Case Study: Oklahoma State University achieves rapid, automated severe-weather safety with Earth Networks' Outdoor Alerting Solution

How Oklahoma State University Keeps Students Safe on and Off the Field

Oklahoma State University Stillwater, a bustling 840‑acre campus with more than 6,000 students and high‑profile athletic events, needed to protect athletes, students and spectators from frequent severe Oklahoma weather (tornadoes, lightning and storms). To meet that challenge, Oklahoma State University deployed Earth Networks’ Outdoor Alerting Solution to provide automated severe‑weather detection and mass notification for outdoor venues and campus safety teams.

Earth Networks’ Outdoor Alerting Solution automatically detects nearby lightning and severe storms, sounds horns at outdoor venues, initiates a 30‑minute countdown to determine when play can safely resume, and sends real‑time alerts to coaches and safety staff. The system has operated daily across OSU’s outdoor facilities for three years and proved its effectiveness on Sept 17, 2016, when Earth Networks sent 34 alerts while recording about 20,000 lightning strikes in the area—including a cloud‑to‑ground strike 0.75 miles from the stadium—enabling timely evacuations and faster, automated emergency response.

Oklahoma State University

Ron Hill

Emergency Management