"Mesonet Jr." is a weather data collection system modeled after the Oklahoma Mesonet environmental monitoring stations. The prototype "Mesonet Jr." station will be placed in Alva, OK in cooperation with Alva Middle School, Alva Fire Department, and Alva Emergency Management. Sponsored by "EPSCoR Center for Environmental Applications of the Oklahoma Mesonet, "Mesonet, Jr." will measure many of the same parameters as the Mesonet weather stations. Those parameters are wind direction and speed, air temperature, relative humidity, soil temperatures (under sod and bare ground), solar radiation and rainfall.
The first "Mesonet, Jr." station will be placed in the southwest corner of the playground at Washington Elementary school, Alva, Oklahoma. The placement of the station was based on factors such as the avoidance of large expanses of concrete and asphalt, bodies of water, buildings, trees and power lines. A secure environment also was sought and is provided by the fencing around the playground. Further security and protection will be provided by another chain link fence around the station itself. Other criteria concerning site placement were the proximities of the middle school and the fire station and the method of data transmission (radio vs. phone line).
Students in the Alva Middle School will have direct access to raw weather data for analysis and the software which allows them to visualize the data effectively. It is hoped that with the establishment of a web page for the middle school (currently under construction) that the data received in the classroom can be put in usable form and made accessible to anyone with Internet access to the school's web page.
A training workshop, scheduled for sometime this summer, will provide instruction on the care of the equipment, downloading of data, etc., to the classroom teacher, computer coordinator, and the local emergency manager. It is hoped that students will use their knowledge of weather patterns and other factors that affect weather (which have been developed as a result of routine use of the Mesonet data and curriculum) to help in local forecasts and emergency management decisions for Alva and surrounding communities.