Celebrating weather system at Belleville Henderson

BELLEVILLE, New York (WWNY) - A celebration of weather took place at Belleville Henderson Central School District Thursday afternoon.

Members of the New York State Mesonet, out of Albany, came to celebrate 5 years of its weather device being in operation on the school campus.

The system helps to measure things like temperature, wind and, in the winter, snowfall depth.

It’s one of 127 across the state that help to predict weather patterns.

“I’m very proud of the network because it is so robust. I mean, having a station up here in these hostile winters that we have, it’s still here and that is due to the robustness of the design but also the team that actually helps to maintain them, we have an excellent team of people,” said Chris Thorncroft, Director of the NYS Mesonet at the University at Albany.

During the visit, the kids were able to tour the site and see how a weather balloon is launched into the air to collect weather samples.

Thorncroft says having these sites at schools is beneficial so kids can have more hands-on experience with the weather.

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