STARKVILLE – In some rural areas of Mississippi, many residents rely on weather predictions from stations more than 50 miles away.
In a state where tornadoes and severe storms are a near year-round threat, filling those gaps could potentially mean saving lives and property, said Narcisa Pricope, associate vice president for research in the Office of Research and Economic Development at Mississippi State University.
Climavision, an Arkansas-based weather technology company, is doing just that, and now MSU is joining the effort.
“In these blind spots … if a tornado or a big storm cell forms in those areas, the National Weather Service radars may miss it, but Climavision essentially can pick that up and within a matter of minutes … issue an alert,” Pricope told The Dispatch on Thursday. “… We want to help close that gap between knowing that a storm is coming and being … able to act on it.”
Through a partnership with Climavision, MSU is advocating for expanding radar coverage across the state while gaining access to high-resolution weather data to further research and education at the university.
Since launching in 2021, Climavision has deployed 29 radars nationwide in areas under-observed by the National Weather Service. The radars provide low altitude coverage and more detailed weather mapping compared to its federally-operated counterpart.
The company operates two radars in Mississippi, one in Meridian and one in Clarksdale, along with nearby systems that cover portions of the state. Data from Climavision’s Mississippi radars already support forecasting at the NWS office in Jackson.
While the Golden Triangle is already well-covered by the federal radar system, Pricope said she’s hopeful the partnership will encourage state and local leaders to invest in filling remaining coverage gaps statewide.
The partnership also aims to fill gaps in the classroom. As part of the agreement, Climavision is providing MSU faculty access to high-resolution weather models with longer forecasting ranges than publicly available tools.
Kristine Evans, associate director for agriculture and natural resources for the Geosystems Research Institute, said she plans to integrate the data into conservation biology and landscape ecology courses so students can develop models to predict and analyze how weather impacts crops, livestock and forests.
“One of the issues that we’ve always had with temperature and precipitation data is the radar based data … (wasn’t) continuous in coverage,” Evans told The Dispatch. “… The fact that we have this partnership with Climavision and a much more fine resolution set of radar data will allow us to be really predictive in our research of … things like drought stress … or … flooding risk for our agricultural crops.”
Evans said the data could also support further wildlife research at the university. Its radar systems can detect migrating animals like birds, butterflies, grasshoppers and bats that pass through the system, information that is often excluded as “scatter” in publicly-available weather models.
“We could really start doing research and teaching using this (data) that helps us fill in some major holes, particularly in this area of the country, where we don’t have a good handle on migratory paths,” she said. “… We have a lot (further) to go in terms of developing these migratory pathways of animals, and once we get a better understanding of it, then we can look toward conservation measures that make sure the habitat they need is in place as they’re migrating up their normal pathways.”
Energy Resilience Hub
Climavision is the first industry partner in MSU’s Energy Resilience and Innovation Hub, a platform for collaboration between researchers, industry partners and communities.
Pricope, who leads the hub, said its goal is to better align efforts across energy sectors to foster economic growth and energy resilience while promoting access to energy resources.
“We don’t have that coordination between the research world, what our industry and utility companies are doing, what your communities are dealing with (and) what our … emergency preparedness response teams are thinking about,” she said. “… So we’re hoping to solve that fragmentation.”
Since launching in November, the hub has grown to include more than 100 faculty and students across disciplines, from anthropology to engineering, and has been in conversation with numerous other industry partners planning to join the team.
The hub has hosted both an in-person and virtual workshop where participants presented research in their respective fields and identified research gaps and opportunities for collaboration. As it expands, Pricope said the hub’s focus will shift from discussion to real-world application, such as improving storm preparedness in the county and utility planning.
“My hope is to connect as many dots, both on campus and within the state, as we can to be proactive about emerging issues,” Pricope said. “… My hope is that we create a safe space and a platform where different stakeholders from different parts of the state can come together (for) critical and time sensitive issues, to have access to expertise, but also to have access to these connected partners that bring different perspectives and that … work in different spaces.”
Looking down the line, she hopes to see a standalone Energy Institute built on campus in the next two years to give the hub a physical presence, though plans and funding for the space have not begun.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 26 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
