WRC-TV, NASA make weather on 'Net. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Internet)(Brief Article)

WRC-TV Washington has taken its state-of-the-art weather forecasting to the Internet.

With support from NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and the National Weather Service, WRC-TV has launched a Web site that puts the latest weather imaging techniques into cyberspace. The station and NASA each invested $2.3 million in the three-year project, the goal of which, says WRC-TV meteorologist Dave Jones, "is to increase the use of earth and space data over the Internet."

The primary idea is to use high-resolution imagery to focus on severe weather conditions, says Jones. WRC-TV is using Silicon Graphics Indy desktop workstations to create graphics for the site, which received 36,000 hits per hour during the Blizzard of '96.

The WeatherNet 4 Web site (wxnet4.nbc4.com) features regional radar, Doppler and skycam images of the Northeast, national radar maps, updated forecasts and almanac information.

JPL will process real-time satellite data to enable a resolution that can distinguish city blocks in relation to landmarks such as the Washington Monument. The site also features a hot link to NASA's Web site.