WeatherMatrix : Organization News And Press

WeatherMatrix - 10,000 Weather Enthusiasts Can't Be Wrong!

WeatherMatrix is a worldwide organization of over 10,000 amateur and professional weather enthusiasts -- meteorologists, storm chasers and spotters, and weather observers from all parts of the globe. Online for 10 years, we are the largest online weather community.

This page will give you access to news about our organization, and press coverage of the organization and its Members.

NEW! July 1, 2005 -- WeatherMatrix is now owned by AccuWeather, Inc.. Read the announcement about this important change to our organization.

January 29, 2005 -- The Toronto (Canada) Star Newspaper featured an article about WeatherMatrix Member George Kourounis's storm chasing -- and now -- volcano chasing. Here is a link to the story and a backup link. You can also see pictures from George's "vacation" along with full details on his website.

January 28, 2005 -- WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell was interviewed for the CBC television show "The Hour." It is not known if any exerpts from the interview were played or if WeatherMatrix was mentioned.

January 23, 2005 -- The New Hampshire Union Leader featured an article about the blizzard quoting WeatherMatrix Member Bob Watson and mentioning WeatherMatrix. Here is a link to the story and a backup link.

January 18, 2005 -- The Connecticut Middletown Press featured an article about the blizzard quoting WeatherMatrix Member Gene Grey and mentioning WeatherMatrix. Here is a link to the story and a backup link.

December 30, 2004 -- WeatherMatrix.Net is mentioned in the sidebar to an article featuring WeatherMatrix Member Greg Truta. The New York Times Technology Section article is entitled "Hobbyists Fill Out the Weather Map". Here is a link to the story and a backup link.

November 4, 2004 -- WeatherMatrix is featured in the notes section of WeatherMatrix Member Paul Douglas's new weather book "Restless Skies".

September 30, 2004 -- WeatherMatrix is featured in the notes section of WeatherMatrix Member Chris Burt's new weather book "Extreme Weather".

September 4, 2004 -- The Saint Petersburg Times newspaper from Florida featured a story (alternate copy) quoting WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell about the Florida hurricanes and weather "blogging".

August 15, 2004 -- APC (American Power Conversion Corp.) featured an article about WeatherMatrix Member Willie Gardner reporting on Hurricane Isabel '03 through WeatherMatrix, in an their magazine APC Currents. Click here to find out more and read the article.

May 2, 2004 -- There is an audio interview with storm chaser and WeatherMatrix Member David Simpson available on ABC Australia's website. Click here for more information.

March 11, 2004 -- WeatherMatrix Member Jimmy DeGuara from Australia was recently interviewed by the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Click here for more information.

February 17, 2004 -- The Daily Breeze newspaper of Los Angeles, CA, featured a story quoting WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell about local weather enthusiasts and the internet weather revolution. The story was based around Member Kees Steeneken.

December 18, 2003 -- USA Today featured a story on WeatherMatrix and other weather enthusiasts in the "Electronics" section of their newspaper. It was linked from the front page of USAToday.com as the first story in Electronics.

September 21, 2003 -- WeatherMatrix, WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell and Member Bill Hark were featured in an article about weather enthusiasm and storm chasing in the Baltimore Sun, sparked by Hurricane Isabel.

September 1, 2003 -- WeatherMatrix Member Tim Armstrong, a National Weather Service employee, and WeatherMatrix Member John Campbell, a weather observer, were recently featured in an article in the July/Aug issue of WeatherWise Magazine entitled "Extra Eyes: The benefits of personal weather stations extend beyond home."

August 14, 2003 -- At 4 p.m. on Thursday, August 14, 2003, 50 million people in the Northeast lost power, most for over 12 hours. At around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, a false report circulated in the media and was broadcast by all major cable news outlets: A lightning strike at Niagara, NY caused the blackout. At 7:45 p.m. WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell posted weather information to various email addresses, lists and WeatherMatrix.Net and disproved this theory -- storms were nowhere near New York state on Thursday. Several other WeatherMatrix Members reported the same thing shortly thereafter. The result - massive traffic to WeatherMatrix.Net. Read more about this article and see the traffic stats!

