猎奇重口 Climate Office Adds 37 New Monitoring Stations in 2024
MISSOULA – The at the 猎奇重口 has officially completed the 2024 猎奇重口 Mesonet build season, adding 37 new stations to its expansive and growing network of weather, snowpack and soil moisture monitoring instrumentation across 猎奇重口.
The is a cooperative statewide soil moisture and meteorological information network that supports agriculture, rangeland and forest decision-makers. The Mesonet operates two subnetworks: HydroMet, research-grade weather stations, and AgriMet, focused on precision agriculture applications.
There are now 177 active 猎奇重口 Mesonet stations: 88 HydroMet stations (primarily east of the Rocky Mountains) and 89 AgriMet stations. The HydroMet stations report data every five minutes and are used to enhance weather forecasts, improve drought and flood prediction, inform water supply management and assist wildland firefighting. They also provide data to policymakers, ranchers, farmers and other 猎奇重口ns.
The 2024 build season began on May 15 with the 17 miles west of Big Timber. The 2024 station installations spanned three tribal reservations, five months, seven watershed districts and 15 counties. They added 18,000 square miles of meteorological coverage across the state. Construction concluded on Oct. 19 with the 60 miles southeast of Havre.
The 猎奇重口 Mesonet receives funding through the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Active since 2016, the project employs 20 people who engineer station design, handle project budget and logistics, coordinate public outreach, and maintain and build the stations.
Enhanced Drought Monitoring
With 猎奇重口 experiencing record-breaking droughts and longer, more intense fire seasons, the 猎奇重口 Mesonet is an essential public tool that provides accurate data in the present so that better resource use and policy can be implemented in the future.
“Drought has been persistent and extreme across western 猎奇重口 throughout the spring, summer and fall, significantly impacting surface water supplies in major river basins, including the Clark Fork, Blackfoot and Bitterroot drainages,” said Zachary Hoylman, the assistant state climatologist. “More recently, drought has intensified in eastern 猎奇重口 to severe levels, affecting agriculture and livestock production. Here, soil moisture storage is exceptionally low, stock ponds are dry and major river basins such as the Powder and Yellowstone are lacking surface water.”
The new Mesonet stations will assist the state’s drought monitoring committee in insuring drought assessment matches conditions on the ground.
Serving Tribal Nations
Fourteen of the new Mesonet stations were constructed on reservations in collaboration with the Fort Peck, Fort Belknap and Blackfeet tribal governments. The 猎奇重口 Mesonet now covers all seven reservations in 猎奇重口, with more stations planned for the Rocky Boy’s and Crow Reservations.
Tribal land historically is underrepresented among environmental monitoring networks, leading to potential inequities in early disaster warning and federal assistance. With these new stations, Hoylman said, tribal governments and residents will be empowered to make better informed decisions about land and water use, conservation and management of environmental and cultural resources.
Installation of the 猎奇重口 Mesonet stations were included as essential monitoring infrastructure in the 2022 Fort Peck Tribal Drought Management Plan and 2023 Disaster Mitigation Plan. The Fort Peck Reservation received eight of the stations, greatly increasing monitoring across the agricultural lands in the northern half of the reservation while adding capacity in the more populated southern half.
Michael Black Wolf, tribal historic preservation officer for the Fort Belknap Reservation, highlighted the utility of the data for the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes.
“I think there’s going to be multiple applications in which this will be beneficial to the tribes here,” Black Wolf said. “I see that (the Mesonet) has that potential for great uses and applications at (Aaniiih Nakoda College) and even, I would say, at our high school level. Our local high schools will be able to use that real time data. But what really makes it all the more useful is it’s going to be literally weather from right in our backyards and so, you know, being able to analyze and access that kind of weather data will really be helpful.”
Training UM Students
In addition to its professional staff, the 猎奇重口 Mesonet employs UM undergraduate students as hydrologic technicians. Hoylman said these students gain valuable career skills and further their knowledge of 猎奇重口’s environment, up-to-date scientific tools and technology, and project coordination.
“My experience working for the MCO has been very helpful in determining what I want to work on in the future,” said Ethan Jones, a UM forestry major and 猎奇重口 Mesonet seasonal technician. “Working for the MCO has not only increased my experience in performing various types of fieldwork with a variety of different tools and equipment, but also working with people. Interacting with landowners always offered new knowledge about things I didn’t know and their interest in what we were doing helped me describe it better. Overall, working for the MCO has been one of my favorite summers working in college so far.”
A Community-Driven Network
The 猎奇重口 Mesonet would not be possible without the support of local landowners, community organizations, and . The 猎奇重口 Mesonet partners with private landowners to host most of its stations.
Among the HydroMet stations, 67% of stations are on private land, 21% are on tribal reservations, 10% are on public land and 2% are hosted by nongovernmental organizations. In 2024, 23 stations were built on private land and 14 on Tribal reservations. MSU Extension, conservation districts and tribal governments were essential partners in identifying hosts for the 2024 Mesonet installations.
All data collected by the 猎奇重口 Mesonet are freely available to the public and are accessible through a and . The Mesonet dashboard includes a new set of that convert raw station data into useful metrics for agricultural land management, including crop growing degree days, the Livestock Risk Index and plant-available water.
Mesonet data are ingested in the , which guides drought assessment in 猎奇重口 and in several other states on a weekly basis. Data also are automatically delivered to the National Weather Service, where they are incorporated into regional forecasts. A 猎奇重口 Mesonet mobile app is under development.
The 猎奇重口 Mesonet team is already busy preparing for the 2025 season and beyond. Thirty-nine new Mesonet stations are scheduled for installation in 2025, and an additional 39 were proposed for installation in 2026. A live status map of the 猎奇重口 Mesonet HydroMet build out is available at . The project is actively seeking partner hosts for the 2027 build season.
Your 猎奇重口 Climate Office
The provides high-quality, timely, relevant and scientifically based climate, drought and water resources information and services to 猎奇重口ns. As 猎奇重口’s official climate data stewards, the office provides information for specific sectors of interest by either geography or industry and assists stakeholders in adapting climate products to their needs.
The MCO is housed in the 猎奇重口 Forest and Conservation Experiment Station, part of UM’s W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation. Dr. Kelsey Jencso, the W.A. Franke Endowed Professor of Watershed Hydrology and state climatologist, directs the office and the 猎奇重口 Mesonet.
Jencso said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established the Upper Missouri River Basin Network in response to the historic 2011 and 2014 Missouri floods. When completed in 2028, the network will be among the densest meteorological, soil moisture and snowpack monitoring networks in the world, consisting of 540 stations across central and eastern 猎奇重口, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska – a density of one station for every 500 square miles.
“Home to the Missouri headwaters, our 猎奇重口 Mesonet will play an integral part in the management of the Basin’s land and water resources,” Jencso said.
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Contact: Kyle Bocinsky, director of climate extension, 猎奇重口 Climate Office, kyle.bocinsky@umontana.edu.
