Released on August 31, 2011
The only thing predictable about Saskatchewan's weather is its unpredictability - changing from place to place and sometimes even at a moment's notice. Today, the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is unveiling a new Climate Reference Station (CRS) at the Conservation Learning Centre near Prince Albert as a much needed tool used to assist and inform Central Saskatchewan residents and companies about climate data and patterns.
The CRS is a principal climatological station that takes temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and atmospheric pressure readings. It supplements these readings with rainfall rate, soil temperature, snow depth, grass temperature, soil moisture, bright sunshine and solar radiation observations.
The climatological data gathered at the Prince Albert station will allow SRC to evaluate long-term climate trends in the area and give clients a contact for high quality, climatological information.
"The necessity for both climate monitoring and analysis has been emphasized both nationally and internationally," MLA for Batoche Delbert Kirsch said on behalf of Rob Norris, Minister of Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration. "The newly established Climate Reference Station will supply high quality information to Central Saskatchewan."
Designed to Environment Canada and the World Meteorological Organization standards, this CRS is SRC's second station in Saskatchewan.
"SRC's first Climate Reference Station in Saskatoon has been providing accurate and consistent weather data for 47 years," President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Research Council Dr. Laurier Schramm said. "We are pleased to be able to fill the need for a second principal climate station located in Central Saskatchewan."
The station will provide data to governments, universities, and companies including agriculture and forestry sectors clients as well as a wide variety of other clients. It will also be a valuable research tool for evaluating long-term climate trends.
Watch our video on some of the climate-related work SRC does at (http://src.nu/srcclimate).
The Saskatchewan Research Council (http://www.src.sk.ca) is Saskatchewan's leading provider of applied research and development (R&D) and technology commercialization. With over 400 employees, $63 million in annual revenue and 64 years of R&D experience, SRC provides services and products to its 1,900 clients and partners around the world.
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For more information, contact:
Rebecca Gotto
Saskatchewan Research Council
Saskatoon
Phone: 306-933-6298
Email: rebecca.gotto@src.sk.ca
Cell: 306 371 2127