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Ray’s Weather: the man behind the screen |
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Tuesday, 06 February 2007 |
by NICK IANNIELLO
News Reporter
When it comes to weather forecasters, Appalachian is home to one of the High County’s best: Ray.
Ray C. Russell, an associate professor of computer science, is owner and founder of Ray’s Weather, one of the High Country’s main sources for weather information.
Russell seemed destined to be a weatherman.
 Active Image | Garrett Price | The Appalachian
Ray C. Russell, founder of Ray’s Weather and an associate professor of computer science at Appalachian, analyzes the forecast in his office.
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“I’ve always been kind of a weather buff,” Russell said.
Ray’s Weather began when Russell started posting a quick snow forecast on his university Web site.
“There was a readership of a couple hundred people and it kept growing,” Russell said. “I really got good at it.”
With no formal degree in meteorology, Russell learned to read weather maps by studying college meteorology textbooks.
In 1998, Russell’s wife gave him a weather station for Christmas. He
set it up in his back yard and by fall of 1999 was reporting live data
to his Web site, making it the first online streaming weather report in
Watauga County.
In January 2000, local media sources found Ray’s Weather, and he became
a regular on local radio stations, reporting on the weather every
weekday morning.
A story written by a local journalist was picked up in the Associated
Press wire and ran in newspapers all across North Carolina.
In December 1999, Ray’s Weather delivered 6,000 Web pages a month; by February 2000, it was delivering 60,000 web pages.
Since then, Ray’s Weather has expanded to contain information from 34
weather stations that is analyzed by four professional meteorologists
as well as Russell.
Last month, Ray’s Weather delivered 3.7 million web pages, making it
the most widely viewed media outlet in Northwestern North Carolina.
“It’s long since not a hobby,” Russell said.
Ray’s weather is used by people throughout the High Country.
“They’re as accurate as any weather source is,” associate communication professor Sharon S. Pennell said.
The Web site also contains a Web store and a brand new life outdoors
section that offers viewers information on outdoor activities like bird
watching and road biking.
“Personally, I look at [Ray’s Weather] at least once a day,” Yonathan
Lewit, Outdoor Programs trip leader and biology, pre-professional
major, said.
Lewit uses Ray’s Weather to plan and prepare for rock climbing trips.
Russell said he uses examples from his Web site to help teach students about computer science.
“It’s a real problem, not a made up problem in a textbook,” Russell said.
When the Web site was redeveloped last summer, Russell hired
Appalachian Technologies to rewrite 170,000 lines of computer code.
Most of that work was done by Appalachian graduates.
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