Please join us and other leaders, colleagues, and friends in the hydrologic warning community as OneRain and High Sierra Electronics both celebrate 25 years in business at a joint Technical Training and Open House event.
When: Friday, June 9, 2017 Time: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. What: Four (4) *FREE* Technical Workshops, Facility Tour and Lunch Where: High Sierra Electronics, Inc., 155 Spring Hill Drive, Grass Valley, CA
Thank you to our clients, friends, and colleagues for your support during these past 25 years!
This event follows the National Hydrologic Warning Council 2017 Conference in Olympic Valley, California. HSE offices are just 60 minutes away from NHWC Conference at Squaw Creek
Make your plans now! We appreciate your response for our planning purposes.
About OneRain Incorporated
Since 1992, OneRain has been providing solutions that optimize water management, heighten regulatory compliance, achieve successful civil works, and save lives. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, OneRain’s software and services deliver mission critical information to serve clients responsible for flood early warning, dam safety and reservoir operations, water resources, stormwater and wastewater management. For more information, visit www.onerain.comor call 800-758-RAIN (7246).
About High Sierra Electronics, Incorporated
Established in 1992, High Sierra Electronics, Grass Valley, California, has been designing and manufacturing environmental monitoring systems for the protection of lives and property. High Sierra Electronics’ systems help identify threats posed by the weather, which include flooding, dangerous road conditions, and vulnerable dams and levees. For more information, visitwww.highsierraelectronics.com or call 800-275-2080.
Fire and Water: Hazards Management after Wildfires
Between shifting weather patterns and human activity, severe wildfires are becoming a more frequent occurrence. While the immediate effects of these fires are well known, it is the after effects, including flooding, that need to be closely managed.
Author: Anu Sood
One such example is the Las Conchas fire in New Mexico. On June 26, 2011, a tree fell on a power line in Santa Fe National Forest, which ignited the parched vegetation. The forest burned at an astounding rate of one acre per second, and by the time it was over, an estimated 156,000 acres of land had been burned. Among the areas burned were parts of Bandelier National Monument, Santa Clara Pueblo and Cochiti Pueblo. At the time, it was the largest recorded wildfire in New Mexico.
The loss of vegetation from the fire was just one of the catastrophic outcomes. With much of the vegetation removed and the ground becoming hydrophobic (or vitrified), intense downpour in the Jemez Mountains in August 2011 led to flash floods. Although newly implemented flood protection had reduced damage to the recently renovated historic visitor center, many park trails had been severely impacted.
“Ground conditions drastically change following wildfires—greatly increasing the potential for life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides during heavy rain.”
The Challenge
Knowing that it could take many years, and possibly decades, for the terrestrial ecosystem to recover, the agency responsible for maintaining the park set about to implement a more effective way to closely monitor the area’s water cycle. They were concerned about heavy rains and rising upstream water levels that could once again cause flash floods or landslides, thereby threatening lives and damaging property and park assets such as the visitor center. “To more closely guard the park against post-wildfire hazards, the local agency was looking for a system that would allow them to receive real-time notifications of rainfall and water level changes in various parts of the park,” said James Logan, CEO of OneRain.
Many of the systems in the market collected data regularly but are only able to send it at specific times or at specific intervals. This did not meet the crucial requirement to receive level information in real-time since water levels can rise very quickly right before a flood.
OneRain’s StormLink® Satellite Telemetry installed in the Cochiti fire burn area in northern New Mexico for flash flood warning. Real-time data is transmitted to OneRain’s secure data storage center for viewing, alarming and monitoring on the Internet via Contrail®
The Solution
OneRain developed and deployed several of their StormLink Monitoring Stations around the Santa Fe National Forest at Bandelier National Monument, Santa Clara Pueblo and the Cochiti Pueblo. Each consisted of either a rainfall gauge or a stream gauge connected to a satellite messaging terminal manufactured by SkyWave Mobile Communications and powered by a 10-watt solar panel.
OneRain’s StormLink solution provided many key functions and benefits for effective flood warnings. Since the system relied on satellite communications to relay data, monitoring stations were set up in mountains, canyons and other remote areas where other services are not available. Data from water gauges can be received by the monitoring software within 20 seconds of being collected and sent. This allows authorities to receive immediate notification when water levels rise rapidly during heavy rains and when data are needed in order to quickly assess risk levels.
