The Oklahoma Mesonetwork (termed ‘Mesonet’) was conceived in 1982 by agricultural scientists at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, OK. In 1985, a similar plan was developed by meteorologists at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in Norman, OK. By 1987, the two universities had formed a partnership to establish the Oklahoma Mesonetwork as a joint program of Oklahoma’s comprehensive research universities. The task of administering and maintaining the Mesonet was assigned to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS; http://www.ocs.ou.edu/), a state agency established in 1980.

The enormity of establishing the Oklahoma Mesonetwork began with an idea and ended with a fully functioning network. Oklahoma Governor Henry Bellmon awarded discretionary funds of $2.0 million in 1991 to establish the Oklahoma Mesonet. The two universities provided an additional $700,000 for the network. Three years later, the Mesonet was commissioned as fully operational. Since then, the Oklahoma Mesonetwork has archived over 2 billion parameter observations at an archival efficiency that exceeds 98.25%. In addition, by 2001, over 700 customers have received one-on-one or small group instruction on how to apply the data to their particular job.

Over the span of a few years, OU and OSU have moved the Oklahoma Mesonetwork from a dream to a state-of-the-art information infrastructure serving the citizens of Oklahoma. Using the Mesonet as a foundation, OCS has pioneered timely, relevant, and award-winning educational outreach programs that make a real difference in people’s lives. This presentation will highlight the Mesonet’s successes, with particular attention to its most recent activities and its stakeholders.