Congress Approves More Than $3.5 Million for UMaine Weather Station Network Secured by Senator Collins
The funding now heads to the President to be signed into law
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she secured $3,548,000 in Congressionally Directed Spendingfor the University of Maine (UMaine) Weather Station Network in the Fiscal Year 2024 Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill. The bill, which was included in legislation that passed the Senate today, now heads to the President to be signed into law.
“Automated weather stations provide crucial information to producers across Maine,” said Senator Collins. “As Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I worked hard to secure this funding, which will support continuous, publicly available measurements of weather and surface properties, including soil moisture, temperature, and leaf wetness.”
“Farming and forestry are vital Maine industries in which operational decisions and harvest outcomes are highly dependent on weather and climate,” said University of Maine Cooperative Extension Wild Blueberry Specialist Lily Calderwood and Assistant Extension Professor and Maine State Climatologist Sean Birkel. “This federal funding would allow UMaine to launch a new statewide system of weather stations to provide farmers, foresters, and other stakeholders with high-quality data about real-time atmospheric, surface, and soil conditions with the aim of increasing efficiency and production.”
This investment will allow UMaine to develop “Maine Mesonet” — a network of collectively operated weather stations, with at least one station in each of Maine’s 16 counties — that are connected to the National Mesonet Program. These stations will be equipped to enhance weather prediction and climate monitoring capabilities for Maine farmers and forestry stakeholders across the state.
In 2021, Congress reinstituted Congressionally Directed Spending. Following this decision, Senator Collins has secured more than $500 million for hundreds of Maine projects for FY2022 and FY2023. As the Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Collins is committed to championing targeted investments that will benefit Maine communities.
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