UPEI researchers install 39 weather stations to 'fill in the grid' for climate information

A team of researchers from the UPEI Climate Lab has spent the summer installing 39 new weather stations across the province, in the hopes of getting a fuller picture of how the climate varies across the Island. 

The weather stations measure rainfall, temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity and solar radiation.

"The idea is to use these data that are necessary for climate modeling, to capture some of the local variability in climate models," said Stephanie Palmer, information specialist with the Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation at UPEI.  "Then also to use the data for other climate research projects, and different operational data products for farmers and fishers, and different users that might be interested."

Palmer said the climate centre put out a call for proposals, and they received a fair amount of response.

She said they tried to select a diverse range of hosts, and also wanted to cover as much of the Island as possible.

"We really are trying to fill in the grid of weather stations that existed on P.E.I.," Palmer said. "We're trying to get a station every 10 or 15 kilometres, so that was one of the main selection criteria." 

"We're also trying to partner with organizations or individuals, businesses that would use the data in some capacity as well, just to make the most of it."