Here’s some raw footage of one of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) buoy deployments last week. This buoy (and one other just to its north) is managed by UNC Chapel Hill’s marine science department. That’s us! NOAA and the National Weather Service (NWS) are government agencies that monitor and research weather, climatological, and environmental patterns all over the world. This is just one of a very large network of buoys that are constantly feeding data to the national weather service.

Okay, this is only super relevant if you live on the coast…but even if you live in Kansas, the NWS has similar mechanisms to monitor your weather patterns as well! (Hint: it’s the group behind the funny noises that come on the radio and make your dog’s head tilt a certain way whenever a big storm is coming.)

Enjoy this video; forgive the poor camera work, I was rocking on a boat in the ocean; and remember that a lot of work goes into much of the science behind weather reporting, so cut your weatherman some slack!

Also: find all the historical data taken by this buoy here.