MU hopes to shift all 25 statewide stations to real-time status.
Farmers can check current soil temperatures during planting season. The weather service can collect additional data during severe weather. Knowing wind speed and direction can help foresters plan prescribed burns.
The value of real-time weather information goes up exponentially, said Pat Guinan, a state climatologist who established Missouri’s first real-time station at MU’s Sanborn Field in 2003. With the recent addition of the station at Prairie Fork Conservation Area near Williamsburg in Callaway County, 13 of MU’s 25 weather stations around the state now provide updated information every five minutes.
Each station is equipped with a wireless radio that sends a data package at five-minute intervals to another radio located nearby and connected to a computer. The computer then uploads the data, including temperature, wind speed, humidity and barometric pressure, to MU’s Agricultural Electronic Bulletin Board.
“Anybody with Internet access can get the latest five-minute weather updates,” Guinan said. “There’s a lot of application when you have the latest data.”
The new station is a joint project with MU, the Department of Conservation and the Missouri Prairie Foundation. The Prairie Fork Trust, which helps fund education and research at the conservation area, funded the new station and will also pay for annual maintenance, said Chris Newbold, a wildlife biologist with the Conservation Department and the Prairie Fork coordinator. The initial cost to upgrade the station to real-time status was $6,000, Newbold said, and he expects annual maintenance costs of about $500.
Tim French, a forestry supervisor with the Conservation Department, said the Prairie Fork station will help with research at the conservation area.
“It also provides an opportunity to collect historical data on weather, as well as projects that are ongoing,” he said.
The real-time stations also create educational opportunities. John Travlos of the agricultural bulletin board, said that MU is housing the wireless receiver and computer equipment for the Prairie Fork station at nearby Williamsburg Elementary School. Travlos said he often tries to involve schools with the real-time weather stations.
“It gives the opportunity for the science classes to look at the weather station. It provides a mechanism for teaching,” Travlos said. “We actually moved the (Prairie Fork) weather station close enough to make it work with the school.”
Williamsburg Principal Chris Denham said teachers and administrators are excited about including weather-related activities in the curriculum. They plan to take field trips to the station and junior high students will do statistical analyses of weather patterns, Denham said.
Guinan said he hopes to bring all 25 weather stations up to real-time status.
“It’s a win-win situation for the state of Missouri,” Guinan said. “You can never have too much monitoring when it comes to weather information, and this is one way to bring the information to the public.”