Frequent extreme weather events are increasingly impacting cities and towns globally. Unfortunately, there are many areas that can’t disseminate vital weather/disaster information at the speed needed to give proper warning. In response to recent tornadoes, wildfires, and floods around the world we’ve implemented a new severe weather reporting section in our existing current conditions feature. This will enable users to submit tornado, dust storm, tropical storm, wildfire, and flash flooding conditions. You can participate by downloading the PressureNet update on Google Play.

It is of the utmost importance that extreme weather conditions be submitted honestly. Weather reports are sent out to other users within an approximate radius of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the initial report. This means that for certain areas this may be the first warning received, and allows for more preparation time. If used properly, our hope is that this new feature can act as a confirmation of a threat closeby, and potentially save lives.

We have also included a mean sea level correction option which can be switched on in PressureNet’s settings. Altitude greatly affects the pressure readings, and this new feature will significantly help improve the accuracy of your barometric reports!

Another neat feature that’s been added is the twitter share option. Users can now choose to share current conditions with their twitter contacts, even adding in a photo!

We aim to create an open source platform to collect valuable crowdsourced sensor data, but we are also excited to be implementing new ways users can actively participate! If you don’t already have our app installed, you can get it from Google Play.