Share weather data from your phone

Smart phones are nearly everywhere these days. And an app called PressureNet is hoping to use that fact to help both meteorologists and the general public.

It hopes to take advantage of a feature some new smart phones are equipped with: surprisingly accurate barometers that measure atmospheric pressure.

PressureNET is a small, free app that runs in the background of some newer smart phones. Once installed, it takes the barometric pressure at your location and reports the data back to researchers at the University of Washington. You can also use the app to view the data submitted from other PressureNET users.

Though the main benefit to the user won't be immediately apparent, University of Washington researchers have big plans for the data.

“The ultimate goal is to substantially improve weather prediction,” said Cliff Mass of the University of Washington. “We are dependent upon the density of observations. We need more dense observations in order to describe smaller-scale weather features like the conditions that produce thunderstorms.”