August 9, 2003 -- WeatherMatrix Member Larry Huff is producing a new paper weather observer magazine. Larry runs the Munroe Falls Weather Station in Ohio and he has been issuing weather observations from his weather station since 1992 (official NWS Cooperative Observer since 1996). Regarding his magazine, Larry says "Each issue contains stories of weather stations around the world both professional and amateur. Other articles cover various weather instruments, instrument research, observing methods and techniques and so forth. "

June 6, 2003 -- WeatherMatrix Member Dan Gottschalk was featured in the Midland Times, a newspaper in Wyoming, Iowa.

December 21, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix, its Founder, Jesse Ferrell, and Member Bud Younke were featured in the Saturday edition of the Altoona Mirror, a newspaper in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

December 1, 2002 -- Links are now available (in Russian and English) for the Johnny Walker 'It's a Big World' campaign mentioned below. Here is the front page to the site, the storm chasing intro, and the links to storm chasing, of which WeatherMatrix is one of only four.

November 7, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix will be one of a handful of websites promoted in the forthcoming Johnnie Walker® Distillery 'It's a Big World' advertising campaign in Europe and South America. Johnnie Walker ads in this campaign will feature storm chasing and include the URL of the project website, which in turn will include links to WeatherMatrix.Net and other severe-weather information sites and storm-chasing tour operators. Johnnie Walker, owned by United Distillers, has been in business for 110 years and has roots back to 1820. The Johnnie Walker company spends £100 million on global advertising each year and this campaign will form a key part of the 2003 spend. If it proves itself in the initial territories (Greece & Brazil) they envisage rolling it out in 20 territories.

November 17, 2002 -- Turner South producers followed Member Rick Davis during his yearly stormchase. On Nov-17-2002 at 7:30pm (Sunday night). Stormhunter.net is going to be aired on Turner South broadcasting. The series is called Liars and Legends and is filled with segements that will educate the Southern viewer about the uniqueness of the South. Starting Nov-1 on www.turnersouth.com under EPISODES it will be listed concerning the chase2002. The persons on the show including Member Rick Davis, his son Joshua Davis and OCM and WeatherMatrix Member Mike Macgown.

September 24, 2002 -- CNN Headline News featured a brief story on WeatherMatrix on-air at 7:50pm September 24, 2002, on their "HotWired" segment, including showing the website on air and quoting founder Jesse Ferrell. Click here for a full transcript and screen captures.

September 1, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell is having some of his photos featured at Skywarn.Org.

August 23, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell has storm photos from 6/27/02 featured on AccuWeather.com Premium's What's Up Newsletter for the week of 8/23/02.

August 20, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix Member Matt Higgs has storm (hail) photos featured on WAGM-TV on-air.

August 8, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix is featured in a McGraw Hill Meteorology textbookco-authored by Member Elliot Abrams.

July 24, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix, its Founder, Jesse Ferrell, and Member Bernard Mergen were featured in the August 2002 edition of Reader's Digest, which boasts over 50,000,000 readers.

July 11, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix Member Peggy Willenberg's storm video has been used several times this summer on KSTP, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Also, she and her chase partner were interviewed on-air about a very unique "mothership" storm they captured on video within our CWA.

Jul 1, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix Member Dirk Milleris having some of his photos featured at Skywarn.Org.

Jun 1, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix is the featured store at CafePress.com.

May 23, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix gets a temporary 650% increase in traffic and 3900% increase in Membership Applications when the Drudgereport.com website links to us.

April 7, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix is mentioned in this issue of Cigar Aficionado, in an article by WeatherMatrix Member Elliot Abrams. From their website describing the article: "CULTURE -- "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it" goes the old saw. In the century since that observation was made, there's been more talk than ever. Elliot Abrams tracks our fascination with meteorology."

February 28, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix is mentioned in the New York Times in an article about the Internet and search results. View "Numbers Game" by Pamela Licalzi (requires free NY Times signup). The quote was: "Indeed, the Internet has become the speediest tool for tracking extreme weather, argues Jesse Ferrell, founder of WeatherMatrix (weathermatrix.net), an organization of several thousand amateur and professional weather enthusiasts around the world."

Jan. 13, 2002 -- WeatherMatrix Milestone: The organization surpasses 3000 Members and 1000 email list members. On Sunday, January 13, 2002, almost exactly 5 years after the organization began, WeatherMatrix inducted its 3000th Member. Additionally, the number of people on the WeatherMatrix Email list tipped over 1000 on the same day.

