Monitoring the weather in Kentucky just got a little more accurate.

Hancock County is now linked to the statewide weather monitoring system called the Kentucky Mesonet.

I went to the ribbon cutting yesterday to check it out.

One, two, three.

It's a new chapter in local weather monitoring for Hancock County.

As local officials, meteorologists and community members gathered to cut the ribbon on the latest Kentucky mesonet station.

The ceremony held on a damp morning.

It's pretty muddy.

Mark the installment of the 83rd Kentucky Mesonet Station, a growing constellation of automated weather and climate observatories funded by the state legislature.

The construction of this station brings the Kentucky mesonet one step closer to its goal of establishing at least one site in all 120 counties in Kentucky.

This one is located in an open field behind North Hancock Elementary School.

Kentucky Mesonet director Jerry Brodsky says this addition is especially significant for Hancock County, which sees its share of severe weather.

There's a lot of storms that seem to track along the river up this way, and, this station fills a much needed gap in the network.

Until now, much of the region's weather monitoring relied on more distant stations, radar estimates, and regional forecasts with a local mesonet site.

This allows us to get real time data of what's happening in our county.

Hancock County Emergency Management Director Kyle Veach says the mesonet weather station in his county took years of planning, and it wasn't always blue skies.

It's kind of funny that putting our weather station in, we were at the mercy of the weather there for a while.

Whenever we dug out the holes for the concrete, the holes filled up with water.

So we had to take our concrete form out of the ground.

And then basically re dig the holes, get the water out, put it back in, and dig concrete that day.

A camera sits atop the 30ft high tech station, which contains more than meets the eye.

This mesonet tower contains multiple sensors measuring temperature, wind speed, rainfall, snowfall, among many other weather conditions.

But what you don't see are the sensors buried underneath the ground, extending 20in down, that measure soil moisture and soil temperature.

Two variables that can be very helpful for crop producers in Hancock County.

It's a great asset for the farmers to be able to see what's actually going on right in their fields.

Good to meet with soil temperature, soil moisture content.

Thank you.

And also just with the the weather that's moving in that affects their crops every day.

Besides agricultural planning and emergency response, the weather station might also spark curiosity in growing mines nearby.

The research has shown that if students can then use data from where they live from their backyard, in this case right behind their class.

In fact, some classes can see the station that that gets them more excited about the data about science, and it helps motivate their learning.

Motivating learning.

Always a good thing.

Well, plans for the next mesonet station are already underway.

That weather station will be located in Powell County.