Thurmont is Now Part of a National Weather Network

James Rada, Jr.

Thurmont is now part of a nationwide weather network, called Mesonet, in Eyler Park, close to the water tower. It is the first Mesonet site in Frederick County.

Mesonet comes from “mesoscale,” which is a metrological scale that refers to weather events that range in size from 1 to 150 miles in horizontal scale, lasting from several minutes to several hours. When “mesoscale’ is combined with “network,” you get Mesonet.

The Thurmont site is part of 70 Maryland Mesonet sites, and growing. Frederick County Emergency Management, the University of Maryland, and Maryland Department of Emergency Management are supporters of Maryland Mesonet. The Maryland network is part of a national Mesonet (made up of 28 Mesonets, so far).

The 10-meter-tall tower contains the equipment, both above and below ground, to collect the weather information that officials hope can allow them to be forewarned of severe weather events and avoid much of the damage such events bring.

The information it collects will help with emergency planning and aid in weather forecasting. The instrumentation collects information like ground moisture readings, ground and air temperature, wind speeds, solar density and radiation readings, snow depth, and rain measurements. The data is transmitted to the University of Maryland researchers for real-time quality control. Almost simultaneously, it is also sent to the National Weather Service.

The first Maryland Mesonet site was installed in Clarksville in Howard County in late 2023, and has since grown to more than 70 sites. The goal of Maryland Mesonet is to have at least three stations in a variety of sites in each Maryland county.

According to The (Baltimore) Sun, “The ideal site is a flat, natural surface, without any structures, vegetation or asphalt close by, and not located in an area likely to be covered by standing water or a snowdrift.”

If you would like to see the information being collected from the Thurmont site, visit mesonet.umd.edu/station?stid=MDMSNT-25.

The new Mesonet weather station being installed in Thurmont.