WKU Kentucky Mesonet opens new station in Laurel County
LONDON, Ky. – Western Kentucky University Mesonet opened another station for Laurel County Tuesday afternoon, helping them reach almost two-thirds of the counties in Kentucky with a Mesonet station.
The new WKU Mesonet is housed in the Laurel County Center for Innovation and has been online for a few months now, but the ribbon was cut Tuesday for the in person site in London, Kentucky. The Kentucky Mesonet is a weather and climate monitoring station and is working on putting a station in all 120 counties in Kentucky.
The Mesonet holds its main offices on Western Kentucky University’s campus. The office collects data each minute and uses that data to help give real-time updates on the weather.
The importance of the station does not go unnoticed.
WKU professor, Mesonet director and state climatologist Dr. Jerry Brotzge emphasizes the importance.
“This station will forever define and quantify your history. We quickly forget the past and how severe the past can be. Weather records allow us to compare the present with the past, keeping us honest and true of our recollections. From this history, we learn how past generations dealt with adversity and overcame once-in-a-generation heat and cold, floods and droughts,” says Brotzge.
The event brought other locals together including Dr. David Brown, the Dean of the Ogden College at WKU, representatives from the Laurel County Center of Innovation, and representatives from the National Weather Service station in Jackson, KY. Brown also emphasized the importance of this new site and how it aids not just the science community but also everyday life.
“Laurel County’s place on that major freeway means it is also part of an important route of transportation of goods within the eastern U.S., providing a boost not only for trade but also for recreation and local tourism, thanks to boating and fishing at Laurel River Lake. The data gathered by the site can be used by transportation officials to help determine road conditions in adverse conditions such as flash floods, winter weather, and severe thunderstorms,” says Brown.
The new WKU Mesonet allows access to its information and weather data on its website at www.kymesonet.org with updates every five minutes with new data.
