Quarterly Report from AWN Management
TO: AgWeatherNet Stakeholders
FROM: Gary Grove, Director of AgWeatherNet and Professor of Plant Pathology
Bob Krebs, AWN Project Operations Manager
SUBJECT: Quarterly news update
DATE: 1 April 2008
This is the second of quarterly updates on happenings at AgWeatherNet. This iteration will get the emailing onto a “traditional” quarterly schedule and will also be posted to the news area of the AWN web site (http://weather.wsu.edu/AgWeatherNet/awn_news.html). In this mailing there is information on AWN staffing, network expansion/retrofit, the new policy on private weather stations, and the web site. Our next quarterly update should be sent on or around June 30.
Web Site. The powdery mildew models and water use models have been improved. Additional maps (e.g. growing degree days) have been added. Improvements have been made in the station, date span, and time span selection routines as well in the Favorite Reports section. The AWN web site now has about 2200 subscribers.
Staffing. Advertising for the Agrometeorologist position was extended into late 2007. Screening began in February and selection of top candidates has been completed. The committee received permission to interview on March 31 and is currently arranging interviews, which will be held in May and early June.
Network Expansion and Retrofit. The conversion of existing weather stations to Campbell CR-1000’s and the network expansion into new and underserved areas continues. January marked the expansion of AWN into The Palouse. Fifty stations have been converted or added since January 1, 2008. Converted stations, expansion stations, and converted repeaters are presented in the table 1, page 2. At this point the conversion of the network to commercial equipment is about 40% complete and progress is accelerating. Funding for the network retrofit is being provided through a loan from the Washington State University Agricultural Research Center.
Table 1. Progress of AWN expansion and retrofit as of 28 March 2008.
Location |
Type |
Location |
Type |
Alderdale |
Retrofit |
Radar Hill |
Expansion |
Anatone |
Expansion |
Richland |
Expansion |
Basin City |
Retrofit |
Ringold |
Expansion |
Benton City |
Retrofit |
Ritzville |
Expansion |
Benton City West |
Expansion |
Roosevelt |
Expansion |
Bray’s Landing |
Expansion |
Royal Slope East |
Expansion |
Canoe Ridge |
Expansion |
Roza |
Retrofit |
Carlson |
Retrofit |
Smith Canyon East aka Basin 1 |
Expansion |
Coffin |
Retrofit |
Snipes |
Expansion |
Connell Bench |
Expansion |
Snohomish |
Expansion |
Eby |
Retrofit |
Station 2 |
Retrofit |
Finley |
Retrofit |
Station 4 |
Retrofit |
Fishhook |
Retrofit |
Sunnyside |
Retrofit |
Fourmile |
Retrofit |
Warden Golf (basin expansion) |
Expansion |
Hatton aka/ Basin 11 |
Expansion |
Welland |
Retrofit |
Hundred Circles |
Retrofit |
Wheelhouse |
Retrofit |
K2H |
Retrofit |
Whidbey Island |
Expansion |
Konnowac Pass |
Expansion |
Whitcomb Island |
Expansion |
Lind |
Expansion |
WSU - HQ |
Retrofit |
Maryhill/aka Goldendale |
Expansion |
WSU-Tri Cities |
Retrofit |
McClure |
Retrofit |
Repeaters and Base Stations: |
|
McNary |
Retrofit |
Tri Cities |
Retrofit |
Mesa |
Expansion |
Tri Cities |
Retrofit |
Moxee East |
Expansion |
Chandler Butte |
Retrofit |
Pasco |
Retrofit |
Canoe Ridge |
Retrofit |
Paterson |
Retrofit |
Rattlesnake |
Retrofit |
Paterson West |
Expansion |
|
|
PK_McClenny |
Expansion |
Prior |
Retrofit |
Port of Sunnyside |
Retrofit |
Prosser Base |
New |
Pullman |
Expansion |
Jump Off Joe |
Retrofit |
Privately Owned, Site-Specific Weather Station Policy. The maintenance policy on private weather stations was distributed to private station owners (along with estimated costs of retrofitting existing private stations to Campbell Scientific equipment) during February and early March. Please note that a new installation of a fully equipped station costs between $4900 and $6900, depending upon configuration (e.g. sensor complement); while a retrofit of an existing private station costs between $3500 and $5000.
AWN Advisory Committee
Dr. Dallas Batchelor, Pasco
Sandy Halstead, EPA, Prosser
Mark Hanrahan, Zillah
Dr. Debra Inglis, WSU-Mt.Vernon
Dr. Vince Jones, WSU-TFREC, Wenatchee
Jason Matson, Selah
Phillip Mote, University of Washington, Seattle
Colin Morrell, Sunnyside
Mark Nielsen, Pasco
Tom Pitts, Brewster
Bob Robinson, Wenatchee
Alan Schmidt, Naches
Tim Smith, WSU Extension, Wenatchee
Nick Stephens, Wenatchee
AgWeatherNet Staff
(photos)
Gary Grove, Director
Rebecca Boose, Technical Assistant
Will Corsi, Technical Coordinator
Linda Fleming, Fiscal Specialist
Lynne Hartz, Ag Research Tech
Jeff Henry, Field Assistant NCW
Bob Krebs, Project Manager
Gary Matthews, Engineering Technician
TBA, Agro Meteorologist
Chun Fang, Systems Analyst
Evan Zumini, Technical Coordinator
Heading using the h3tag
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