Installing Automated Weather Stations in Guatemala for Meteorology and Hydrology

Hurricane Mitch damaged large portions of Guatemala. Guatemala's UHF repeater network, the communications backbone over which weather data is transmitted, failed during Mitch. This resulted in little weather data from the observing sites around the country reaching Guatemala City where the forecasting center is located. National Weather Service has implemented a Technology Transfer Program for Hurricane Mitch recovery as part of a larger US Aid package. As part of that effort, we are implementing automated weather stations in Guatemala. These weather stations will include a PC with an interactive data GUI where observers can enter the manually observed elements. Data will be transmitted to the forecast operations center via cell phone modem. The cell phone network has proven to be more robust the land line network and offers a reliable means of communications. This paper describes the automated weather stations in Guatemala and the challenges in their installation. These stations will provide the foundation for flood forecasting to be implemented in the next few years.