The First Warning Weather Lab is a mobile storm tracker custom-built to help us keep you ahead of weather that might impact your plans! From road temperature to wind speed, the weather lab’s equipped with advanced technology designed to collect real-time weather data your First Warning Weather Team can then analyze and bring to you from anywhere in the Capital Region.

We asked Chief Meteorologist Paul Caiano some of your most commonly asked questions about the Weather Lab. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: Why drive out into a storm when you know the weather’s bad? Isn’t that unsafe?

Paul: Driving across an area and noticing that big temperature difference or a wind direction change can help us tell what’s coming and what we can expect in the next few minutes. It’s one thing to say that it’s a certain way, but I think especially in television, when you can show viewers what it’s like for real on the roads or in a community, that really helps it hit home. So, to help protect people in the Capital Region, we’ll go out and we will physically be in the weather so that you don’t have to.

Q: Why are you and the Weather Team so excited to have this vehicle?

Paul: Well, one of the things I love to do is storm chase. So, from my earliest days, I was out in vehicles chasing the weather, and I think that part of learning about the weather and knowing and understanding the weather is to be out in the elements. So I feel like if I could be out in the weather and have this vehicle with all of its capabilities with me, then we can forecast and bring the weather from any community back home to our viewers in the Capital Region.

Q: What can the Weather Lab actually do?

Paul: In a nutshell, the technology allows us to create and broadcast a weather forecast from anywhere in the Capital Region. We can literally pull over on the side of the road and go live from the car. More granularly, it has a built-in Magellan weather station which allows us to detect wind speed and direction, road and air temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, rainfall and more – all in real-time. There are cameras inside, there’s one on the roof and there’s another down by the tire – all designed to help us show you what’s happening around us. I especially like the road temperature sensor, because it can help us warn you when the road surface gets really hot or really cold. Over the winter, we can analyze road and air temperature together, and it’ll help us alert you to potentially dangerous driving conditions. 

Q: Why do you want to take the Weather Lab to local schools?

Paul: So many times, I think kids shy away from science because it could be hard, challenging or it can even be intimidating. And I think a vehicle like this will help the minds of kids expand some. We can show kids through the vehicle how the weather changes so quickly from one location to another. And before you know it, some kids will be interested in STEM and they won’t even realize that they’re interested in STEM, because we just opened that door for them through this vehicle, for them to learn about stuff that they otherwise probably haven’t even thought of before.

Want the First Warning Weather Lab to visit your school or community event? Submit a request by filling out our Community Outreach form here!