For over 12 years, the Oklahoma Mesonet has provided research-quality atmospheric and sub-surface observations. The cornerstone of high quality data is a rigorous quality assurance strategy. In 2007, climate-based algorithms were included in the suite of automated quality assurance tests for Mesonet data.

Oklahoma Mesonet staff continually develop new algorithms to analyze data in real time. Data from the Mesonet archive were used to develop new climate-based tests to enhance the quality assurance system. A new “climate range test” was developed to automatically compare observations at each site with monthly historical maximum and minimum values. In addition, adjustment tests were developed to allow record-breaking observations to be deemed “good” during extreme meteorological situations. Further, the statistical examination of archived Mesonet observations resulted in the adjustment of several thresholds in place for some of the original quality assurance algorithms.