WeatherBug Consumer and Professional Products Enhanced with Advanced Warning Alerts for Lightning, High Winds, Tornados and More

Germantown, Md., – January 24, 2011 – Earth Networks, the provider of WeatherBug® products and services and operator of the largest weather observing and lightning network, today announced the new WeatherBug Dangerous Thunderstorm Alert to provide advanced notification of the potential for severe weather, including lightning strikes, heavy rain, hail, strong winds and increased threat of tornadic activity. This alert will give advance warning to consumers and users within industries that include government, sports and recreation, energy and utilities, education, agriculture and transportation.

This new alert, provided exclusively by the Earth Networks WeatherBug brand, is generated based on data from the WeatherBug Total Lightning Network™ (WTLN). The advanced technology used within WeatherBug Dangerous Thunderstorm Alert (WDTA) enables the detection of total lighting, defined as both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. High rates of in- cloud lightning serve as precursory indicators of the potential for severe weather activity. By tracking increasing in-cloud lighting rates and issuing these alerts, WeatherBug is able to give advanced notice of severe weather potential by up to 30 minutes.

When lightning rates exceed a “severe” threshold, there is an increased threat for severe weather. When that threshold is exceeded, an alert polygon is generated based on the size of the storm cell, direction and speed. It also triggers the issuance of a WeatherBug Dangerous Thunderstorm Alert to users in the area via a variety of formats:

• Desktop users receive alerts on the WeatherBug desktop application,
• Mobile users receive text message alerts on their cell phones and via WeatherBug widgets, and
• WeatherBug Professional provides visual and text alerting to users of the StreamerRT and other weather tools.

“The WeatherBug Dangerous Thunderstorm Alert is the newest application of our rapidly expanding WeatherBug Total Lightning Network, which includes hundreds of broadband high-frequency lightning sensors placed in strategic locations around the world, including North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia,” said Chief Meteorologist Mark Hoekzema of Earth Networks. “The amount of in-cloud lightning we are able to detect with WTLN has enabled us to create another tool that will help save lives and protect property.”

The WeatherBug Dangerous Thunderstorm Alert is only available within the contiguous U.S., and does not supersede the alerts issued by the National Weather Service for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

About Earth Networks
Founded in 1993 as AWS Convergence Technologies, Earth Networks operates the largest weather observation and lightning networks in the world and is establishing a global environmental data network on an unprecedented scale.  Earth Networks owns and operates the WeatherBug brand, which precisely monitors, organizes and distributes global weather information. The WeatherBug consumer brand (http://www.weatherbug.com) reaches millions as a trusted source for live, local weather information, while the WeatherBug professional brand (http://www.weatherbugprofessional.com) serves a variety of markets that include federal, state and local governments, education, agriculture, energy and utilities, sports and recreation, media and transportation. Each day, consumers and organizations, including the National Weather Service, turn to WeatherBug to plan daily activities, safeguard lives and improve business operations. Earth Networks is based in Germantown, Maryland and is online at www.earthnetworks.com.