Massac County native and McCracken Co. OEM Meteorologist Beau Dodson has always had a passion for weather and for helping others.   He grew up on his family farm near Round Knob, and spent much of his free time studying and observing local weather.  He even made an appearance on Sam Burrage’s "People Beat" segment in 1984 talking about his love for weather.  Fast forward 25 years, and in 2009, Beau built a brand new home on that same piece of land that he grew up on….a house equipped with a state-of-the-art weather center, an observation deck that provides him with a view of incoming weather, and a network of webcams that allow weather conditions from his observatory to be displayed online.  It is from this in-home weather observatory that Beau tracks developing weather and relays information to local offices of emergency management and the National Weather Service, providing forecasters and the media with valuable real-time information. 

For most people, hearing those emergency management conversations is as easy as turning on your scanner, however, in McCracken County, a switch to a new radio system a few years ago has made getting information more difficult.  But now, as part of Beau’s new website, he is providing streaming audio of what you would hear on scanners for Ballard, Calloway, McCracken, Marshall, & Massac County, as well as live NOAA weather radio for all of Western KY, Southern IL, and Southeast MO.  Beau’s hope is that the more information that can be provided, more people will remain safe during severe weather situations. 

To visit this new website and to listen to streaming scanner information, follow this link:  http://weatherobservatory.com/scanner_feed.html