Services of the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network to the Agricultural Sector

The North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) has provided necessary supplementation to the National Weather Service (NWS) Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) network and Federal Aviation and Administration (FAA) Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS). There are two NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) providing weather and climate information in near-real time with nine ASOS and 14 AWOS locations in North Dakota. The state's radically fluctuating weather conditions has made it evident that additional near-real time observations are necessary. The NDAWN network, consisting of 75 automated weather stations distributed across North Dakota and neighboring states collects basic meteorological data including wind speed and direction, air and soil temperatures, relative humidity, rainfall, atmospheric pressure and solar radiation. A 10-foot tripod and Campbell Scientific Inc. hardware are used on each site. The stations utilize solar power providing continuous 12v DC power for the data storage and telecommunication telemetry. The NDAWN network provides agricultural weather information to area growers with crop-specific agricultural applications. Established in 1989, NDAWN's value increased rapidly and by 2014, its economic impact to North Dakota's sugarbeet, potato and small grains growers was measured in millions of dollars.