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Con Edison, the energy company that serves New York City and Westchester County, is working with the University at Albany’s New York State Mesonet on the “New York City Micronet,” a new network of 17 weather-monitoring stations that will be located at company properties in the City’s five boroughs.
The NYC Micronet, also supported by UAlbany’s Center of Excellence in Weather and Climate Analytics, will help Con Edison monitor high-impact weather events and track long-term climatic changes. Con Edison is investing $3 million in the network. That includes a $1.6 million contract with the University.
Installation started this month. The network is expected to be completed by the end of October.
“This partnership with Con Edison is the latest example of NYS Mesonet providing a service to make our state more resilient to increases in weather extremes and to better inform weather risk-management decisions,” said Chris Thorncroft, director of UAlbany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, the NYS Mesonet and Center of Excellence. “UAlbany has direct access to the largest concentration of atmospheric, climate and environmental researchers in New York. We are continuing to create smart business solutions to empower industry partners statewide.”
“Climate change makes smart infrastructure planning and design essential,” said Charles Viemeister, Con Edison’s project manager. “We’ll use data from the Micronet to gain additional insight into the local short-term and longer-term impacts of climate change. We are always looking for technologies that can help us maintain the resilient, reliable service our customers need.”
The NYS Mesonet is the most advanced and largest early warning weather detection network in the nation. Its standard 126 weather stations, located across the state and in every county, offer real-time data on a number of weather variables including temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, pressure, precipitation, snow depth and soil moisture. Each station is also equipped with a camera for real-time photos.
UAlbany’s Center of Excellence in Weather & Climate Analytics is New York’s entrepreneurial hub for a network of more than 120 weather and climate faculty, researchers and research staff. Together, these experts are deeply engaged in advancing innovative weather and climate research applications for a variety of industries including utilities, agriculture, renewable energy, emergency management, transportation and Unmanned Aerial Systems. During the COVID-19 crisis, they have supported all New York utilities by providing a sophisticated weather dashboard to enhance situational awareness.
The NYC Micronet is a customized version of NYS Mesonet’s standard network and will undergo the same regular maintenance, data quality control, sensor calibrations, and visualization, performed daily at UAlbany’s Mesonet Operations Center and by technicians in the field.
This project adds to an already established relationship between UAlbany and Con Edison. In 2019, the two partners, along with MESO, Inc. created the Wind Extremes Forecast System (WEFS). It uses a combination of regional NYS Mesonet data and machine learning techniques to produce forecasts of threshold wind speeds and gusts that could lead to power outages at county and sub-county levels in New York State.
“The goal, with both the Micronet and WEFS, is to provide NYC’s primary utility provider with valuable environmental data that can help improve resiliency for its services and mobilize resources more efficiently when severe weather strikes,” said Jerry Brotzge, NYS Mesonet program manager. “Our weather stations are quietly driving decision-making in a variety of sectors.”
NYS Mesonet data and visualizations are available for viewing at www.nysmesonet.org
About UAlbany’s Weather-Climate Enterprise:
With close to 120 faculty, researchers and staff, UAlbany hosts the largest concentration of atmospheric, climate and environmental scientists in New York State, and one of the largest in the nation. Led by its Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences and Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, UAlbany is also home to the NYS Center of Excellence Weather-Climate Business Analytics, the xCITE R&D laboratory, and the New York State Mesonet – the most advanced mesoscale weather observation system in the nation.
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