Notes on Our Data

PARAMETERS

The Maryland Mesonet sites collect the following parameters:

• Wind speed and direction at 10 m height
• Air temperature and relative humidity at 2 m height
• Barometric pressure
• Solar radiation
• Snow depth
• Rainfall intensity and amount
• Soil moisture and soil temperature at the depths of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 cm
  (or approximately 1.97, 3.94, 7.87, 19.69, and 39.37 inches)

SAMPLING

The parameters are sampled every 3 seconds and processed every minute by the on-site datalogger. The data is transmitted to the Mesonet server at the University of Maryland via cellular communication.

A database on the Mesonet server is used to display the data on the Mesonet website and to calculate additional parameters of importance for several sectors.

WEBSITE DISPLAY UNITS

The Maryland Mesonet sites collect the following parameters:

• Atmospheric pressure (in millibars or mb)
• Temperatures (in degrees Fahrenheit or °F)
• Relative humidity (in percentage or %): The amount of water vapor present, expressed as a percentage of the amount needed for saturation at the same pressure and temperature.
• Wind speed including wind gust (miles per hour or mph)
• Rainfall (in inches or in)
• Snowfall (in inches or in)
• Soil moisture (in m³/m³): The volume of water in the soil per unit volume of soil.

Current data will be freely available via the Maryland Mesonet website in the near future.
Make a Data Request