The University of Vermont wants to build a statewide weather monitoring network, which could eventually include more than 20 weather towers across the state.
UVM has applied for a permit with the town of Lyndon to build the first tower on the grounds of the Caledonia County Fairgrounds. It plans to apply for a second permit in the Mad River Valley, possibly in Duxbury, in the spring.
UVM Water Resources Institute Associate Director for Research Facilities and Networks Joshua Beneš said the flooding and other extreme weather events of the past few years have highlighted the need to establish more accurate weather information across Vermont.
“We’ve been experiencing an unprecedented number of flooding events in the state the last few years that have highlighted some of the gaps we have,” Beneš said. In a number of places, he said, “We don’t really have real time measurements for precipitation, for soil moisture, and for other things that really help us better predict flooding events across the state.”
Vermont is one of 12 states across the country without a statewide Mesonet, which is a network of automated weather monitoring stations that measure and calculate weather information, and then relay that data to scientists in real time.
The towers are about 30 feet high, and include a number of instruments to record temperature, humidity, rainfall, snowfall and wind speed and direction.
If the network is built, weather forecasters and scientists studying climate change would be able to use the data.
The information would also be available to the public, so farmers, electric companies, schools and anyone else who is watching the weather for rain, wind or icing events could benefit.
In addition to the short-term weather forecasting, Beneš said scientists at UVM are interested in the long-range data the system will provide to more accurately measure the effects of climate change.
"We’ve been experiencing an unprecedented number of flooding events in the state the last few years that have highlighted some of the gaps we have."Joshua Beneš , UVM Water Resources Institute
Vermont relies on data from a National Weather Service radar station in Colchester, along with information from a second weather station near Albany, New York. But because of Vermont’s hilly topography, pockets across the state aren’t covered, according to Beneš.
Mountains obstruct the radar in key places, he said, which means “forecasters don’t really have the ability to have accurate measurements in some of most rural areas of the state that really help us to better predict flooding events across the state.”
“Vermont’s got a very diverse geographical makeup,” said Marlon Verasamy, observing program leader with the National Weather Service station at Burlington International Airport. “There are a lot of hills, a lot of valleys, and with that comes a lot of microclimates where you drive around the state and you’re on one side of the hillside, and you drive around the other side and it’s very different weather.”
Verasamy said the National Weather Service is working with UVM to find the best locations for the new towers.
The university plans to apply for permits for additional towers as the program rolls out over the next few years. The entire network would likely take up to a decade to build out.
Each tower costs about $50,000 to build, and maintaining the system would bring additional costs.
UVM has grant funding for the two towers and is still applying for grants and talking to donors to build out the rest of the system.
