https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

Smart Cities & Technology


Municipal network in Sooner State offers wealth of weather data

Municipal network in Sooner State offers wealth of weather data

Oklahoma City has found a unique way to use its broadband system in several weather-related areas. The network, which predicts severe weather and informs the public, has spawned an entire field of new research into weather patterns that are useful for daily city operations.
  • Written by Lynnette Luna
  • 23rd December 2009

Oklahoma City has found a unique way to use its broadband system in several weather-related areas. The network, which predicts severe weather and informs the public, has spawned an entire field of new research into weather patterns that are useful for daily city operations.

Oklahoma City is an appropriate place to study weather phenomena. It is massive, covering 622 square miles — more than Houston, Atlanta, or New York City. The city experiences severe heat waves in the summer along with extreme weather that often includes tornados. Oklahoma City runs a large WiFi network that spans 555 square miles, and the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS), in partnership with the city, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, has devised a way to piggyback off the network to measure atmospheric conditions every minute throughout the city year-round — a capability that is not replicated anywhere else in the world, says Jeff Basara, director of research with OCS and adjunct associate professor with the University of Oklahoma’s School of Meteorology.

Known as the Oklahoma City Micronet, the system was borne out of a six-week field experiment that began in the summer of 2003. After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, the federal Departments of Homeland Security, Energy and Defense were eager to understand how chemical weapons and viruses released in the air might disperse throughout a city.

“After the equipment [from the experiment] was taken down, we began to get an idea of what we could do with an Oklahoma mesonet [a network of automated weather stations]. We spent five years raising funds to get this put together,” Basara says.

The project, funded by the universities and the state, is now 18 months old and leverages 36 monitoring sites mounted on traffic signals to automatically capture weather conditions, including air temperature, humidity, rainfall, air pressure, wind speed and wind direction. The Oklahoma City government offered free use of its network in 2007 in exchange for access to the weather data. The city’s IT staff worked closely with OCS meteorologists to understand how to use the Wi-Fi network. OCS spent 18 months developing conceptual ideas and prototype weather stations.

The network of automated weather stations is not technically wireless. The mesonet leverages the city’s Wi-Fi access points to power its weather stations. An Ethernet cable transmits the data back to researchers. Some 500,000-plus observations are received from the Oklahoma City Micronet every day and automated software evaluates the data received from the remote stations.

The researchers have managed to take standard weather instruments and integrate them with hardware components to create smaller versions of the weather stations. That capability was crucial for acceptance from the city.

“One of the city’s major concerns was not technical but aesthetic,” Basara says. “They wanted something that looked like it belonged on top of a stoplight. We knew our technology would work, but the problem was getting it to look good. Once it was installed at a corner, the IT folks at the city sent their bosses to look at the station. They came back asking what they were supposed to look for. That’s when we knew we had it.”

Steve Eaton, information security architect for Oklahoma City, characterizes the project as the most unique application the city utilizes. The Wi-Fi network currently runs about 200 applications that range from video surveillance to GPS tracking systems.

Anecdotally, the weather data is creating efficiency for the city. “We can measure rainfall and the city can use that information to determine which areas of the city may flood or send out sand trucks in a storm,” Basara says.

And OCS is gathering some fascinating information about weather patterns in urban areas, Basara says. In general, the researchers have found that the temperature in the city is generally 10 degrees higher than in the surrounding rural areas that are just 12 miles away, he says. Basara says this phenomenon is called the urban heat island effect. Concrete, steel and less greenery combined with buildings and vehicles releasing heat contribute to the phenomenon.

“We are using that information to study severe weather,” Basara says. “There is not a great grasp on how severe weather is impacted by higher temperatures in cities. Most of the observing infrastructure has been in rural areas.”

Moreover, researchers are studying heat waves and aim to determine what areas in cities are more vulnerable to higher heat. Such information, says Basara, can help predict which population groups may be more at risk during a heat wave. “We want to really begin to understand down to the neighborhood scale what people might be at risk,” he says. “It’s a public health issue.”

Lynnette Luna is a contributing writer to Urgent Communications, a sister publication to Government Product News.

Related Stories

  • Consortiums will be likely winners of broadband stimulus funding
  • New technology, stimulus funding help revive municipal broadband
Tags: Administration News Public Safety Smart Cities & Technology

Most Recent


  • baseball
    Minor league baseball is helping cities hit a revitalization home run
    It’s that time of year again—the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd when the home team hits a home run, not to mention the peanuts, Cracker Jacks and hot dogs! Nothing compares to the fun of gameday at the stadium, enjoying the national pastime of baseball. Some mid-sized cities have taken the […]
  • MSPs
    The MSP downstream cyberthreat paradox: Understanding the city and county connection
    Recently the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) along with the FBI, NSA, and international cyber authorities issued a cybersecurity advisory aimed at protecting managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers. This high-level advisory has been gestating for some time ever since the SolarWinds and Kaseya supply chain cyber-attacks. A software supply chain attack occurs […]
  • Philanthropic group to launch assistance portal for local admins navigating federal bureaucracy
    A joint venture announced Tuesday by a group of philanthropic organizations—in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities (NLC) and Results for America—seeks to help small and mid-sized communities secure their piece of the $550 billion in funding available for local governments navigating federal bureaucracy. The digital portal will launch […]
  • Report: Nearly 95 percent of America's mayors face harassment, threats and violence
    In today’s divided socioeconomic landscape—one that’s rife with political angst—harassment of mayors has become commonplace, especially against minority leaders. Women mayors and mayors of color face more frequent and acute incidents of harassment and violence, according to new research from the advocacy organizations Equity Agenda and the Mayors Innovation Project. Nearly half of all women mayors […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • North Texas alliance partners with Marketplace.city on smart government solutions
  • Harris County deploys next-generation security in 150 public buildings
  • Prioritizing rapid restore leads to stronger ransomware attack recovery
  • Today’s infrastructure needs greater than roads and bridges - It’s time to face our digital connectiveness

White papers


The PIO’s Ultimate Guide to Social Media

16th May 2022

Gain Greater Visibility Into Your Public Works Fleet

16th May 2022

Arizona Arts Center Meets Rapid Deadline with Hundreds of Thousands in Savings

26th April 2022
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

Minor league baseball is helping cities hit a revitalization home run dlvr.it/SQc5N4

18th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council can help governments get up to speed on sustainable buys dlvr.it/SQbwqL

18th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

The MSP downstream cyberthreat paradox: Understanding the city and county connection dlvr.it/SQYVjs

17th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Philanthropic group to launch assistance portal for local admins navigating federal bureaucracy dlvr.it/SQY16G

17th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Report: Nearly 95 percent of America’s mayors face harassment, threats and violence dlvr.it/SQTn2z

16th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

The PIO’s Ultimate Guide to Social Media dlvr.it/SQTdCK

16th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Gain Greater Visibility Into Your Public Works Fleet dlvr.it/SQSqXG

16th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Report: Almost half of public sector retirees don’t touch their retirement plans for a decade dlvr.it/SQKMjp

13th May 2022

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X