Community Weather Stations to Fill a Data Desert within the Trenton, NJ Urban Heat Island

The Urban Heat Island in and around Trenton, New Jersey is relatively little-studied despite its location within the heart of the urban megalopolis corridor of the northeastern US. The only National Weather Service weather station (ASOS) in Mercer County, New Jersey is located 8 miles north of Trenton at the Trenton Mercer Regional Airport (KTTN). Real-time networked weather data has yet to be regularly available anywhere within the Trenton city limits. Our work studying the Urban Heat Island in Trenton has sought to increase both spatial and temporal measurements of extreme heat. A primary approach has included the installation of off-the-shelf weather stations installed in collaboration with an array of community partners. The locations chosen for the installation of weather stations were determined using thermal IR imaging data collected from both Landsat 8 and 9 to determine the neighborhoods most affected by Trenton's urban heat island. Within those areas, we then looked for community partners that would benefit from having a weather station installed. For example, those partners, including schools and museums, may be able to capitalize on community education and collaboration that could be offered from access to such a device, and the organizations may be able to leverage the weather data to help with their planning of outdoor athletic and community events so they could prevent the exposure of high-risk individuals to extreme heating. Navigating data upload access has proven to be a challenge, with standard off-the-shelf solutions stations often unable to meet network connectivity security requirements of various organizational wifi networks. Standalone wireless hotspots have succeeded as a relatively inexpensive workaround to enable data upload in these situations. By creating this new network of weather stations within Trenton, we are able to diagnose weather conditions that are most frequently connected with extreme heat, including predictive associations with wind speed, wind direction, sunshine, humidity, and time of day. As we continue to collaborate with community partners, we aim to develop a neighborhood-specific data and advisory/warning system to notify and empower local organizations and individuals to make well-informed decisions for the sake of their health.