Community-Centered Research for Weather ReSearch

Weather Signal empowers communities to design, deploy, and own environmental monitoring systems, building credible evidence for weather resilience, community equity, and advocacy.

A CORE Futures Lab initiative at Howard University's Center of Applied Data Science and Analytics (CADSA).

Reach Out

THE CHALLENGE

Heat, Pollution, and Missing Data

7°F+

Hotter in frontline neighborhoods vs. surrounding areas

5+

PurpleAir sensors deployed across frontline communities

3

Frontline communities actively monitored

20+

Students trained in environmental data science

Frontline communities bear the heaviest burden of environmental harm while receiving the least data infrastructure. Official EPA monitoring stations miss neighborhood-level realities: in Little Haiti, the nearest heat monitor sits at Miami’s airport, miles away, producing systematically underrated heat index readings for residents who can reach 103°F in summer.

In Mossville, Louisiana, official air quality data declares conditions “good” while residents report living adjacent to a massive petrochemical corridor. These data gaps are not accidents; they reflect the same racial and class inequalities that shape every other dimension of environmental policy. When data is absent, harm is invisible. When harm is invisible, it cannot be addressed.

Weather Signal builds the evidence these communities need, owned by the people who live with the consequences.

OUR APPROACH

Community-Rooted Research, Responsibly Designed Technology

Climate Signal works with, not for, frontline communities to build the environmental monitoring infrastructure they need. We combine open-source hardware, participatory research, and data justice principles to produce evidence that governments and corporations cannot ignore.

1

Community-Led Monitoring

  • Residents shape research questions, sensor placement, and data interpretation

  • Community members trained as environmental investigators, not just data subjects

  • Monitoring partnerships with PowerU (Little Haiti), EmpowerDC (Ivy City), and Concerned Citizens of Mossville

1

Community-Led Monitoring

  • Residents shape research questions, sensor placement, and data interpretation

  • Community members trained as environmental investigators, not just data subjects

  • Monitoring partnerships with PowerU (Little Haiti), EmpowerDC (Ivy City), and Concerned Citizens of Mossville

2

Open-Source Technology

  • Low-cost, modular sensors anyone can build, repair, and own (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, PurpleAir)

  • Open data pipelines and public dashboards that put real-time information in community hands

  • Built on FAIR and CARE data principles: findable, accessible, interoperable, and community-accountable

2

Open-Source Technology

  • Low-cost, modular sensors anyone can build, repair, and own (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, PurpleAir)

  • Open data pipelines and public dashboards that put real-time information in community hands

  • Built on FAIR and CARE data principles: findable, accessible, interoperable, and community-accountable

3

Data Justice

  • Challenging official environmental narratives that systematically misrepresent frontline conditions

  • Documenting the spatial inequities in federal and state monitoring infrastructure

  • Connecting AI and algorithmic bias to its material consequences for environmental health

3

Data Justice

  • Challenging official environmental narratives that systematically misrepresent frontline conditions

  • Documenting the spatial inequities in federal and state monitoring infrastructure

  • Connecting AI and algorithmic bias to its material consequences for environmental health

4

Environmental Action

  • Translating community-generated data into advocacy for reflective surfaces, expanded tree canopy, and cooling zones

  • Supporting corporate accountability pathways in Mossville and Wilmington

  • Training the next generation of climate data scientists from HBCUs and frontline communities

4

Environmental Action

  • Translating community-generated data into advocacy for reflective surfaces, expanded tree canopy, and cooling zones

  • Supporting corporate accountability pathways in Mossville and Wilmington

  • Training the next generation of climate data scientists from HBCUs and frontline communities

SUPPORTED BY

Howard University — Center of Applied Data Science and Analytics (CADSA)

Core Futures Lab

National Science Foundation

NCAR / 11th Hour Project

Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)

Public Interest Tech University Network