Kentucky Mesonet survived a threatened state budget cut and is continuing to expand. There will be two new stations for the statewide weather and climate monitoring network based at Western Kentucky University.
For a while, Kentucky Mesonet’s state funding of $750,000 was on the chopping block. WKU President Timothy Caboni said it’s a positive step that the funding was restored for Mesonet.
“And it continues to provide a remarkably important service, not just to the community here in Bowling Green, but to communities across the state who are interested in using those data for agriculture, for road planning and for other important things in those communities. It’s really part of our statewide mission, and we’re glad it was preserved,” said Caboni.
Mesonet’s 71st weather station will be Webster County, with a portion of the costs of installation and operations covered by the county. The 72nd station will be a third one in Shelby County.
Mesonet collects real-time data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and wind direction.
