LOCAL NOTES: It’s all the rage now to get “micro forecasts” for weather predictions but our own resident meteorologist has been doing that in McKean County since 2011.
McKean Weather, a website dedicated strictly to the weather for our neck of the woods, started out as a tool for a weather enthusiast and gardener to keep track of the weather from year to year to help in garden planning.
His main goal was to get a backyard weather station that would aid in that record keeping.
The man behind the machine, so to speak, is Brad Ottum, owner/operator of the McKeanWeather.com.
He has expanded his operation significantly since 2011 starting with the purchase of a Davis Pro 2+ weather station, and going on to develop an entire website with local radar, forecasts and record keeping.
As a member of the Citizen Weather Observer Program, his data is sent along to that organization and more than a half-dozen other organizations, so that they can study “micro-climates” from around the country and the world. As it reads on the top of his website, “ ‘cause Not Everyone Lives at the Airport.”
The website has many features through its links at the top of each page including a searchable database with records going back to Feb. 13, 2011.
Another feature is what is called “frost days” which will give you, through each year, how many days a year we dropped below freezing, how many days we dropped below zero, along with how many days we didn’t get above zero or freezing. Ouch!
Another link will take you to what is called “Evapotranspiration,” the scientific term for “moisture in/moisture out” of the soil. It keeps track of the rainfall and heavy dew into the soil, while also recording the effects of hot sunshine and wind taking the moisture back out. Every gardener and farming could benefit from glancing at that page once a week through the growing season.
Finally, it also has a live web cam that runs from 5 a.m.-9 p.m. and you can see what’s happening at anytime through that period. It also makes a daily video and keeps an archive of the last seven days of weather that you can click on to see the entire day’s weather.
Incidentally, Brad’s station is located one mile east of Hazel Hurst on Route 6.
