Measuring Hail and Wind Ground-Truth to Facilitate Rapid Response Alex Kubicek CEO and Co founder Understory Weather alex.kubicek@understoryweather.com
Overview Introduction to Understory Understory technology Data case studies Real time alerts Minor tornados March 23 rd Hailstorm in Dallas May 26 th Hailstorm in Kansas City How to access Understory data Understory Platform and API
Unique damage analytics web-based platform directly measuring ground truth weather
} and radar the sky Radar and satellite monitor the sky, but they miss what s happening on the ground But they miss what s happening on the ground.
We know what s happening on the ground, where it really matters.
Hyper-local data and analytics That no one else has
Expected Damage Actual Damage The current state of hail detection consists of simple models and radar technology that typically leads to a poor understanding of storm 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 19.5 o, 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
Understory weather station 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 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 Grid features 1 station per 5 sqkm solid state sensor nodes always on cellular uplink real time platform robust api severe weather alerts RTI What does it sense? hail momentum wind speed and direction rain accumulation temperature barometric pressure humidity solar index
Real-time monitoring
Real-time storm tracking Understory view Real-time alerts At Mar 23 09:53 PM CST, NW Carrollton detected 1.0 hail At Mar 23 10:03 PM CST, West Plano detected 2.1 hail At Mar 23 10:05 PM CST, Carrollton detected 0.8 hail At Mar 23 10:13 PM CST, Richardson detected 1.6 hail At Mar 23 10:22 PM CST, Lake Highlands detected 0.9 hail At Mar 23 10:24 PM CST, Garland detected 1.7 hail Approximately 1M households were underneath property damaging levels of hail
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 REPORT Company: Claim Number: Ordered By: Max Wind Gust 54 mph PROPERTY DAMAGE POTENTIAL High Max 1-Minute Sustained 32 mph Wind For Date: Fri Jun 26, 2015 Report Created: Thu Jan 7, 2016 Address: 1320 Blue Ridge Blvd, Kansas City, MO, USA (0 miles away from sta on) Lat /Lon: 39.09, -94.48 N 30 20 W 30 20 20 30 E 1-minute Wind Speed (mph) Es mated average wind direc on at property 30 20 10 0 Fri 26 06 AM 12 PM 06 PM CDT 20 30 S Direc on of Sustained Winds over 20 mph Data Source: Wind informa on contained in this report comes from Understory's proprietary network of ground-truth weather sensors. These weather sensors measure and record wind speed and direc on every second. They also deliver measurements of hail impacts, temperature, pressure, and humidity.
Case study: Minor tornado touchdowns
Case study: Minor tornado touchdowns
Case study: Minor tornado touchdowns
Understory sensors measure individual hail impacts Hailstone Diameter [inches] 8:55 pm 9:00 pm 9:05 pm 9:10 pm 9:15 pm 9:20 pm 9:25 pm Central Time Leading edge of storm carries larger hailstones than trailing edge. We detect all hits separated by more than 10 milliseconds.
Understory sensors measure angle of impact 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 vertically in Plano at Custer Rd. & Parker Rd. (very close to our Plano RTi). Impact signature in Garland: high wind speeds Impact signature in Plano: low wind speeds Source: Understory spotter
In Garland, hail was driven by significant wind Source: https://www.facebook.com/189278031090 864/videos/1154420494576608/ Snapshot from video evidence of hail falling nearly horizontally in Sachse, TX, a few miles NE of our Garland RTi) Impact signature in Garland: high wind speeds Impact signature in Plano: low wind speeds
Case study: Radar-based Hail Algorithm
Case study: Rti-based Hail Algorithm Hail impacts show much more damage inside Dallas than Radar alone.
Enriched national weather data Combined Understory data with NWS/NOAA data to provide an enriched data set that covers the entire country.
May 26 th 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
A Better Experience for Policy Holders Trusted messaging sent directly to each policyholder. Where they have a complete understanding of their home.
Easy API data access https://reports.understoryweather.com Sign up for an account
Sign up for an account at https://reports.understoryweather.com/user/account/create Or contact us at: Alex Kubicek, CEO alex@understoryweather.com Office: 617 702 4993 Nicole Homeier, VP nicole@understoryweather.com Office: 617 702 4993 Customer Service reports@understoryweather.com