Written by Nathan Santo Domingo, Field Meteorologist, 11/2/2023
The AWN field team had a strong push to the finish line of the building season. A remarkable six Mesonet tower stations were completed since last month’s AWN Update. The first week of October saw the completion of the Davenport station at WSU’s Wilke Farm, replacing the previous legacy station.
The following week, it was double duty as the team completed two stations in the Okanogan Valley. The new stations are named Okanogan and Oroville, the latter replaces the Oroville.E legacy station.
Next was a trip to the Olympic Peninsula and the completion of the Chimacum station. It provides a valuable datapoint on the eastern edge of the Olympic Rain Shadow. Chimacum replaces the legacy site with the same name.
Finally, the team spent Halloween pouring concrete for two new stations in Benton County. As of November 2, both Paterson and Chukar are up and running. Paterson replaces the legacy Paterson.E site and Chukar is an upgrade of the site previously known as “Chucker.” The new name is a nod to the famous nearby cherry orchards.
With each new Mesonet tower station, AWN has continued to expand our network of air quality sensors. With the most recent installations, we now have 25 stations reporting air quality in near real time. Additional sensors will be deployed in the winter, weather permitting, and will resume in earnest in the spring when construction of Mesonet tower stations resumes.
Visit the Air Quality Index page on our website to explore the data.
Contact
Nathan Santo Domingo
Field Meteorologist, AgWeatherNet
nathan.santodomingo@wsu.edu
Funding and acknowledgements
AgWeatherNet air quality sensing and reporting is supported in part by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Learn about Air Quality Index at AirNow.gov.
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