Dozens of weather and climate experts came together July 18 in Plainfield to support the Purdue Mesonet, a statewide network of weather observation stations managed by the Indiana State Climate Office.

The network delivers climate data, tools, data visualizations and resources to enhance Indiana’s prosperity and decision-support needs.

Aiming to educate potential stakeholders and partners, the Purdue Mesonet rallied support around the need for an advisory board to guide the network through its growth.

With a long-term goal of expanding the existing 13-site network into at least one station per each of Indiana’s 92 counties, meteorologists from the National Weather Service and surrounding states’ Mesonets presented their cases on ways the network impacts daily life for residents across the state as well as residents just on the other side of Indiana’s state borders.

Beth Hall, Indiana state climatologist, said the need for higher-quality, unbiased data collection will allow for better efforts in monitoring conditions, which will allow for better services to areas such as agriculture, construction, health and wellness and urban planning.

“We need good data to do good research,” Hall said. “What we see in other states with broad Mesonet operations is they can convert their data into, for example, pest and disease models. So for the Purdue Mesonet, that audience may be specialty crop growers utilizing those tools that are instructing what and how they spray their crops or even when they should be thinking about planting or harvesting. We could create better tools if we have a higher-quality, spatially dense network across every county.”

Meeting attendees worked to brainstorm avenues of financial support from state government and key stakeholders.

To learn more about the Purdue Mesonet and ways to get involved, go to ag.purdue.edu/indiana-state-climate/purdue-mesonet.