May 03, 2010
Bowling Green, Ky. - The heaviest rain from this weekend’s historic precipitation event fell across a corridor from Bowling Green to southeast of Lexington, according to data recorded by Kentucky Mesonet stations.
The Mesonet station at the Western Kentucky University Farm recorded 10.17 inches of rain within 36 hours from Saturday morning to late Sunday afternoon with totals of more than 7 inches recorded at sites in Adair, Allen, Barren, Casey, Clinton, Cumberland, Lincoln, Logan, Madison, Metcalfe, Rowan Taylor counties. (Unofficial totals for all Mesonet sites are available online at http://www.kymesonet.org/event_precip.php)
“This was an historic event especially in the southern part of Kentucky,” said Dr. Stuart Foster, state climatologist and director of the Kentucky Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU. “For the hardest hit areas, this type of event occurs every 100 to 200 years. Many of us will probably never see rainfall like this again.”
With 49 stations across Kentucky, the Mesonet was able to provide real-time data (updated every five minutes) as precipitation occurred Saturday and Sunday.
“We were able to see what was happening as the event unfolded and provide that data to the National Weather Service and emergency management agencies,” Dr. Foster said. “They didn’t have to guess what was happening or have to wait until after the event to know what had happened. In the midst of a life-and-death situation, you want data you can trust.”
The data from the Mesonet also will be used in the aftermath of this weekend’s event to determine the impact from flooding and to identify areas vulnerable to events of this type, Dr. Foster said.
“Instead of waiting an hour later or a day later to see you had 2 inches of rain, you can see how quickly the 2 inches of rain fell,” said Dr. Rezaul Mahmood, associate director of the Mesonet. “The Mesonet helped the users to determine the intensity of rainfall down to five-minute time-scale. The high density of network also allowed folks to accurately delineate the distribution of rainfall across the area. Both of these operational components are critical to emergency and recovery efforts.”
About the Kentucky Mesonet: Since the Mesonet’s first station at the WKU farm in Warren County became operational in May 2007, 49 stations have been installed toward a goal of 100 stations statewide.
The Mesonet stations collect real-time weather and climate data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction. Data is packaged into observations and transmitted to the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU every five minutes, 24 hours per day, throughout the year and is available online at www.kymesonet.org.
Stations are located in Adair, Allen, Barren, Boone, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Caldwell, Calloway, Campbell, Carroll, Casey, Christian, Clark, Clinton, Crittenden, Cumberland, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hardin, Harrison, Henderson, Hopkins, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Madison, Marshall, Mason, McLean, Mercer, Metcalfe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Owen, Owsley, Rowan, Taylor, Trigg, Union and Warren counties.
Initial funding for the project was secured by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell through a $2.9 million federal appropriation 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.
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