Leveraging New York State Mesonet Data (and Beyond) For Emergency Management and Other Key Public Sector Stakeholders In New York

As with most states, virtually all New York state (NYS) agencies and authorities lack “in house” professional meteorologists to aid in weather-related decision-making. This knowledge gap is most acutely felt before, during, and after highly impactful weather events when preparation, response, and reporting (respectively) is critical. Frequently, these gaps are filled by large consumer-driven weather vendors. While these may be quite useful in certain situation, one common problem is that these vendors do not always utilize relevant weather data obtained via high quality state or regional mesonets, such as the NYS Mesonet. This may be due to a variety of reasons: the cost of data, a lack of knowledge or ability to access that data, or time constraints placed on those vendors. This is not a trivial data gap. For instance, real-time high-quality observational data can inform emergency managers where flooding is likely. In otherwise data-sparse regions, these observations can also be critical toward the preparation of federal disaster request money.

UAlbany has worked to fill some of these aforementioned gaps since the inception of the NYS Mesonet, through equal parts a desire to be useful and a desire to see the NYS Mesonet achieve a financially sustainable future. One common disconnect is that a lack of institutional meteorological knowledge within states often, ironically, can limit the ability of the organizations within that state from fully utilizing new resources. For instance, even a well-meaning layperson often equates “mesonet” with “forecast” upon first learning of the former term. UAlbany has worked to fill these gaps via partnerships with numerous state agencies, authorities, and utilities (the “public sector” of NYS), with a particular focus on emergency management. Concurrently, UAlbany also maintains a strong relationship with local National Weather Service (NWS) offices, who also certainly aid the state where able.

The growth of these relationships has instigated the need for a more coherent entity within NYS that exists to support these public sector organizations with their emergency management needs. In 2023, UAlbany received funding to create a brand new on-campus organization titled the State Weather Risk Communication Center, tasked with filling the above gaps while working closely with NYS to produce new tools and communication strategies to help satisfy our state’s weather needs that go above and beyond what NWS is able to provide. While many of these needs are forecast-centric, numerous products and reports will be dependent on NYS Mesonet data.

This presentation will discuss the history of UAlbany’s relationship with NYS’s public sector, with a focus on using NYS Mesonet products in an emergency management context. Several case studies will be discussed to provide specific examples, such as the flooding from Hurricane Ida’s remnants (2021), Buffalo Blizzard (2022), Urban Heat, and others.