Monroe County officials are announcing a new way for municipalities to coordinate their collective response during winter weather events.
"We've worked to build out a capability that can coordinate and communicate events and developments within the different municipalities as they happen, so we can better coordinate a response to that," said Monroe County's Emergency Manager, Tim Kohlmeier.
It's called the "Snow and Ice Board, and it's a component of the county's existing WebEOC technology, a digitized version of the county's emergency operations center.
County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo says it will streamline the collective response in case of a snowstorm, allowing each municipality to input weather details.
"They can actually report real time as to the conditions of where they are. So this is a great tool to have better response times and indication of what the weather is. You could be on the west side of the county and it could be snowing heavily or you could be on the east side and there's no snow at all," she said.
Dinolfo says that crews can enter real-time information on their smart phones, and the data will help guide decisions about plowing, salting and protecting public safety.
It will also help with the Monroe County Office of Emergency Management's recommendations on road closures, travel advisories and restrictions that may be necessary.
The municipalities can also input specific snowfall rates, which can vary widely across the county.
Participation by municipalities in the system is voluntary.
Here’s County Executive Dinolfo explaining how the technology can help with storm response: