Kentucky Mesonet at WKU dedicates Ballard County site

The Kentucky Mesonet at WKU devoted a brand new station Monday in Ballard County.

The station is situated 5 miles northeast of La Heart close to Bandana on property owned by Benny and Terre Cooper.

Contributors in Monday’s ribbon slicing had been Steve Eddy, Nationwide Climate Service Paducah; Andrew Quilligan, Kentucky Mesonet; Dr. Cathleen Webb, WKU’s Ogden Faculty of Science and Engineering; John Gordon, Nationwide Climate Service Louisville/Kentucky Mesonet Advisory Board; Steven Rudy, State Consultant; Megan Schargorodski, Kentucky Mesonet; Dr. David Brown, WKU’s Ogden Faculty of Science and Engineering; Terre Cooper, Landowner; Eddie Melton, Kentucky Farm Bureau/Kentucky Mesonet Advisory Board; Stuart Foster, retired Director of Kentucky Mesonet/Kentucky Mesonet Advisory Board; and Todd Cooper, Ballard County Choose-Govt.

“The station represents a gorgeous partnership between many individuals,” mentioned Schargorodski, Interim Director of the Kentucky Mesonet at WKU and Kentucky Local weather Heart. “This space of the state is considerably underserved with regard to climate knowledge. Having these knowledge factors from Ballard County will assist the Nationwide Climate Service with forecasting and warnings, in addition to present a high-quality reference dataset for agriculture pursuits within the county. The addition of the Ballard County station strikes the community towards its objective of 1 station per county.”

The Kentucky Mesonet at WKU, the Commonwealth’s official supply for climate and local weather knowledge, has 76 stations in 71 counties. The Ballard County station is the fifth situated within the Jackson Buy area of western Kentucky.

The Mesonet stations acquire real-time knowledge on air temperature, precipitation, humidity, barometric stress, photo voltaic radiation, wind pace and course, soil moisture and soil temperature and transmit it to the Kentucky Mesonet at WKU Operations Heart (housed at WKU’s Heart for Analysis and Growth) each 5 minutes, 24 hours per day, all year long. The information is accessible on-line at www.kymesonet.org.

“The Ballard County station has the usual Kentucky Mesonet instrumentation suite and can also be outfitted with multi-level temperature and wind and a webcam. A novel characteristic of this station is 2 soil probe pits for the development of soil analysis with the College of Kentucky,” Schargorodski mentioned. 

In regards to the Kentucky Mesonet at WKU: The Kentucky Mesonet at WKU is the Commonwealth’s official supply for climate and local weather knowledge. The statewide community consists of 76 stations in 71 counties. The Mesonet stations acquire real-time knowledge on air temperature, relative humidity, barometric stress, precipitation, photo voltaic radiation, wind pace and course and transmit it to the Kentucky Mesonet Operations Heart on the WKU Heart for Analysis and Growth each 5 minutes, 24 hours per day, all year long. The information is accessible on-line at www.kymesonet.org. Megan Schargorodski is serving as Interim Director of the Kentucky Mesonet at WKU and Kentucky Local weather Heart. The challenge was initially funded with a $2.9 million federal grant for the Kentucky Local weather Heart, a part of WKU’s Utilized Analysis and Know-how Program. The primary station was put in on the WKU Farm in Could 2007. Lately, workers have been working to construct a broad base of assist throughout Kentucky to proceed growth and upkeep of the community. The 2022 biennial price range accepted by the Common Meeting added $1 million to the Kentucky Mesonet, bringing complete state funding to $1,750,000 annually.

Contact: Megan Schargorodski, (270) 745-4568

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Western Kentucky College prides itself on positioning its college students, college and workers for long run success. As a student-centered, utilized analysis college, WKU helps college students broaden on classroom studying by integrating training with real-world functions within the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is situated in Bowling Inexperienced, Kentucky, which was just lately named by Reader’s Digest as one of many nicest cities in America, simply an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.