My homewaters, Lake Moultry, is about
40 miles from the nearest weather station.
For years I’ve said I wish that “they” would
put a weather station on it. You load up
your gear and drive to the lake only to find
wind/weather unsuitable for fishing. Last
fall after doing the “turn around” three
times in one week without wetting a line,
I was determined to find out who “they” are
and why we don’t have a local weather
station. I started off with NOAA. They
had all of the expertise and how to, but the
project needed a sponsor to add legitamacy
as well as dollars. I went to the county
office and found a sympathetic ear but the
dollars were still problematic. A county
official told me the idea was sound and if
I could bear with him a bit he’d follow up
on it. Well, we spoke several times over
the next few months and he was getting a
lot of favorable comments on the proposal.
Finally today, I met with reps from NOAA,
DNR, the county, the power authority that
controls the lake and the local cable TV
provider. In about 90 minutes of informal
discussion, they identified the equipments
needed, determined appropriate sites,
agreed on a division of labor and
responsibilities, and came up with funding.
They also determined that a series of
stations around this huge lake, as well as
on the tailrace and the river beyond would
do a much better job of reporting for all
fishermen. They are going to provide
current real time weather, water levels,
flow rates, and several real time cameras
that you can access from your home PC. Much
more than I dared ask for.G And for the
folks without PC’s they are going to put a
screen on the local cable system.G
Maybe you can’t “fight” City Hall, but you
can talk to them and they might listen.G
Warm regards, Jim
congratulations jim - job well done. it looks like you not only fought city hall, you also gave them a good butt kicking. you and all you fellow fisherpeople should enjoy your fishing even more than before
Absolutely! Good for you Jim - most of the time ONE person can do it, or at least get the ball rolling. You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing, and have enough backbone to just ‘do it.’ We had folks who said FAOL couldn’t be done either. Just goes to how ya…
You can do anything you set your mind to.
Congrats Jim!
Jim’
Good for you. Sounds like a series of automated stations are just what YOU ordered and I’m sure that the weather service will appreciate the additional data. It may be that they (National Weather Service)were hoping that someone or some group would REQUEST that something like that be done. Things seldom get done until outside interests get going on it. The automatic observational stations are the way to go. Don’t hold your breath though unless things have moved past the planning stage. I’m a retired National Weather Service employee and know how slowly things can move.
The fishermen will thank you.
The citizens will also…
The national weather service will too.
project had some good ideas. The first one
was keeping the project in house, or in
county at least. All of the partners in
the project are located within the
boundaries of the county. They work very
well together and get things done on a
regular basis. NOAA is involved to provide
their expertise in the equipments and advise
accordingly. Their input will be in place
at the next meeting in two weeks. The
partners will purchase, install, and maintain the equipments. NOAA will have
access to both real time and historical data
but no ownership in the project. The goal
is to have everything up and running before
the end of July and confidence is high at
this point. I will post a url when it comes
on line and give you folks a chance to see
my home waters, real time, without the long
drive.G Warm regards, Jim