September 7, 2001 -- WeatherMatrix Member Thomas Giella is the Featured Member this month. His account of Ball Lightning was featured nationally on-air on The Learning Channel on September 7th, 2001. Click here for a description of his experience and video captures from the show.

September 3, 2001 -- A photograph by WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell will be featured in the materials used by teachers nationwide through the Intel Teach To The Future website. The portfolio including the photo will be posted to that web site soon. The portfolio is being done by Lynn Middle School in Las Cruces, NM.

September 1, 2001 -- Southern Living magazine features the WeatherMatrix Fall Color Webcams page in both its online and paper magazine for September 2001.

September 2, 2001 -- The Milwaukee Area Skywarn Association Electronic Newsletter for September 2001 featured WeatherMatrix in its Web Weather section. MASA was established in 1992 to coordinate and support a local chapter of the nationwide program originally created by the National Weather Service. MASA has been a WeatherMatrix Member since 1997 (our earliest Organizational Partner) and is run by WeatherMatrix Member Skip Voros.

July 20, 2001 -- WeatherMatrix Membership surpasses 2500 !

June 1, 2001 -- WeatherMatrix Site Launches! After four years online, The Central Atlantic Storm Investigators become WeatherMatrix. The new site features deeper content, better navigation, and databased weather and Member Profiles.

April 19, 2001 -- WeatherMatrix Membership surpasses 2000 !

December 12, 2000 -- WeatherMatrix HQ Is damaged by high winds during a frontal passage, causing damage to the pole that houses the Weather Stations. Winds gusted to 55mph, breaking our 3-year record wind gust. See here for the complete report.

Sept 10, 2000 -- WeatherMatrix Membership surpasses 1500 !

Aug 27, 2000 -- WeatherMatrix HQ Is Struck By lightning during a severe thunderstorm, causing damage to the Primary Weather Station and various electronics. See here for the complete report.

May 1, 2000 The May 2000 AARP Bulletin features WeatherMatrix Member Powell Way, who has been with WeatherMatrix since Day 1, and has consistently helped the organization out by referring new members, especially through the article about him in the AARP Bulletin which featured the WeatherMatrix (then CASI) name & URL! Click here to see the article.

April 1, 2000 WeatherMatrix Member Billy Tholburn says "I am a local CBS affiliate WAFB Channel 9 Storm Team Weather Watcher. I joined this network back in 1999. In April 2000, WAFB promotions asked if I would do a commercial for the WAFB Storm Team. I said "Heck Yea!". The 30 second commercial was aired locally for approximately six months."

WeatherMatrix was formerly known as CASI. Below is news from dates before the years 1998 & 1999.

CASI MEMBERSHIP EXCEEDS 1000
<State College PA - 11/07/99>

CASI Founder Jesse Ferrell announced today that CASI Membership exceeded 1000 Members this week. Members 999, 1000, and 1001 will be eligible for free CASI Merchandise.

Ferrell said, in a message to the Member email list, "When I started this organization in January 1997, if you would have told me that I would have 1000 Members in three years I would have said you were crazy. How many weather afficionados could there be on the Internet?

Well I appreciate your proving me wrong, and now CASI exists as the largest Internet weather organization. There will be many exciting things happening in the future for CASI, and I firmly believe that automation and increased efficiency can continue to hold us together for years to come.

Thanks to all of you for making this happen!!"

CASI FOUNDER INTERVIEWED BY SEAHAWK NEWSPAPER AT UNC-CH
<State College PA - 11/09/99>

CASI Founder Jesse Ferrell was interviewed today by the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) newspaper the Seahawk today, on the subject of Technology and Hurricane Preparation.

Among other things, Mr. Ferrell defined Storm Investigation: "A Storm Investigator first forecasts, then pursues and documents a storm (through video and weather observations, from equipment or the naked eye. They then investigate the results of the storm (damage patterns etc). to get further insight into how the storm behaved. The net result of all this investigation is, hopefully over time, a deeper understanding of the processes that bring storms to life and death, in order that we save more human lives and property in the future."

