Mandeville to get first Weather Flow station in state

Recording hurricane information has hit a new level in Mandeville thanks to a private company called Weather Flow.

The city has granted the weather monitoring company a permit to install a special hurricane-monitoring weather station at Sunset Point.

Weather Flow is already set up in Florida with nearly 50 stations set up across the hurricane-prone state.

But now, thanks to what Weather Flow CEO Buck Lyons calls “warranted interest,” the weather company will be installing four stations in Louisiana, specifically around the New Orleans area, with Mandeville being the first installation.

Chris Brown with Mandeville’s Planning Department said the station will be mounted on a 33-foot tall cement pole, similar to light poles, in the northwest corner of Sunset Point near the fishing pier.

The station will be solar powered and will not draw any electricity from the city.

It will feature the latest in weather monitoring equipment including an anemometer to measure wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour, thermometer, barometer and other weather watching components.

However, Brown said, it will not feature a rain gauge.

Lyons said their intent is to record data during hurricanes to discover the inner makings of the weather beasts, which would ultimately enable emergency departments to better prepare and predict the storms.

The station will transmit its data using cellular phone technology but it also has the means of storing recorded measurements during storms if cell towers become inoperable.

Brown and other city officials consider this a win for Mandeville.

“It’s going to be a nice tool for us to have because the city will have access to it 24/7,” he said, although he didn’t know if Weather Flow would allow the info be linked on the city’s officials Web site.

Lyons did not know the exact locations the other three, but there’s a possibility the eastern half of St. Tammany could be sporting a similar device.

Brown said his department has already given the green light to build the device and expects construction to begin any day.