How Delmarva weather forecasts will become more accurate

Weather predictions for the Delmarva Peninsula can be unwieldy, often getting confused by nearby topographical features like the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains.

A fix? Adding more weather stations to provide more data.

A partnership between NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and universities in Delaware and Maryland plans to do exactly that, which will result in more accurate weather prediction for the region starting in early 2021, according to a NASA news relase.

Accurate forecasts and existing weather observations are very important for rocket launches and flight operations at Wallops, Ahmed Fadl, Wallops deputy chief for flight safety, said in a statement.

The Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station is one of only two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facilities in the world — along with its sister station in Fairbanks, Alaska — to monitor the satellites that collect vital weather data for the nation.

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The facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia tracks weather satellites for the entire country, so any imagery — whether found on the internet or the evening news — comes from them, NASA staff told The Daily Times in 2018.

Even so, local weather predictions needed an accuracy boost.

"We saw a need to increase data across the region by connecting local weather stations on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia to a nationwide network," Fadl said.

Called the Delmarva Meteorological Mesoscale Network, or the Delmarva Mesonet, the new instruments will be integrated with existing systems to fill gaps in essential data.

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The first new station will be located at Salisbury University, where equipment is already being tested and calibrated in partnership with the University of Delaware.

Once online, the Delmarva Mesonet stations will measure air temperature, humidity,  wind speed and direction, precipitation, soil temperature and soil moisture, atmospheric pressure and solar radiation.

“Having the station at Salisbury will have many applications for students in our meteorology, physics and other science programs, Alex McCombs, Salisbury University assistant professor of geography, said in a statement. “Students will be able to use the data in their studies and also will be able to get hands-on experience in working with the instruments.”

Much of the effort to bring the Delmarva Mesonet to fruition was accomplished by two university student interns: Samantha Koehler, a senior at Salisbury University, and Eric Allen, a graduate student at the University of Delaware, the release states.

“The Mesonet has applications beyond just weather forecasting,” Koehler said. “The Delmarva Mesonet will benefit NASA and provide an invaluable asset to federal, state, and local entities, as well as the community at large.”