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Bad weather may not come as a blow

Channel 13 will begin recording local weather data - from a freeze to a tornado - for broadcast if the School Board approves a deal this week.

By EDDY RAMIREZ
Published December 10, 2005

LECANTO - When strong winds from Tropical Storm Frances left many people in Citrus County without power last year, frustrated residents complained that TV coverage of the storm's local effects had been inadequate.

TV stations, they said, had offered Tampa and St. Petersburg up-to-the-minute weather information as the storm moved closer ashore while Citrus viewers were left mostly in the dark.

"We're the northernmost county in the Tampa Bay (area), and for whatever reason we can't get the amount of coverage that we should get," sheriff's Capt. Joe Eckstein, the county's emergency operations director, said recently.

Now, one Tampa TV station hopes to make amends with Citrus viewers by promising better coverage of local weather. WTVT-Ch. 13, a Fox affiliate, has signed an agreement with the Citrus County School Board to install a weather station at the Instructional Resource Center in Lecanto.

The weather station would record temperatures, wind speed, dew point and other changes. The readings would be beamed to the Tampa news studio, where meteorologist Andy Johnson could broadcast them during live newscasts.

"It would affect a large number of our student population, and it would be good for our community," said Mark Klauder, the school system's coordinator of secondary education.

The agreement will come up for a vote during a School Board meeting Tuesday.

Besides allowing residents to make better, more informed decisions, Klauder said, the weather station could one day benefit students in science classrooms.

Using additional equipment, schools will be able to link classroom computers to the weather station. A teacher can use the recordings to help students better understand weather phenomena and how weather affects the environment.

The Academy of Environmental Science has already bought a weather station that will allow students to manipulate a camera overlooking the Gulf of Mexico and view those images along with related material on the Internet.

Klauder said the TV station has agreed to cover the costs of the weather station at the Lecanto school complex. The district, however, would have to buy the equipment that would allow classrooms to connect with the weather station.

For Eckstein, the TV station's local investment acknowledges that Citrus County is considered part of the Tampa Bay area.

Eckstein, who runs the Emergency Operations Center in Lecanto, said the new weather station will be another tool that can help people prepare for inclement weather.

Last year, Frances knocked down tree branches and power lines, leaving half the local population without electricity at some point during the storm.

Since then, residents have demanded better TV coverage of local weather, Eckstein and Klauder said.

Eckstein has met with at least two TV stations, including Channels 8 and 10, to discuss ways to improve coverage of local weather.

Eckstein said WFLA-Ch. 8 agreed to donate software that can help emergency officials here pinpoint where unusual weather phenomena like tornadoes might develop. Still, Eckstein must rely sometimes on residents with radios and weather recording devices.

With the weather station, in the event of an overnight freeze that can destroy garden plants, people would receive warning.

In more serious situations - a tropical storm or a hurricane - recordings would allow meteorologists to give enough notice to people to plan an evacuation.

"We can't make the decisions for everybody," Eckstein said. "So this is another tool for citizens to make their own decisions."

Klauder has worked with meteorologist Johnson and other Fox 13 representatives since August to hammer out the details of the project. If the weather station is approved Tuesday, which is likely, officials will decide when to install it.

Eddy Ramirez can be reached at eramirez@sptimes.com or 860-7305.

[Last modified December 10, 2005, 00:51:18]