Hampton University now has a severe storm research center, thanks to a grant for the city’s Economic Development authority.
The $135,000 grant will create the Center of Excellence facility, to be better prepared for storms like Hurricane Florence.
“With the creation of this Center, Hampton University can continue to provide breakthrough satellite data and real-time information about area storms with our weather technology that rivals most weather centers in the country,” said William Harvey, president of the university, in a news release.
The Center for Excellence is a facility which will function as a “high technology company,” working with local and state agencies to predict the weather forecast, and Hampton University’s weather technology will be used for data collection, analysis and predictions, according to the university’s announcement.
In addition, the center will also provide severe weather reports to Hampton residents.
“We want to be able to detect those thunderstorms, big and small,” said Bill Thomas, associate vice president of governmental relations at the university. “With the addition of expert weather scientists supported by modern techniques and advanced technology, the Center will be able to have better prediction models of the land fall of hurricanes and the location of severe thunderstorms.”
For more information on the Center of Excellence, contact William Smith, the director at Bill.I.smithsr@gmail.com or James Russell from the university’s center for Atmospheric Sciences at James.Russell@hamptonu.edu.
