Mesonet connection, 06/2012, v.3 no.6

              connec t ion Volume 3 — Issue 6— June 2012
www.mesonet.org
The Oklahoma Mesonet went live to the public in 1994, but
before that happened, a lot of groundwork had to be laid. In
fact, Mesonet staff began installing stations in June 1992.
This year marks a big occasion for the Mesonet – 20 years
of partnership with our landowners – and we are celebrating
by recognizing them each month. I am sure this has you
wondering though, “how exactly did the Mesonet begin?”
The idea of the Mesonet sprang up during the 1980s.
In 1984, Tulsa was hit by the Memorial Day Flood. Back
then, Ken Crawford, the Meteorologist-in-Charge of the
Norman NWS Forecast Office, had access to radar data
indicating heavy rainfall upstream but minimal ground truth
observations from rain gauges. From the worst flood in
Tulsa history, Crawford saw the need for a comprehensive
statewide network collecting real-time data that would help
protect all Oklahomans from surprise weather events.
Around the same time, Ron Elliott at Oklahoma State
University was heading an effort to install weather stations
at Agricultural Experiment Stations. When Elliott and
Crawford learned of each others’ initiatives, they joined
together to create the Mesonet proposal and seek state
government support. With Governor Henry Bellmon’s help,
being a farmer interested in the concept, they were able to
find funding.
“The obvious first choices to place Mesonet towers were
the OSU Ag Experiment Stations, plus a site at OU,” said
Mark Shafer, Director of Climate Services at the Oklahoma
Climatological Survey. “For these sites, a land-use agreement
was negotiated with the universities that gave permission
to locate on those sites. J.D. Carlson (Mesonet’s OK-FIRE
Program Manager) and I worked with the respective ag
experiment station superintendents to find a suitable piece
of property on each site that met the Mesonet site guidelines
as closely as possible.”
–by Stephanie Bowen
When Mesonet funding arrived in 1991, Shafer was a service
climatologist and began work on the Mesonet. His first
project was site selection. He also wrote the initial Quality
Assurance code and provided software support. Shafer and
Carlson worked together to find landowners willing to host a
Mesonet site on their property.
“We worked through local contacts in Extension, NRCS and
Emergency Management to help us find local landowners,”
Shafer said. “We initially targeted public lands because we
did not anticipate many private landowners would be willing
to let us use their land without compensation. However, this
is Oklahoma, and Oklahomans love the weather. It turned
out that there were a lot of people eager to let us set up
in their pastures, which provided excellent siting, and gave
them something to brag about with their neighbors.”
Shafer and Carlson met with each of the prospective
landowners to select a site. Shafer took western Oklahoma,
and Carlson took eastern Oklahoma.
“We would meet with the landowner and when we found
a site acceptable to them and suitable for our criteria, we
pounded in a wooden stake painted bright orange at the top
so the technicians would know where to install it,” Shafer
said. “We did not have vehicles with the Mesonet logo at the
time so I drove one with an OU logo on it, and J.D. drove one
with OSU. I remember when I went to visit Mr. Keith Ladd
at Camargo, he was coming in from the field driving a forklift
with a hay bale spike on it. He said he saw the OU car
parked by the house and thought maybe he should just keep
going. But even with the rivalry, it was no problem working
with all these great people.”
20 years in the Making:
A History Lesson
Thank you for 20 years of partnership!
Perkins Agricultural Experiment Station - Installed June 4, 1992
Stillwater Agricultural Experiment Station - Installed June 4, 1992