LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reached an important milestone in September, installing its 100th new weather station this year systemwide and further enhancing its capacity to capture additional meteorological data to better predict where extreme wildfire danger could occur.

The expansion is part of the additional safety precautions following the 2017 wildfires that PG&E is taking as part of its Community Wildfire Safety Program, intended to further reduce wildfire threats and keep its customers, their families and communities safe.

Since January of this year, PG&E has installed more than 100 new weather stations, with four of them are in Lake County, in locations in Kelseyville, Middletown and Clearlake.

Weather stations in Mendocino County are located at Bald Mountain, Pine Mountain and Redwood Valley.

Approximately 200 new stations in high fire-threat areas across its service area will be installed by the end of the year.

Other counties that have received new weather stations so far this year include Alameda, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Marin, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Sonoma and Tuolumne.

Data collected by these stations is streamed in real time and available to state and local agencies and the public through online sources such as the National Weather Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and MesoWest.

“With these new, additional weather stations, PG&E is able to capture additional real-time data related to temperature, wind speeds and humidity levels to provide improved awareness of current fire danger conditions,” said Kevin Dasso, PG&E vice president of Electric Asset Management. “Our team of meteorologists and wildfire safety experts will use this data to determine any needed actions the company can take to help reduce wildfire risks.”