According to Georgia Magazine, a publication distributed by the University of Georgia, there's a fabulous web site you're invited to visit if you want to know what's happening with your local weather even faster than checking with the National Weather Service.

The site is called www.GeorgiaWeather.net and is maintained by two University of Georgia agricultural meteorologists and provides weather information in almost 'real time.' With the erratic -- and many times, dangerous -- weather that we can experience in North Georgia, this could be a very valuable safety tool for anyone with Internet access.

Here's how the site works: GeorgiaWeather.net takes information from 71 stations around Georgia and reports every 15 minutes to a computer in Griffin, GA. The data is quickly processed and then posted on the web site.

GeorgiaWeather.net debuted in 1991 with just four stations by Gerrit Hoogenboom, who along with Joal Paz, has been fortunate to watch the site expand to its current size, with support from the Georgia Peanut and Cotton Commissions, the Georgia Forestry Commission and the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

So if you want to be the first on your street to know what's happening with weather in your locale, you should definitely visit www.GeorgiaWeather.net.