MesoWest is a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

project to observe and archive mesoscale

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

observations across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Their observations include, but are not limited to,

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind spe ...

wind direction Wind direction is generally reported by the direction from which the wind originates. For example, a ''north'' or ''northerly'' wind blows from the north to the south; the exceptions are onshore winds (blowing onto the shore from the water) and ...

, and

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

. Their data is also known to be central for

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

records, such as for monitoring

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...

s. Data is collected from a variety of organizations. Some

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle stat ...

participate in voluntary weather observing networks such as the

Citizen Weather Observer Program The Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP) is a network of privately owned electronic weather stations concentrated in the United States but also located in over 150 countries. Network participation allows volunteers with computerized weather st ...

(CWOP). Others are part of formal mesonets that are managed by private firms, federal/state/local agencies, and/or universities. This data is utilized for a multitude of uses. Over 20,000 weather stations report to the MesoWest database. MesoWest began as the Utah Mesonet, but was renamed as its scope expanded beyond the state. Parties involved in this project include researchers at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, forecasters at the Salt Lake City National Weather Service Forecast Office (NWSFO), the National Weather Service Western Region Headquarters, universities, and commercial firms. Support for this project is being provided by the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

(NWS).

Access to weather and climate information

Delivery methods have been designed to satisfy varying needs for weather

information visualization Data and information visualization (data viz/vis or info viz/vis) is the practice of designing and creating Graphics, graphic or visual Representation (arts), representations of a large amount of complex quantitative and qualitative data and i ...

. The following is a brief overview of the purpose for each of MesoWest’s available delivery methods: ;Current Weather Summary: Quick and flexible access to current weather conditions in a tabular format. Users are able to view weather conditions locally or at larger scales. ; Weather Maps:

Map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

-based interfaces allow easy access to MesoWest data plotted on surface analyses and/or specialized

topographic Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

depictions. ;LDM (Local Data Manager) Delivery: Data from MesoWest are disseminated to NWS Forecast Offices via dedicated communication channels for input into AWIPS. Forecasters are able to superimpose mesonet observations onto

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

, and other products. MesoWest data is also available to universities and government agencies that rely upon the LDM data distribution system. ;Website downloads: MesoWest data is available for download via the web.

Usage

MesoWest is used operationally by the

to monitor weather conditions around the country in order to protect lives and property. MesoWest is also used extensively by researchers to understand

severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. These vary depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmospheric conditions. High ...

events such as winter snow storms, damaging winds, and convective weather events. MesoWest surface observations are integrated into high spatial and

temporal resolution Temporal resolution (TR) refers to the discrete resolution of a measurement with respect to time. It is defined as the amount of time needed to revisit and acquire data for exactly the same location. When applied to remote sensing, this amount of ...

grid analyses across the United States that is ingested into

numerical weather prediction Numerical weather prediction (NWP) uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to weather forecasting, predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Though first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of comput ...

models. The

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

(OU) Advanced Regional Prediction System Data Analysis System (ADAS) has been configured to run over regions of complex terrain, including 3-dimensional and surface-based analyses. The Utah ADAS relies on MesoWest observations as an important source of local data, modifying initial background fields provided by numerical model analyses. MesoWest data is also available to the educational community for use in the classroom. Students in grades

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world. ...

can observe weather conditions near their school or around the region.

Restrictions

The data provided to MesoWest arises from cooperative arrangements with many different

educational institutions An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments a ...

, public agencies, and commercial firms. This data is intended to be used by governmental agencies to protect lives and property, the public for general information, and educational institutions for instructional and research purposes. Any other uses of the data from one or more stations must receive written approval from the agencies that installed the weather sensors.

References

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External links

MesoWest Home Page

MesoWest Data Providers

Organizations based in Utah 1996 establishments in Utah