Storm-Proofing Your Home

A storm's coming. You can feel it even if the local Doppler weather radar says there's nothing but sunshine ahead.

Although home weather stations won't detect the storm before the Doppler does, they can be useful to pinpoint changes in barometric pressure. Barometric pressure will tell you when a storm's coming. The lower the barometer reading on personal weather stations, the greater likelihood of storms. Other storm indicators:

--Increase in wind speed, say from 30 to 50 mph
--Rainfall collected
--Cloud movements

You can program sprinklers to shut off when rain is imminent. Or you can close storm shutters when high winds look likely. Also, home weather stations come equipped with storm warning alerts.

So while the local meteorological station won't call you for advice, you can use your home weather station to storm-proof your home.