Comparing Climatologies Between an ASOS Station, COOP Site, and a USA Mesonet Station in Pascagoula, MS

The University of South Alabama Mesonet (USA Mesonet) was established in 2008 and is part of the National Mesonet Pilot Project, which encourages the establishment of a national Mesonet. A Mesonet (short for mesoscale network) is a network of weather stations across a local or regional area. The USA Mesonet has stations across southern Alabama, southeastern Mississippi, and northwestern Florida with stations spaced an average of 30 km apart. While the Mesonet provides fine resolution spatial data and minute by minute data, Mesonet data is not used by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) to establish records or climatology for locations. This research compares the climatological information as established by the ASOS (Automatic Surface Observing Station) at Lott International Airport (KPQA) and the cooperative observer (COOP) site in Pascagoula, MS. The Pascagoula Mesonet station is approximately 11.5 km from the ASOS and 6.0 km from the COOP site. Temperature and rainfall data from September 2009 to August 2015 were analyzed and climographs were constructed for the ASOS, COOP and Mesonet station. The climographs were compared and inconsistencies noted. While six years does not establish a true climatology, analyzing the trends and differences between the Mesonet, ASOS, and COOP can determine if Mesonet data could provide a valid climatology for Pascagoula, Mississippi.