Gaithersburg, MD, September 17, 2003 - In anticipation of Hurricane Isabel’s expected landfall this Thursday, WeatherBug (www.weatherbug.com) this week launched expanded coverage to help residents on the eastern seaboard plan for the storm. WeatherBug is a desktop weather application used by more than 25 million people nationwide, including many millions in the projected path of Isabel. WeatherBug operates the largest weather monitoring network in the nation with more than 6,000 live weather recording stations based in neighborhoods across the country.

WeatherBug bolstered its online weather information service this week with a special newsroom that includes enhanced maps, charts, news, video coverage, forecasts, and analysis from its team of meteorologists. In addition, it dispatched a manned mobile weather station vehicle to Ocean City, Maryland to measure conditions in advance of the storm’s arrival. This mobile weather station, called the WeatherBug Live Storm Tracker, is now streaming up-to-the-second weather data and live camera images 24 hours a day to users of the free WeatherBug service.

WeatherBug also added bandwidth and technical capacity to accommodate the vast influx of new users that are expected to sign up this week. Close to 100,000 people downloaded WeatherBug in the 48-hour period from Monday to Tuesday.

WeatherBug provides far more granular, live reports than any other resource, with hundreds of live weather monitoring stations based in neighborhoods across the hurricane’s projected path. This network of monitoring stations records up-to-the-second conditions, such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, rain rate, barometric pressure, and in many cases live camera images. It includes 27 weather stations in North Carolina, 141 in Maryland, 149 in Virginia, 108 in Pennsylvania, 165 in New Jersey and 123 in New York. Combined with its National Weather Service storm alerting capabilities, no other service has the capability to alert residents so quickly and completely about the conditions on the ground as the storm moves inland.

“Along with this immense monitoring network, our expanded news coverage is providing an important tool to those who need to make contingency plans in the face of the hurricane,” said Andy Jedynak, Senior Vice President and General Manager of WeatherBug. “We are giving the people in Isabel’s path the best tools available to track the storm, live wind conditions, the rate of rainfall and other relevant information as the hurricane moves towards them. By helping people better plan how to react, we believe WeatherBug will help save lives and property.”

WeatherBug’s Isabel Newsroom features constant news updates on Isabel, tips on hurricane safety and preparedness, live camera images and more. In addition, WeatherBug has set up a special tool that hurricane watchers can use to send in their personal Isabel digital photos and stories before, during, and after the storm.

Owned and operated by AWS Convergence Technologies, WeatherBug is a highly unique source of online weather information. It provides users with extremely accurate, live conditions that stream directly from a WeatherBug weather reporting station that is in many cases in their neighborhood. This highly granular weather information is not available from any other weather source. WeatherBug is presented nationwide in partnership with by local NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox television stations who partner with AWS to provide this service.

WeatherBug is making two hurricane experts available who can provide the news media with expert analysis of the storm:

DR. JAN F. DUTTON -- WeatherBug Director of Weather Services
Meteorologist Dr. Jan F. Dutton is Director of Weather Services for WeatherBug. Previously he was president and co-founder of Weather Ventures Ltd., a Charlottesville, Virginia company that provides unique insight and information to the weather risk market. He is a published author with expertise in global climate change and its effect on hurricanes.

MARK HOEKZEMA -- Chief Meteorologist, WeatherBug
Mark Hoekzema, Chief Meteorologist for WeatherBug, has more than 15 years’ experience as a meteorologist. He joined WeatherBug in 2000 from WRC-TV/NBC4 in Washington.

About AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc.

AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. (www.aws.com) owns and operates the largest network of weather stations in the world. This real-time network gathers comprehensive, up-to-the-second weather information from more than 6,000 communities and powers the company's various products and services, including: WeatherBug®, an online weather service that provides live neighborhood conditions to more than 23 million registered PC users; WeatherNet for Broadcast, which delivers real-time weather information to more than 80 million U.S. households through partnerships with 106 local television stations; WeatherNet for Education, which provides engaging weather information and educational tools to schools and colleges, including an innovative set of online lesson plans and software called WeatherNet Classroom; and AWS Data Services which uses AWS' unique weather network and software to provide high-value solutions for vertical industries such as energy, retail, and transportation.