Time is essential when severe weather happens.

Tornados move an average of 30 miles per hour, giving people little time to seek shelter.

Now Western is helping alert people across the state faster with a new weather network.

The Mesoscale Network, or Mesonet, will be a string of nearly 100 automatic climate-monitoring stations scattered evenly across Kentucky, which will send its data back to Western for students and others to use, said state climatologist Stuart Foster, director of the Kentucky Climate Center at Western.

The first station will be operating in the early fall, he said. The entire network will be completed in a few years.

The 30-foot towers will collect information about solar radiation, wind speed, temperature and rainfall, Foster said. Each tower will be spaced 20 to 25 miles apart.

Data from the towers will be sent back to the center, which will make it available for people across the state, he said.

Farmers, water supply managers and people in the transportation industry depend on accurate weather conditions for their livelihoods, Foster said. Data from the network will be useful in their businesses.

Mesonet will also warn people faster about disastrous weather, said Rezaul Mahmood, assistant geography and geology professor.

For example, people need to know as soon as possible if a tornado breaks out in Simpson County in Kentucky, Mahmood said.

The National Weather Service, in that situation, would begin issuing warnings to people in the area once a tornado is located, he said. Nexrad radar systems would track the storm, but it doesn’t get data updates on a regular basis.

“You cannot rely on data from only one platform,” Mahmood said.

Emergency management teams will need accurate, up-to-date information to help people get to safety.

Mesonet will alert emergency management teams with near-real time updates of weather changes, Mahmood said.

The Kentucky legislature already supports the upcoming network.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed a resolution making Mesonet the official climatological observation system for Kentucky on April 6.

The center got support for Mesonet from U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Foster said.

Money for Mesonet is still coming, he said.

Foster said budget proposals total $1.5 million for the first two years, with an expected $1.5 million for the next two years.

The idea for Mesonet didn’t begin at Western.

Mahmood first encountered a Mesonet at the University of Oklahoma in 1994.

Mahmood brought the idea to Kentucky and, along with Foster, talked to people in charge of weather networks at other universities like Oklahoma, Foster said. They then helped bring Kentucky’s Mesonet to life.

A couple of states have already adopted Mesonets, Mahmood said. Many people hope to bring a national Mesonet online.

Mahmood said he thinks Mesonets work better on the state level.

The Kentucky Climate Center has Mesonet’s pilot program up and running, Foster said.

Towers are working near Lost River Cave in Bowling Green and near Russellville in Logan County, he said.

Ogden College Dean Blaine Ferrell said Mesonet will be a great opportunity for Ogden students to get near-real time data for their studies.

“People will get a lot of data they can only dream of,” Ferrell said.

Western’s reputation will also be enhanced by being linked with a national trend in climate tracking, he said.