Perched on schools across Vancouver Island, 164 weather stations sit waiting to transfer data.
Of them, only 40 are working. The rest are offline or in need of repairs.
The network is not operating at anything close to its best, according to Ed Wiebe, one of two University of Victoria staffers who created the program more than 20 years ago.
Wiebe and Andrew Weaver first put up a weather station at their UVic office in 2002.
B次元官网网址淚 think that pretty much inspired this notion that we could use this local weather information as a public outreach and education tool to educate people about climate,B次元官网网址� Wiebe said.
B次元官网网址淚t hasnB次元官网网址檛 worked in the sense that people didnB次元官网网址檛 see that as a way to learn about climate change, but it did work in getting people excited thinking about weather and how each little region has different weather day-to-day.B次元官网网址�
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Back then, Wiebe was a research associate in UVicB次元官网网址檚 renowned Climate Modelling Group Lab, led by Weaver who found funding through the Greater Victoria School District.
Part of the projectB次元官网网址檚 mandate was to educate and engage students with science, when resources are available. Each station comes with a display monitor that teachers and students use to follow along.
The stations record and report the temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure, rainfall, sunshine (solar power), amount of sun energy coming in, UV index and rain rate. ItB次元官网网址檚 all collected in a server at UVic and made available (with a four minute delay) on the website and app.
Some schools charted the data each day on the wall in the hallway, and some have students announce the daily weather report during morning announcements.
With word of mouth the project grew, and funding allowed for installation farther afield including Campbell River and beyond to more remote areas such as Gold River, Tofino, Ucluelet and Nitnat Lake.
Weaver became an MLA and Wiebe was hired at the School of Ocean Sciences who offered him some time to maintain the stations.
B次元官网网址淏ut the money has basically run out,B次元官网网址� Wiebe said. Running the network solo since 2013, and now also teaching first year labs, his time is also running low.
B次元官网网址淚 just canB次元官网网址檛 get out much,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚t kind of just has petered out. ItB次元官网网址檚 kind of a disappointing B次元官网网址� I donB次元官网网址檛 want to call it an ending.B次元官网网址�
With more than three-quarters of the school stations offline, and a growing online following, the pair is pursuing a plan for redemption.
B次元官网网址淚n the past days and months Andrew and I have heard from many people who have found and enjoyed the free community resource. WeB次元官网网址檝e heard from many people in the community who have offers of help or cash. We havenB次元官网网址檛 been able to accept those offers. Volunteers are complicated due to the locations of most of the weather stations in schools,B次元官网网址� Weibe said.
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With Weaver back at UVic, the pair plans to develop a strategic plan to secure new funds and hire staff to visit weather station sites and to pay for equipment to make repairs.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e writing up some proposals and hopefully we can get some kind of a source,B次元官网网址� Weibe said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 always been a passion project.B次元官网网址�
He also hopes the many institutional users of the data B次元官网网址� such has municipalities, engineering firms and researchers B次元官网网址� might consider funding.
The pair hopes to get the school weather network back online quickly.
B次元官网网址淎fter this we will look at updates to the website and a new app for phones so that people can once again find out whatB次元官网网址檚 going on in their neighbourhoods,B次元官网网址� Weibe said. B次元官网网址淲hen we get a new plan in place, weB次元官网网址檒l be sure to let everyone know.B次元官网网址�
Find the school-based weather network online at .
