Limestone Coast Mesonet Weather Station Network

Date: Monday 14th November 2022

By MFMG Admin

Project code:

Project manager: Damon Grace

Project duration: September 2022 to August 2024

Introduction

The COtL Mesonet is a high-resolution weather station network comprised of more than 110 high-grade weather stations, covering 50% of SA’s arable land including SA’s south-east region. The primary purpose of the Mesonet is to provide real-time data on the presence or absence of hazardous inversions, thus enabling farmers and spray operators to spray their agrichemicals responsibly and keep their communities, vineyards and environment safe. The 43-station expansion of the Mesonet into the south-east (i.e. Limestone Coast) was completed in 2024 via $2.25M in funding, approved by the Minister for Primary Industries, Regional Development and Forestry, the Hon Clare Scriven.

Project Summary

Long-distance spray drift occurs when chemical pesticides drift many tens of kilometres before settling on a non-target crop such as a vineyard or over non-target areas such as natural ecosystems, residential gardens and/or rainwater tanks. This can lead to large economic losses for the non-target crop, and unknown health impacts for peri-urban residents. Long-distance spray drift is usually caused by spraying during hazardous inversions.

The Mesonet weather stations were specifically designed to distinguish between hazardous and non-hazardous inversions and display this in real-time. Beforehand, this lack of specific data had been the missing piece of the puzzle when it came to tackling the issue of long-distance spray drift. A select few number of other weather stations in SA can measure general inversions (Vertical Temperature Difference), but only the Mesonet in SA can distinguish between hazardous and non-hazardous inversions. Compared to general inversion towers (or using traditional ‘rules of thumb’), the Mesonet data significantly increases the number of safe sprayable hours for growers.

Mesonet weather stations provide reliable weather data that can be incorporated into your spray records, minimising the risk of spray drift and helping ensure regulatory compliance.

Other useful weather data such as fire danger, rainfall, evapotranspiration, delta-T, crop science, risk and many other metrics are also displayed. In addition, emergency services benefit from the Mesonet data too and the Mesonet display also integrates the Limestone Coast Landscape Board weather stations.

The real-time website can be found at https://mesonet.com.au/ (requires a free Sign-Up). Armed with real-time reliable spray drift hazard data, growers will be able to use their crop protection products more efficiently and productively.