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EDINBURG — With the Atlantic hurricane season just beginning to heat up, officials from across Hidalgo County gathered here Thursday for a crash course on the latest communication tool from the National Weather Service.
That tool, which Barry Goldsmith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Brownsville called, “NWS Chat 2.0 powered by Slack,” will allow local emergency managers and other public safety decision makers to have real-time access to the National Weather Service and its meteorologists around the clock.
That access will come via the Slack messaging application, which allows for various forms of secure communication that includes the ability to share videos, photos and other media in addition to text-based communication.
It’s that diversity of information sharing capabilities that will revolutionize how weather warnings will make it to the public, Goldsmith said shortly after delivering a presentation to local leaders who had gathered at the Hidalgo County Commissioners’ Court chamber Thursday.
“What our chat feature allows is (for) our core partners who serve the public good — from emergency management to broadcast media — to get rapid information from our staff working 24/7 to get the information they need to provide it to the public to make decisions to keep them safe,” Goldsmith said.
But the meteorologist also stressed that the tool is meant for those with the authority to make public safety decisions by providing them a platform that ensures they are getting accurate, reliable information as quickly as possible.
Already, local leaders are eager about the app’s potential to impact severe weather preparedness.
“We’re excited because it’s gonna help us a lot,” Hidalgo County Emergency Management Coordinator Ricardo “Rick” Saldaña said after the training presentation.
“It’ll allow us to communicate directly with the National Weather Service either prior or during an event to get accurate information of what (the) weather is doing and how we can provide that information to the general public,” Saldaña said.
Goldsmith added that it can help officials better figure out when and where to deploy resources.
“(It) can be used on any platform, any time, wherever you are,” Goldsmith said.
