Utilizing Real-time Mesonet Data to Alert Decision Makers of Potentially Hazardous Conditions

Weather/climate mesonets continue to contribute valuable observations for improved forecasting and nowcasting. All are in the midst of generating long-term climate databases at temporal and spatial scales never before available. Mesonets also provide real-time data and data-derived products in cooperation with critical decision makers who are charged with protecting communities from potentially hazardous conditions that may impact their health and safety. This presentation will provide examples of such cooperative efforts between the Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist (ONJSC) and federal and state authorities that have resulted in useful real-time products that alert decision makers of potentially hazardous conditions.

One such product is the NJ Fire Danger Monitoring Console. For of the past 15 years, this has proved to be a valuable addition to the tool kit of the wildfire management community within the US Forest Service (USFS) and the NJ Forest Fire Service to keep tabs on weather conditions that come into play when assessing fire threats, planning controlled burns, and managing firefighting efforts. The key to the success of this console is both the cooperation between the ONJSC and fire services as it was developed and the simplicity of this web-based product for use in the field. The console is updated every five minutes with weather observations from the 66-station Rutgers NJ Weather Network (NJWxNet) and several Remote Automatic Weather Stations (National Interagency Fire Center). The USFS has also provided fuel moisture and temperature sensors that are installed at six NJWxNet stations. For each variable, forest fire experts have determined three threshold levels of increasing danger for which a color coding of yellow to orange to red is triggered on the console when a threshold is reached. There are consoles for both New Jersey’s southern pinelands region and the northern hardwood forest region.

A second product to be discussed is a dam safety app that has been developed in cooperation between the ONJSC and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP) Division of Dam Safety. Again, cooperation is the key as NJDEP colleagues have determined thresholds for cumulative rainfall totals at one, three, six, twelve, and twenty-four-hour increments within six regions of NJ where the exceedance of the totals could threaten dam safety. The issuance of text alert within a region is based on any one of multiple NJWxNet stations reaching a threshold.

The ONJSC continues to confer with additional decision makers as other hazard alert products are considered that are associated with excessive heat or cold and roadway hazards.