The National Weather Service is well along with a plan to establish and maintain a network of 100 automated weather observing sites that will continually monitor our climate. This network is called the Climate Reference Network (CRN). Air temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, relative humidity, and soil temperature and moisture will be measured. Backup equipment will assure accuracy. Hourly observations are collected via GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) and sent to the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The goal of the CRN is to reliably monitor our environment and document in detail any changes in the U.S. climate. The equipment must be initially sited to minimize future moves and human influences. As a result, somewhat remote, fairly pristine locations are being selected such as state and national parks, wildlife refuges, and government- or university-owned lands where future development will be limited.
Source: National Weather Service
WGN-TV/Paul Dailey
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
