The Manitoba government will purchase 60 new automated weather stations and place them across the province, adding to an existing network to provide additional accurate and detailed weather information.
The new weather stations, which will begin to be installed this fall, will include all-season precipitation gauges to collect information on snow and rainfall. This is being done to improve flood forecasting related to spring thaws and rainfall-driven events. They will transmit hourly data on air temperature, humidity, rainfall and soil temperature.
“Significant weather events can affect thousands of people provincewide so we are investing in new equipment to ensure Manitobans have the most up-to-date weather information possible,” said Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton. “These weather stations will improve our ability to forecast floods and droughts, fight forest fires and ensure Manitoba’s farmers can access the detailed weather information they need.”
Ashton said 20 stations will be placed in areas at risk for forest fires to support Manitoba’s firefighting prevention programs.
The other 40 stations will be located in agricultural areas to enhance Manitoba’s agro-meteorology program, which provides weather-related information and other tools to producers at no charge, which is then used for their crop and land-management decisions.
The new stations are also designed to improve the Manitoba government’s ability to report on crop and soil conditions, assess risks from crop diseases and insects, and support decision-making for the crop-residue burning program.
The expansion of the weather station network was a recommendation from the 2011 Flood Review Task Force.
Minister Ashton noted meteorological data from all weather stations across the province will be used to help officials assess and forecast weather events such as heavy rainfall that may lead to flooding.
In addition to Environment Canada weather stations, Manitoba currently operates 50 permanent weather stations and 20 seasonal weather stations. All of the new weather stations will meet international measurement standards to ensure accuracy.
