Reminder About Internet2 Network Monitoring and Support During 2024 Peak Season for Extreme Weather

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

By Chris Wilkinson, Internet2 Senior Director of Infrastructure Engineering and Architecture, and Camille Davis-Alfs, Internet2 Engineering Services Manager

Note: This blog has been updated and reposted as a reminder for the community and to reflect the latest reports and outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

From severe storms to wildfires, extreme weather and climate events occur throughout the year that can adversely impact our community and Internet2 services. However, spring and summer months are historically when such events occur with increased frequency and intensity.

This week, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center released its 2024 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, predicting above-normal hurricane activity with a likely range of 17-25 named storms. Of those, eight to 13 could become hurricanes, including four to seven possible major hurricanes. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and ends November 30.

During the peak months for weather and climate events – including hurricanes, other severe storms, and wildfires – we want to remind the community about Internet2’s national network monitoring and support for our members.

Internet2 Preparedness and Support

The Internet2 network is designed to provide the performance, capabilities, security, and resiliency required to meet the needs of the research and education (R&E) community under any circumstances. During critical weather events and natural disasters, Internet2 initiates enhanced monitoring of network services in affected regions and prepares for any potential impacts.

At the outset of such an event, the Internet2 network operations center (NOC) opens an internal ticket to track all associated activities and provide a tie-back for member tickets opened due to any related impacts. The Internet2 NOC is reachable 24 hours a day, 365 days a year:

Additional actions taken by Internet2 in the case of critical weather events depend upon the event’s severity. They may include a temporary maintenance freeze for all non-critical changes to the network, proactive contact with vendors to ensure they are prepared for any service restoration activities if required, close monitoring of official forecast sources (e.g., National Hurricane Center) until the danger associated with the situation has passed, and enhanced communications protocols — including timely updates on the Internet2 News page — to ensure members have the most recent information related to any technical or service impacts.

Internet2 also maintains additional transport and switching capability in reserve to augment member networks and commodity internet services in the case of a natural disaster, with 48 points of presence in the national network footprint. Internet2 welcomes requests for support from our members both in advance and after expected events. To the best of our ability, we will coordinate as needed with other state and regional R&E networks and commercial partners. 

Above all, we encourage community members to follow appropriate local emergency management procedures, heed all warnings, and keep personal safety at the highest level of consideration. 
If you have questions about Internet2’s monitoring and support protocols, please contact us at networkdevelopment@internet2.edu.

ICYMI

• Did you know? Wildfire Awareness Month occurs annually in May, and the 2024 National Hurricane Preparedness Week was May 5-11.
• NOAA predicts above-normal 2024 Atlantic hurricane season