OneRain’s Unique StormLink Protocol Guaranteed Timely Data Delivery for Advanced Warning To ensure that data were received by the flood monitoring software, OneRain implemented a unique StormLink® handshaking protocol between the satellite messaging terminal and theirContrail® monitoring software that guaranteed data delivery. If acknowledgement of data receipt was not received by the satellite messaging terminal, it would resend information.
Finally, OneRain devised the system so that water and weather data could be received, alarm thresholds defined and automated notifications for triggered alarm events delivered to any number of appropriate personnel to warn of possible flood conditions. Alarm notifications could be sent via both email and SMS text messages.
Intense Rainfall Event Puts the Advance Warning System to the Test
The remote monitoring solution’s capability was quickly tested for its effectiveness. On July 25, 2013, rains in the region led to a 17-foot (5.1-meter) high wall of water barreling through a local canyon towards the visitor center. “The real-time water level information allowed the local agencies to mobilize flood protection measures in advance,” said Logan “The early warning ensured that no one was hurt and damage to the visitor center and surrounding areas were minimized.”
About the Author Original story appeared in WaterWorld Magazine (www.waterworld.com). At the time published, Anu Sood was the Global Channel Marketing Manager at SkyWave Mobile Communications.
About OneRain Incorporated For more than 20 years, OneRain has been providing private and public sector clients across the United States and around the world with solutions to optimize water management, heighten regulatory compliance, achieve successful civil works, and save lives. OneRain’s innovative products and services serve clients in Flood Early Warning and Emergency Management, Dam Safety and Reservoir Operations, Water Resource Management, Post Wild Fire Mitigation, Urban Pluvial Water Management, and Stormwater and Wastewater Management. For more information, visit www.onerain.com or call 1-800-758-RAIN (7246).
Grass Valley, CA (August 11, 2016) – Logan Gayl, Inc., a California company owned by the shareholders of OneRain Inc., a leading software provider for the Flood Warning, Dam Safety, Reservoir Operations, and Hydrology markets, is proud to announce the acquisition of High Sierra Electronics, Inc., a leading provider of environmental monitoring and instrumentation for the Flood Warning, Hydrology and Road Weather markets.
This acquisition combines the strengths of OneRain’s software, High Sierra Electronics’ hardware, and both companies’ services divisions to provide end-to-end-supported software, instrumentation and field services to the hydrology marketplace.
“High Sierra Electronics’ seasoned management team has done a terrific job of building a solid and successful operation that provides high quality products and services to the hydrology market,” said James Logan, OneRain’s CEO. “OneRain and High Sierra Electronics share a passion for serving public safety and public agencies where real-time monitoring of hydrology supports their core mission.”
“We are thrilled about the possibilities this new synergy creates,” said Ilse Gayl, OneRain’s chairman.
“By teaming up, High Sierra Electronics and OneRain will be able to provide technology-leading, high quality solutions for our combined customer base,” said Jim Slouber, VP of Engineering for High Sierra Electronics. “This is the natural evolution of our business to provide more complete solutions for our customers,” said Kathy Slouber, President of High Sierra Electronics.
About OneRain Incorporated
Since 1992, OneRain has been providing solutions that optimize water management, heighten regulatory compliance, achieve successful civil works, and save lives. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, OneRain’s software and services deliver mission critical information to serve clients responsible for flood early warning, dam safety and reservoir operations, water resources, stormwater and wastewater management. For more information, visit www.onerain.com or call 800-758-RAIN (7246).
About High Sierra Electronics, Incorporated
Established in 1992, High Sierra Electronics, Grass Valley, California, has been designing and manufacturing environmental monitoring systems for the protection of lives and property. High Sierra Electronics’ systems help identify threats posed by the weather, which include flooding, dangerous road conditions, and vulnerable dams and levees. For more information, visit www.highsierraelectronics.com or call 800-275-2080.
Contact Information
Rosemarie O’Connell
Sales & Marketing
OneRain Incorporated
1531 Skyway Drive, Unit D
Longmont, CO 80504
Phone: 800-758-7246
Sue Swenor
Sales Manager
High Sierra Electronics, Inc.
155 Spring Hill Drive, Suite 106
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Phone: 800-275-2080
With the December 2016 Contrail® software release, OneRain is updating the suite of data analysis tools and data mining engines known as “Contrail Insight” to a new menu location and with a new name: “Contrail Analytics“.
