Tim Preston/The Independent
Louisa — When elected officials in Boyd County said they didn’t see the value of a new weather station, Lawrence County Fiscal Court members were quite happy to find a place for it in their own back yard.
“We’ve got the extra fencing,” said Lawrence County Assistant Judge-Executive Eddie Michael during a Monday morning fiscal court meeting in Louisa, explaining no suitable site for the station could be found in Boyd or Carter counties.
Michael said the county’s investment in the weather station would be minimal, requiring no more than construction of a secured site for the equipment as well as routine maintenance at the location.
Michael said “a perfect site for them” has been secured near Lawrence County High School, providing an excellent elevation and other physical characteristics for such a purpose.
Lawrence County magistrates needed no time for conversation before voting unanimously to authorize to action.
The Boyd County Fiscal Court rejected a request last month by Kentucky Mesonet Director Stuart Foster proposing to install a security fence estimated to cost $2,500 around a proposed tower at EastPark. The FIVCO Area Development District donated use of a site on its property and supports the project, said Tom Saylor, FIVCO’s associate director.
Kentucky Mesonet is a network of automated environmental monitoring stations that collect and provide weather and climate information in near real-time from locations throughout the state. Each station is 10 meters high and includes a set of instruments to measure precipitation, air temperature, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, solar radiation, soil moisture and soil temperature.
Kentucky Mesonet plans to locate 100 such towers across the state, 46 of which are already up and running. Each tower will cost approximately $10,000 to install — with funding provided through a $2.9 million federal appropriation secured by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. Those funds cannot be used for fencing, only erection of the towers and other administrative and monitoring costs.
TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.
