On Target For 2008 Goals, Mesonet Staff Ready For Busy 2009

December 03, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - The Kentucky Mesonet is on target to reach a goal of having 20 sites operational by the end of 2008, according to Dr. Stuart Foster, director of the Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center at Western Kentucky University.

“We’re pleased with the momentum that has developed and continues to grow,” Dr. Foster said. “And 2009 should be a very active year for the expansion of the Mesonet.”

The Mesonet is a statewide automated environmental monitoring network. Five new stations – Knox, Christian, Franklin, Hopkins and Jackson counties – are in operation bringing the network’s total to 17 that provide data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction.

Five more sites – Barren, Breathitt, Carroll, Lincoln and Owen counties – are ready for equipment installation with site work ready to begin at five additional sites in Breckinridge, Crittenden, McLean, Morgan and Union counties.

“Our goal is to have 20 sites operational by the end of the year and to have 30 site license agreements finalized,” Dr. Foster said. “We’re on target for those, even though conditions for field operations have not been favorable of late.”

Data from the Mesonet stations, which also include sites in Adair, Allen, Bullitt, Caldwell, Calloway, Casey, Fayette, Grayson, Logan, Ohio, Rowan and Warren counties, is available online at http://www.kymesonet.org/. To help users visualize weather/climate data collected in a 24-hour period, the Mesonet’s information technology staff has added a “Live Graphs” feature to the website.

Initial funding for the project was secured by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell through a $1.5 million federal earmark for the Kentucky Climate Center, part of WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program in the Ogden College of Science and Engineering.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Stuart Foster at (270) 745-5983.