The update affects Contrail Base Station and Contrail Server clients.*
Contrail offers two types of reports: On-Demand and Analytics. Making Contrail Analytics available requires a client-based permission. With this new update, the Analytics reports will live alongside the On-Demand reports making your library of reports easier to find and manage in one location: Administration > Reporting > Reports. More about access and new report features will be available in the online Help documentation coming with this release.
The team here at OneRain is always working to improve our user’s experience by creating better workflow, simplifying processes and adding new features and enhancements. Your feedback on Contrail’s features and usability are incredibly important to us so please let us know what you think.
We frequently release new features, improvements and bug fixes. For the latest information about Contrail software updates and releases, visit the Releasespage at https://status.onerain.com
*Contrail Analytics is not available with Contrail Shared Web.
About OneRain Incorporated
Since 1992, OneRain has been providing solutions that optimize water management, heighten regulatory compliance, achieve successful civil works, and save lives. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, OneRain’s software and services deliver mission critical information to serve clients responsible for flood early warning, dam safety and reservoir operations, water resources, stormwater and wastewater management. For more information, visit www.onerain.com or call 800-758-RAIN (7246).
The Whitehouse mandated HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) connection for Federal publicly-accessible websites back in 2015. The directive instructs Federal agencies with publicly accessible websites to provide service only through a secure HTTPS connection that encrypts nearly all information during communication between the website and user. (See M-5-13 memorandum “Policy to Require Secure Connections across Federal Websites and Web Services“.
Starting in January of 2017, Google Chrome will begin indicating all websites that do not use encryption as “Not Secure”. Other major web browsers (Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Edge) will likely do the same.
Encryption between Browser and Contrail Server
HTTPS-secure provides an encrypted connection between the browser and the Contrail server. This ensures that the data transmitting between your browser and the Contrail server is safe by making sure that unintended users are unable to intercept the traffic. A particular instance in which this type of secure connection is highly important is during username login and password access to the application. If you do not have HTTPS certificates configured, this warning can put off public users from visiting your site, and leave you vulnerable to “Man-In-The-Middle” attacks when visiting your Contrail instance.
All OneRain-hosted Contrail editions are HTTPS secure. For locally installed Contrail Base Stations, a TLS/SSL (Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer) protocol certificate is required to enable encryption and authentication on your site domain and use the HTTPS protocol. OneRain can work with your IT department to implement your agency’s encryption certificates within Contrail ahead of this change. If using or implementing your agency’s certificate is an issue, OneRain can purchase and manage your certificate on your agency’s behalf for a small annual fee.
Starting in January of 2017, Google Chrome will begin indicating all websites that do not use encryption as “Not Secure”. Other major web browsers (Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Edge) will likely do the same. (Learn more here)
Why have TLS/SSL Certificates?
A TLS/SSL* certificate is required to enable encryption and authentication on your site domain and use the HTTPS protocol. HTTPS-secure provides an encrypted connection between the browser and the Contrail server. This ensures that the data transmitting between your browser and the Contrail server is safe by making sure that unintended users are unable to intercept the traffic. A particular instance in which this type of secure connection is highly important is during username login and password access to the application. If you do not have HTTPS certificates configured, the “not secure” warning could put off public users from visiting your site, and leave you vulnerable to “Man-In-The-Middle” attacks when visiting your Contrail instance.
All OneRain-hosted editions of Contrail are HTTPS secure
For locally installed Contrail Base Stations, a TLS/SSL (Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer) protocol certificate is required to enable encryption and authentication on your site domain and use the HTTPS protocol. If your on-premise Contrail Base Station site domain is not secure, OneRain can work with your I.T. department to implement your agency’s encryption certificates within Contrail. If using or implementing your agency’s certificate is an issue, OneRain can purchase and manage your certificate on your agency’s behalf for a small annual fee.
*TLS/SSL (Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer) is the de facto standard for encrypted and authenticated communications between clients and servers on the Internet.
About OneRain Incorporated
Since 1992, OneRain has been providing solutions that optimize water management, heighten regulatory compliance, achieve successful civil works, and save lives. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, OneRain’s software and services deliver mission critical information to serve clients responsible for flood early warning, dam safety and reservoir operations, water resources, stormwater and wastewater management. For more information, visit www.onerain.com or call 800-758-RAIN (7246).
