By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — In an era when farmers have more technology at their fingertips than ever before, there is a weather resource available to them, through potentially unfamiliar technological avenues. But, if one Western Kentucky University researcher has his way, that is all about to change.

Dr. Rezaul Mahmood, associate professor of geography and geology, is one of the leaders of a project which has created the Kentucky Mesonet, a new weather system that collects and shows continuously updated data on weather including precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed and temperatures from one of several new weather stations across the state, and posts the information on its website.

Mahmood also serves as associate director of the Kentucky Mesonet and Kentucky Climate Center at WKU. “Atmospheric scientists have known for a long time that we needed a very dense network of observation and no one had anything like this,” he said.
Until the development of the system, Mahmood said there were only a few data collecting programs in the country, none of which collected information as often as the Mesonet system.

Currently Oklahoma has the largest system in the country.
“If you are a farmer making real-time decisions, you need to know certain information such as wind speed and direction to plant corn or spray crops, for instance,” Mahmood said.

Not only can farmers log on to the website to get that valuable information, data such as soil moisture and temperature will ultimately also be available.

A Mesonet system measures mesoscale (intermediate size) meteorological phenomena such as dry lines, squall lines and sea breezes, and the technology has been around for years. But putting it to use for the masses and in a real-time setting has only occurred in the last few years as technology has advanced, making, receiving and transmitting the data in short intervals more readily available.

The system gathers information relevant to forecasting severe weather, but it also serves to archive climate data, a resource valuable to the agriculture industry. The idea for the program dates back to 2002, with some initial funding coming in 2006.

By 2007 the project began in earnest and now has 35 stations positioned across the state, with hopes for 10 more by the end of the year and ultimately, 100 stations statewide. Dr. Stuart Foster, director of the WKU program, said the best is yet to come for the project.

“When we reach the statewide goal, the build-out phase of the project will be complete, and that’s when it gets exciting because we can then leverage the Mesonet infrastructure to create a wide range of opportunities,” he said. “We feel the network will become a magnet for investment in research and value-added services for the state.”

At this point creating relationships with local communities is at the heart of expansion, along with the need for more funding. The project has gained the attention of many; however, none more important then Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator, Mitch McConnell. It was McConnell who secured the startup funding to the tune of nearly $3 million for the system.

“I was happy to assist Western Kentucky University in working to establish Mesonet, the state-of-the-art weather monitoring system that is helping to save lives by alerting local communities that severe weather is on the way,” he said. “The program also has been an asset to the ever-diversifying agricultural community.
“With Mesonet, farmers and cattlemen are able to better track and analyze the viability of introducing new crops or processes to their operations. In times of drought, for instance, this system can help farmers better utilize their limited water supply in communities across the Commonwealth. It also can help improve local weather forecasts, enhance agricultural efforts and help grow local businesses and communities. This is a great program and WKU deserves a lot of the credit.”

Mahmood pointed out while that money was paramount in getting the state’s system up and running, it was only enough to build the stations. Operating them is a totally different matter and one that needs additional revenue in order to fulfill its mission.
“Right now we probably need between $1 million to $1.5 million to maintain it to the level we want to maintain,” he said.

But the benefits are well worth the money, according to Mahmood. “Now we can bring in data every five minutes and we can communicate with each station anytime we want. We have a two-way line of communications to our stations, allowing us to bring in information, say, during a severe weather outbreak.”

That has been beneficial to the National Weather Service, which has used the data compiled by the system during bad weather outbreaks. The agency has also promoted the Mesonet system to the public. It is those partnerships that have helped get the word out and kept the system growing, said Mahmood.

Weather stations are positioned in various locations throughout the state by partnering with universities, city and county governments, school districts, government organizations, nonprofit groups, businesses and private landowners. For more information about the Kentucky Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center, log onto their site at www.kymesonet.org/index.html