State Fair of Texas

State Fair of Texas Has New Weather Alert System This Year

Alertus uses a phone application and high-powered public address speakers to notify crowds of approaching weather conditions

NBCUniversal, Inc.

The State Fair of Texas always has something new each year, but one of the newest features is something they hope they won't have to use: a weather alert system.

"I watch the weather," State Fair of Texas Senior Vice President of Operations Rusty Fitzgerald said. "The biggest risk that we have for an event here at the Fair would be from weather."

The State Fair is using Alertus this year for the first time. From his phone, Fitzgerald can send an alert to high-powered public address speakers across Fair Park about approaching weather.

Fitzgerald is in charge of a lot of things at the State Fair, from games to rides, to safety, and more, but when weather hits that is his biggest responsibility.

"Well, I'm always watching for high winds, hail...tornado, that kind of stuff," Fitzgerald said. "When we have severe weather in the area, I'm pretty much tied to the office."

Alertus will send out notifications in both English and Spanish, letting fairgoers know severe weather is near. The State Fair also gets weather forecasts twice daily and has a series of cameras to keep an eye on the weather in real-time.

"You know, weather is tricky," Fitzgerald said. "You can't always predict it and know what it's gonna do...but we tend to play towards the safe side."

The State Fair of Texas opens on Friday, September 30.

"We'll be ready," Fitzgerald said. "But we have a good weather forecast for the weekend."

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