Rain Accumulation• Pressure• Temperature• Humidity
Understory weather station
Understory networks are made up of cost-effective weather stations
Rooftop installment of a single sensor
Network covering Kansas City
Understory networks are made up of cost-effective weather stations
1 station per 5 sqkmsolid‐state sensor nodesalways‐on cellular uplink
real‐time platformrobust api
severe weather alerts
hail momentumwind speed and directionrain accumulationtemperaturebarometric pressurehumiditysolar index
What does it sense?Grid featuresRTI
Real-time monitoring
Approximately 1M households were underneath property damaging levels of hail
Understory view
Real-time alerts• At Mar 23 09:53 PM CST, NW Carrollton detected 1.0” hail
• At Mar 23 10:05 PM CST, Carrollton detected 0.8” hail
• At Mar 23 10:03 PM CST, West Plano detected 2.1” hail
• At Mar 23 10:22 PM CST, Lake Highlands detected 0.9” hail
• At Mar 23 10:13 PM CST, Richardson detected 1.6” hail
• At Mar 23 10:24 PM CST, Garland detected 1.7” hail
Real-time storm tracking
Case study: real-time alerts
~100,000 customers out of power at the peak –Kansas City Power & Light
CAT event for at least one insurance company in the area
Case study: real-time alerts
PRECISION WIND REPORTCompany:Claim Number:Ordered By:
Wind For Date: Fri Jun 26, 2015Report Created: Thu Jan 7, 2016
Max Wind Gust
54 mphMax 1-Minute Sustained
32 mphPROPERTY DAMAGE POTENTIAL
High
Address: 1320 Blue Ridge Blvd, Kansas City, MO, USA (0miles away from sta on)
Lat/Lon: 39.09, -94.48
Es mated average wind direc on at property
N
S
EW 2020
20
20
3030
30
30
Fri 26 06 AM 12 PM 06 PMCDT
0
10
20
30
1-m
inut
e W
ind
Spee
d (m
ph)
Direc on of Sustained Winds over 20 mph
Data Source: Wind informa on containedin this report comes from Understory'sproprietary network of ground-truth weathersensors. These weather sensors measureand record wind speed and direc on everysecond. They also deliver measurements of hailimpacts, temperature, pressure, and humidity.
Case study: Minor tornado touchdowns
Case study: Minor tornado touchdowns
Case study: Minor tornado touchdowns
Leading edge of storm carries larger hailstones than trailing edge.We detect all hits separated by more than 10 milliseconds.
8:55 pm 9:00 pm 9:05 pm 9:10 pm 9:15 pm 9:20 pm 9:25 pm
Central Time
Hai
lsto
ne D
iam
eter
[inc
hes]
Understory sensors measure individual hail impacts
Impact signature in Garland: high wind speeds
Impact signature in Plano: low wind speeds
Understory sensors measure angle of impact
Snapshot from video evidence of hail falling nearly vertically in Plano at Custer Rd. & Parker Rd. (very close to our Plano RTi).
Source: Understory spotter
Impact signature in Garland: high wind speeds
Impact signature in Plano: low wind speeds
In Plano, hail fell straight down
Snapshot from video evidence of hail falling nearly horizontally in Sachse, TX, a few miles NE of our Garland RTi)
Source: https://www.facebook.com/189278031090864/videos/1154420494576608/
Impact signature in Garland: high wind speeds
Impact signature in Plano: low wind speeds
In Garland, hail was driven by significant wind
Case study: Radar-based Hail Algorithm
Case study: Rti-based Hail Algorithm
Hail impacts show much more damage inside Dallas than Radar alone.
Combined Understory data with NWS/NOAA data to provide an enriched data set that covers the entire country.
Enriched national weather data
May 26th Hail Impacts in Kansas City
Hail impact data can go the other way and improve Radar algorithms even where we don’t have stations.
Combine with Radar Data for Full Picture
Data from impacts inside Kansas City trains our algorithms to utilize nationwide Radar data.
Leveraging Data to Create Powerful Insights
Trusted messaging sent directly to each policyholder.Where they have a complete understanding of their home.
A Better Experience for Policy Holders
Easy API data access
Sign up for an account
https://reports.understoryweather.com
Nicole Homeier, VP | [email protected]: 617 702 4993
Alex Kubicek, CEO | [email protected]: 617 702 4993
Sign up for an account athttps://reports.understoryweather.com/user/account/create
Or contact us at:
Customer Service | [email protected]