The Kansas Mesonet, available on Agronomy’s Weather Data Library (WDL) web site, provides a detailed, near real-time look at weather and soil conditions in Kansas. Each site reports a set of automated data, some of which are similar to data reported by the National Weather Service. But the Mesonet adds additional sites to what’s in the NWS full-service network, and more sites are being added. This fills in many areas of Kansas otherwise unserved.
This is the essence of a mesonet system – a dense web of automated weather-sensing instruments showing in real-time the state of current conditions and where changes are occurring. Kansas Mesonet data is available at: http://mesonet.k-state.edu/
The WDL has information dating back as far as the 1850s; but in 1985, K-State Research and Extension determined its weather data collection sites needed to become automated, and include measurements that weren’t being collected. Before then, most of the data in the WDL had been in the form of hand-written records from participants across the state and were mostly limited to to temperature and precipitation.
The automated stations added relative humidity, wind, solar radiation and soil temperature measurements. In 2008, the weather data collection sites were further expanded to the current Mesonet design which is a 10-meter (30-foot) tower adding a second wind speed and wind direction measurement, soil temperature measurements at additional depths, as well as soil moisture measurements.
The Mesonet towers have cell-modem communication to allow for constant updates throughout the day. Many of the Mesonet sites are also National Weather Service co-op sites as well. Over time, the WDL has partnered with the Kansas Water Office and Ground Water management districts so that the instrumentation for these sites is all fairly universal.
This has made the Mesonet website a “one-stop-shop” for anyone looking for weather data. Most of this weather data was updated hourly, but the goal is for them to all be updated in 5-minute intervals. Recent upgrades have made the Mesonet website smartphone compatible.
“Our Mesonet system makes information about the weather and environment of every area of Kansas more readily available to the citizens of Kansas. They can find more details about what conditions are currently and what it’s been over the past time period,” says Xiaomao Lin, State Climatologist for Kansas and Assistant Professor of Agronomy.
The ultimate goal for the Mesonet is to be the go-to website for farmers and industry professionals to be able to check weather patterns for pesticide applications, pasture burning, and soil temperatures to help agronomists, horticulturists, farmers and other industry professionals make the best informed decisions possible.
Those in the department involved with the Mesonet include Dr. Xiaomao Lin, state climatologist; Mary Knapp, state assistant climatologist; Chip Redmond, WDL manager; Brian Petersen, WDL web programmer; and Fred Caldwell, weather monitoring equipment specialist.
