Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the things we're most commonly asked about the Maryland
Mesonet project, along with some information we think it's
important to share! Feel free to browse all the questions, or select from one of the
general topic sections in the dropdown menu below:
Since 1990, Maryland's experienced 25 federally declared disasters, with an average cost of $19M per event - and 88% of Maryland's counties have seen 10 or more disasters declared. Many of these disasters have come with very little notice and caused significant loss of life and livelihood in small communities across the state. Some examples you might remember include:
In Western Maryland, deep valleys and high terrain alternate to produce numerous micro-climates, each potentially different from the broader regional picture (think: trapping cold air in the winter and creating freezing fog in a specific valley). The mid-Maryland urban corridor between US Route 15 and Interstate 95 has some of the densest population on the east coast, meaning that a shift in a forecasted event's path of just five miles can affect up to 2 million residents. Southern and Eastern Maryland together possess thousands of miles of coastline and numerous small towns, all uniquely at risk of tidal flooding and storm surge.
Having our own network of local monitoring sites giving rapid data on all of these different locations will make it substantially easier to both stay aware of these many regional weather situations and to give more accurate predictions (and better, more customized warnings) to each.
Plus, having a repository of real-time and archived statewide weather information at this level of detail has its own obvious benefits for scientific and research purposes. Based on the examples of other mesonets across the U.S., we can expect it to help us learn more about Maryland's weather patterns, geographic influences (e.g., "What effect does the Bay have?"), and surface weather...and thereby improve our overall meteorological forecasting, agricultural productivity, engineering and climate research, social and behavioral science projects, and more.
Why is the Maryland Mesonet so important?
Our mesonet is important because it lets us see and predict better, which helps keep Marylanders safe - especially those in small communities that national or regional forecasts might not be able to see in detail.Since 1990, Maryland's experienced 25 federally declared disasters, with an average cost of $19M per event - and 88% of Maryland's counties have seen 10 or more disasters declared. Many of these disasters have come with very little notice and caused significant loss of life and livelihood in small communities across the state. Some examples you might remember include:
- The 1998 Frostburg tornado
- The 2001 tornado outbreak
- The 2002 LaPlata tornado
- The 2012 derecho
- The 2016 + 2018 Ellicott City floods
In Western Maryland, deep valleys and high terrain alternate to produce numerous micro-climates, each potentially different from the broader regional picture (think: trapping cold air in the winter and creating freezing fog in a specific valley). The mid-Maryland urban corridor between US Route 15 and Interstate 95 has some of the densest population on the east coast, meaning that a shift in a forecasted event's path of just five miles can affect up to 2 million residents. Southern and Eastern Maryland together possess thousands of miles of coastline and numerous small towns, all uniquely at risk of tidal flooding and storm surge.
Having our own network of local monitoring sites giving rapid data on all of these different locations will make it substantially easier to both stay aware of these many regional weather situations and to give more accurate predictions (and better, more customized warnings) to each.
Plus, having a repository of real-time and archived statewide weather information at this level of detail has its own obvious benefits for scientific and research purposes. Based on the examples of other mesonets across the U.S., we can expect it to help us learn more about Maryland's weather patterns, geographic influences (e.g., "What effect does the Bay have?"), and surface weather...and thereby improve our overall meteorological forecasting, agricultural productivity, engineering and climate research, social and behavioral science projects, and more.
What benefits are going to come from the project?
Better and more frequent data from the Maryland Mesonet can help weather forecasters with...- Detecting fine-scale meteorological phenomena that might otherwise fall into the gaps of the current observing system
- Creating a more comprehensive and accurate picture of atmospheric conditions, which is essential for reliable forecasting
- Monitoring community-level weather conditions in nearly real-time
- Improving situational awareness during rapidly changing weather conditions
- Supporting decision making for local officials (e.g., public health, school closings, etc.)
- Reducing delays in the production of National Weather Service alerts (e.g, watches, warnings, advisories, etc.) and briefings
- Quantifying the impacts that natural hazards can have/have had on critical infrastructure
- Enhancing public safety planning and identifying long-term community risks
- Better informing requests for Presidential Disaster Declarations
- Enhancing their tracking of climate, drought, air quality, fire weather, and other conditions
- Providing an accurate "ground truth," especially in coastal and rural environments
How will specific sectors benefit from having a mesonet?
A few examples include...- AGRICULTURE: Better monitoring of precipitation, soil moisture depth profiles leading to more efficient planting
- EDUCATION: Real-time data access in schools/colleges leading to more STEM subject interest, options for studying and projects
- UTILITIES: More precise data on local temperature, wind chill, humidity, etc. leading to more efficient resource allocation
- GREEN ENERGY: Better solar radiation and wind speed/direction data allowing optimal siting of solar, wind power generation
- ENVIRONMENT: Better meteorological data and air quality models leading to better informed assessments and decisions regarding environmental policy
- TRANSPORTATION: Granular precipitation, temperature, and wind data allowing better decisions of road closures, public transit routing, etc. for safety
- TOURISM (e.g., more frequent and detailed weather data leading to more informed building, timing, promotional decisions for Maryland tourist destinations and events)