And commented on technology in the face of dangerous weather: "The Internet has made a huge difference in the way hurricanes are handled. Not only is there a greater deal of preparation information and forecast information available at a user's fingertips, but the Internet is often the best way to find out what has happened after the storm. In 1998 CASI lent disk space and bandwidth to a site called "GoBeach Hurricanes" which took email reports from remote caribbean islands during and after the storm, but which was flooded with requests. CASI Members use the Internet to talk to each other about possible preparations or recovery efforts."

WINCHESTER STAR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ON CASI MEMBER S. MINGHINI
<Winchester VA - 10/19/99>: The Winchester Star newspaper recently interviewed CASI Member Steve Minghini for an article which rain on October 19. Steve has been a Member of CASI since March 1999 and has contributed to a number of Storm Reports. The article, entitled "Whether It Rains, Snows, or the Sun Shines Bright, Minghini Is Watching", is available at this address.

CASI PICKED SITE OF THE WEEK AT PAIR.COM
<Pittsburgh PA - 08/15/99>: CASI was featured as a Pair.com Site Of The Week this week. Pair.com, an Internet Service Provider in Pittsburgh, PA, has provided CASI's connectivity since 1997. The Site of the Week page is was here but was deleted in the year 2000.

CASI Members Report In On Warmth/Drought Gripping Eastern US
<State College PA - 12/05/98>: The Central Atlantic Storm Investigators have prepared articles on the Drought of Late 1998 and the Pre-Holiday Record Breaking Warmth in the Eastern US. The extreme Drought conditions have caused a number of states to take action, banning smoking, burning, limiting water, and issuing States Of Emergency. High temperatures that are the highest >FONT COLOR="#FFFF00">ever in the month of December have also struck the Eastern US. Click on the articles to read more.

CASI Creates Web Page in Honor of Storm Investigator Fujita
<State College PA - 11/29/98>: The Central Atlantic Storm Investigators Founder Jesse Ferrell created a Web Page to honor the world's most successful and well-known Storm Investigator. Dr. Fujita's contributions to the science of Storm Investigation are unparalleled. He will probably be most often remembered for his invention of the Fujita (F) Scale for Tornadoes, but his endless works on thunderstorms, downbursts, and tornadoes have advanced the science immensely. His identification of downbursts have aided many to realize the full impact of strong straight-line thunderstorm winds and to consider their role in thunderstorms vs. the much talked-about tornado. I strongly admire and am inspired by few people in this world - Dr. Fujita was definitely one. He will be missed. More...

CASI HeadQuarters in Central PA Battered By Winds From Storm
<State College PA - 11/11/98>: A large storm system moving through the Eastern US brought the highest winds recorded in the last year at CASI HeadQuarters in State College, PA. The peak gust was 42mph on the CASI1 Weather Station, which exceeded all readings on that station which has been in existence since 4/98, and also exceeded readings from the CASI2 Weather Station which had been operational since 11/97 at this location. The raingauge for the CASI2 Weather Station was blown off the roof and dangled from the roof beating against the house for hours before Founder Jesse Ferrell recovered it. The instrumentation on the CASI1 Main Station was turned around the pole in the high winds. This may cause inaccuracies in some readings, especially the wind direction reading, which will have to be readjusted at the console. Other things on the porch such as lawn furniture were slightly damaged and blown into neighbors' yards. Winds yesterday afternoon gusted to 93mph in LaCrosse Wisconsin, and both IA and MN set new all-time lowest pressure records, the lowest being 28.43"Hg.

CASI's "Vehicle #1" Wins "Best Chase Car" Trophy at Picnic
<Meadville PA - 09/06/98>: CASI Founder Jesse Ferrell's Stormchasing Vehicle "Vehicle#1" won the "Best Chase Vehicle" award at the First Annual North Coast Storm Chaser Picnic. The award consisted of a Trophy and a case of motor oil. [Photo of Jesse Ferrell with award-winning Vehicle#1] CASI Members Bud Younke and Jesse Ferrell attended the Picnic on September 6, 1998, along with about 25 other chasers. Mr. Ferrell attributes the success of Vehicle#1 to its "ridiculous look, which is also a grassroots effort and sly way to advertise CASI." Food was served and chasers showed their wares and storm tapes. The Picnic was held in Meadville PA and was sponsored and hosted by the Great Lakes Severe Storm Chase Team.