Iluminar, a manufacturer and supplier of infrared (IR) and white light illuminators and license plate recognition products, has been hand-picked by NBCUniversal’s The Weather Channel to light the way for its Tornado Track (Twitter #TornadoTrack) crew.

Featured regularly on The Weather Channel each time they are on the road chasing storms, the Tornado Track crew is led by meteorologist Mike Bettes. He and his team stay on the move in their 2013 GMC Yukon to check severe weather conditions and report their findings live, on-air and online. The Weather Channel broadcasts these Tornado Tracks to ensure the safety of those in harm's way and give viewers a feel for how powerful each outbreak will be. And, Iluminar's super long range IR919 series LED infrared lights are helping them do so.

As Marc Weinstock, director, field operations, explained, "The Iluminar infrared lights help tremendously because, often times, storms happen at night and, without either true night vision or infrared, it's impossible to see some of these tornados. Our new Q-Ball camera system, provided by Bexel Broadcast, which is mounted to the Tornado Track vehicle, has infrared capability. This enables us to use the IR lighting and prompted us to go out and look for this product. The Iluminar lights allow the crew to see tornadoes at night." 

Two Iluminar infrared lights are mounted on the front of the vehicle and one on each side to give 270 degrees of coverage.

"We thank Iluminar for their generosity in donating some of the lighting to the cause," Weinstock added. "They helped subsidize the project which alerts the public to eminent weather patterns and promotes public safety."

"We are thrilled to work with NBCUniversal and The Weather Channel in their efforts to alert people to the threats of severe and dangerous weather," said Mrs. Eddie Reynolds, president & CEO of Iluminar Inc. "This is a wonderful effort and we are pleased our infrared lighting can help the cause."