TexMesonet provides real-time weather information Posted on August 12, 2020
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Nathan Leber – TexMesonet and Hydrosurvey Manager, Texas Water Development Board (0:04):
A mesonet is a network of weather stations. TexMesonet analyzes weather data at a much smaller scale than what is currently available. We look at things like individual thunderstorms or differences from one location to another that are within 20 miles from each other. Whereas the existing weather station coverage would not pick up those small-scale differences
These weather stations are highly scientific and require very precise calibration. Attached to that 10-meter tower are wind sensors, temperature sensors, relative humidity sensors, at multiple levels. We also have precipitation gauges on the ground, and we generally include four depths of soil moisture and soil temperature probes.
TexMesonet stations transmit data every 15 minutes. This allows first responders, national weather service forecasters, and the general public to see what's happening in their area in near real-time.
Troy Kimmel – University/Incident Response Meteorologist and Sr. Lecturer, University of Texas (1:14):
Nowadays, we've got all this fancy stuff in weather forecasting that shows us pretty maps and charts, and what models think about this and that, but it's so important to have a good foundation and remain situationally aware. Nothing like the Texas Mesonet is going to tell us what's happening now.
Gregory Waller – Service Coordination Hydrologist, National Weather Service (1:36):
We can still get the job done with radars and with satellites, but the value of a Texas Mesonet is to put gauges in a real-time manner to verify what we're seeing, to verify the accuracy, and increase the accuracy of our radar estimates and our satellite estimates.
Nathan Leber – TexMesonet and Hydrosurvey Manager, Texas Water Development Board (1:53)
The goal of TexMesonet is to cover the state in weather stations that have at least a 20-mile buffer between the stations—that ensures coverage adequate to make appropriate forecasts for our state.
Gregory Waller – Service Coordination Hydrologist, National Weather Service (2:06):
Right now, most of the official observing sites are at large airports, but a mesonet fills in the gaps so that all the counties can have one and all the regions can have one. It gives us a more defined, detailed look at the smaller-scale weather phenomena that can go on.
Troy Kimmel – University/Incident Response Meteorologist and Sr. Lecturer, University of Texas (2:23):
Flash flooding is an issue in Houston. It's an issue in Longview. It's an issue in northwest Texas. It's an issue all across the state, and to have that real-time rain gauge information and know what's hitting the ground is so important.
Gregory Waller – Service Coordination Hydrologist, National Weather Service (2:38):
The beauty is the Texas Mesonet has all the meteorological information. So, we can look at wind data and temperature data, and pressure data set to help us find the fine boundaries that may cause thunderstorms to develop or allow thunderstorms to develop. It has the rain gauge data to allow us to verify how accurate our rainfall estimates are coming from our radars. And some of them have soil moisture parameters to allow us to know how saturated the soils are to aid with runoff. So, it’s all of the above.
It increases the lead time on, on warning operations, and it adds verification to warning products in some cases.
But our forecasts are better, and lives are saved because the Texas Mesonet data is in there to help us improve accuracy and timeliness.
[Lower third graphic: Visit TexMesonet.org for more information]
Troy Kimmel – University/Incident Response Meteorologist and Sr. Lecturer, University of Texas (3:20):
The mesonet and our weather observation tools are our ground truth.
This article is posted in Flood / Technology / Weather / Drought .