First New England Golf Course to have WeatherSTEM System with pin-point accuracy, lightning detection and Future Cast radar
ENFIELD, NH (May 24, 2021) – Montcalm Golf Club is using a new high-tech weather system to keep golfers safe and “in the know” on real-time weather patterns. WeatherSTEM’s weather station provides a live monitoring and lightning detection system and pin-point accurate weather forecasting for golfers and those in the nearby area interested in live and regular weather updates.
Montcalm is the first golf course in New England to install a solar powered WeatherSTEM station and the first golf course in the country to have “WeatherSTEM Blast,” a weather horn/siren that will blast when dangerous lightning is nearby.
The WeatherSTEM station is mounted on a building overlooking Montcalm’s driving range that faces the panoramic mountain views of Killington, Vermont’s Green Mountains and Mt. Ascutney. It was recently installed by Tallahassee, FL based WeatherSTEM team to deliver real-time weather reports. The system also provides wind sensors, temperature sensors and humidity sensors with data refreshed every 0.8 seconds.
“Golfers want to know the nitty gritty details and layout of the golf course when they play, but just as important are the weather and playing conditions,” said Steve Rogers, Director of Golf at Montcalm Golf Club. “It’s important to provide our members and guests with a safe and pleasant experience but to have accurate and reliable forecasts in real-time is a great benefit. Equally important is our staff’s ability to better manage the course based on the weather.”
WeatherSTEM’s state-of-the-art solar powered weather station runs completely off the grid. It draws solar energy using a cellular chip to provide live-stream high resolution weather cameras, weather health safety alerts and notifications, lightning detection and high heat monitoring along with real-time, Future Cast radar.
“The most important thing you want when operating a golf course is a reliable forecast. Even if your power goes out or the internet is down, our WeatherSTEM station continues to operate,” said Ed Mansouri, WeatherSTEM CEO and a meteorologist. “Having this weather station on the golf course help golfers understand how the conditions vary specific to the golf course and it can greatly impact their game. The same benefits offered to Montcalm Golf Club can be realized by golf courses everywhere.”
Jim Cantore, on-camera meteorologist for The Weather Channel television network and a respected and renowned forecaster for more than 30 years, added: “The hilly terrain and high elevation make Montcalm Golf Club an ideal beneficiary of WeatherSTEM technology because it creates its own very localized weather conditions that often differ from areas just a few miles away. We use WeatherSTEM technology and cameras extensively to augment our live broadcasts. It’s reassuring to see Montcalm adopt a property-wide safety initiative that informs members and guests and pre-warns them of imminent danger,” added Cantore who was raised in White River Junction, VT, a short drive from Montcalm Golf Club.
WeatherSTEM applications
The WeatherSTEM station is solar-powered, and the company has been deploying solar powered weather stations for many years. Montcalm’s weather station has two live weather cameras that display to golfers the weather conditions and with a proprietary feature, DataStream, the weather data is updated every 8/10ths of a second and has solar radiation sensors that measure solar radiation and ultra-violet radiation. Because the system is cellular it will continue to operate even if the Internet connectivity at the golf course is interrupted.
Some of WeatherSTEM’s unique features include:
- Weather station updates on Twitter (https://twitter.com/MontcalmGolfWx) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MontcalmGolfClubWeatherSTEM/) pages throughout the day with live weather updates
- Time lapses of the weather from the previous day automatically update each night. See example here: https://twitter.com/MontcalmGolfWx/status/1391726641668370432?s=20
- A huge repository of educational content is available for free to nearby schools and their students and teachers. See example here: https://www.weatherstem.com/learn
- A data mining tool where past weather conditions can be studied at the course. See example here: https://grafton.weatherstem.com/data?refer=/montcalm/
The conditions measured at the golf course can be considered an accurate representation of what is going on across the entire golf course. In addition, the WeatherSTEM Dashboard feature gives an expanded zoomed out view of the conditions impacting the golf course with an estimated coverage area of approximately two miles.
The Montcalm WeatherSTEM app and WeatherSTEM’s associated website are 100% free to the public. See here: https://grafton.weatherstem.com/montcalm/
For further information on WeatherSTEM and how to view forecasts, monitor weather and more, go to http://weatherstem.com.
About WeatherSTEM: Headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, WeatherSTEM is a company that infuses live data collected by weather instruments, cloud cameras, agricultural probes, and other sensors into K-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum. The weather stations collect data such as temperature, wind, and relative humidity, which can be accessed by the public through WeatherSTEM’s online website or mobile app. WeatherSTEM has already installed weather stations at five locations in Pennsylvania: Beaver Stadium; The Arboretum at Penn State; Pasto Agricultural Museum, located at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center in Rock Springs; Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center in Huntingdon County; and Park Forest Elementary School in State College.
ABOUT MONTCALM GOLF CLUB: Situated between the Green Mountain National Forest and the White Mountain National Forest in the Upper Valley section of the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee region, Montcalm Golf Club has outstanding panoramic mountain views of Killington, Vermont’s Green Mountains and Mt. Ascutney, as well as rolling hills of velvet fairways and greens. In addition to a new state-of-the-art practice and training facility, it offers one- and two-day golf schools throughout the summer. Montcalm Golf Club is conveniently located off of I-89 Exit 15 at 2 Smith Pond Road in Enfield, NH.
