Catoosa City Council Approves New Weather Station

The Catoosa Emergency Management Director is hopeful the addition of a new weather station will help them get warnings out to people earlier. The weather station was recently approved by the Catoosa City Council.

Denus Benton, who doubles as the Catoosa Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director, says the city is quickly growing and spread out so the purchase is coming at the right time. The council gave the green light on spending more than $7,500 on the weather station.

Benton says once it is installed, it will give officials information on weather conditions and also notify them automatically of dangerous situations when necessary. He says they are often relying on TV stations and storm spotters to monitor conditions but this will help them do it on their own.

Benton’s job includes sounding the sirens when storms are at a threatening level, so he is hopeful this will help them alert people faster when bad weather is imminent.

“This is just a tool for us to monitor those conditions without actually having a person there,” said Benton.

The weather station is expected to be installed before the severe weather season ramps up.