Ohio Nowcasting

From Great Lakes Wiki

How Safe Is It To Swim At Lake Erie Beaches? To find out, local agencies monitor beaches daily to determine levels of bacteria. The bacteria used, E. coli, are found in sewage and other animal wastes. But because the results of E. coli levels take at least 18 hours by conventional methods, we are using other quickly-obtained measurements to predict when E. coli concentrations will be high. This is called a “nowcast.” Ohio Nowcasting The information on this page is updated every day during the regular swimming season. This nowcast issues advisories and uses quickly-obtained measurements to predict when E. coli concentrations will be high. Mathematical models were used to develop a nowcast for beach advisories at 5 Lake Erie beaches. As of 2007, a nowcast system is operational for Huntington Reservation and nowcasts are being tested for Edgewater and Villa Angela. For a full technical report, see this site.