STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. – A new weather station in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, provides the agricultural community with real-time weather information.

Ste. Genevieve, nestled in the hills between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, lacked timely weather data prior to the new station going online, says Katie Kammler, University of Missouri Extension horticulturist.

Previously, farmers had to rely on National Weather Service reports from Sparta, Illinois, more than 20 miles away on the other side of the Mississippi River.

The station is part of the Missouri Mesonet weather network operated by MU Extension and the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. More than 40 weather stations across the state record weather data accessible on Mesonet’s webpage at agebb.missouri.edu/weather/stations.

“The weather station helps the agricultural community get timely information for planting and spraying,” said John Travlos, co-manager of Missouri Mesonet. “It provides environmental monitoring for agricultural decision-making.”

Kammler says she regularly hears from farmers who use the station’s information to make spraying and planting decisions in the county’s hilly terrain.

At five-minute intervals, the station gives updates of temperatures, dew point, humidity, wind speed and direction, 2- and 4-inch bare soil temperatures and expected wind speeds and gusts. It also records time of sunrise and sunset.

The weather station is a collaboration of MU Extension, Citizens Electric Corp. and the Ste. Genevieve County Community Foundation. The station is located on Citizens Electric Corp. property. Citizens Electric and the MU Extension Council in Ste. Genevieve County provide ongoing maintenance.

The oldest permanent European settlement west of the Mississippi River, Ste. Genevieve is known for its historic French colonial buildings, wineries, mines, chestnut farms, festivals and a national historic park.

Photo:

https://extension.missouri.edu/media/wysiwyg/Extensiondata/NewsAdmin/Photos/2023/20230427-stegwst-1.jpg
New automated weather station in Ste. Genevieve is part of the Missouri Mesnonet weather station network.