Great Mountain Forest is back online with a new automated weather station to replace equipment that failed last summer. Norfolk residents can now go to WeatherUnderground (KCTNORFO15), Citizen Weather Observer Program (GW5867) and WeatherLink (GMF Forestry Office) for local weather conditions and data.
The new automated station, a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2, was installed January 14, replacing the automated station that had operated since 2003, according to GMF property manager and weather observer Russell Russ.
Personnel at Great Mountain Forest started recording weather data daily more than 93 years ago. Today, GMF is home to Norfolk 2SW, an official National Weather Service (NWS) cooperative weather observer station.
Installed adjacent to the Norfolk 2SW equipment, the new station uses GMF’s old 10-meter tower for wind observations, which are expected to be very accurate except during freezing rain.
As with many other automated stations, the Vantage Pro 2 will not be able to measure precipitation when temperatures are below freezing. NWS observations include year-round precipitation observations and snow or sleet will continued to be melted to get an official liquid equivalent.