WatchPost

Buyer’s guide

How should an electric co-op get hyperlocal weather data?

Start with free public forecasts and stations, then add your own measurements where terrain makes the forecast too coarse. The national forecast grid is 2.5 km wide, and most public stations sit at airports or remote fire sites, not on your lines. Your own stations measure exactly where you want, but they become a maintenance program. Risk software is quick to start and runs on modeled grids. Pole-mounted stations measure fire weather at the span and tie it to your circuits, but they add equipment to your poles.

Updated About 4 min readFor co-op operations, engineering, and wildfire-mitigation leads

WatchPost sells the fourth approach. This guide says where it is the wrong fit, and every outside figure links to a public source.

Why a forecast cell misses your lines

The National Weather Service publishes its forecast on a 2.5 km grid[1]. The HRRR model runs at 3 km and takes in radar data every 15 minutes[2]. One 2.5 km cell covers about 6.25 km². Each forecast element gets one value per cell for each time step.

Fire weather is not uniform inside that cell. In montane forested terrain, a 120-sensor study recorded near-ground daily maximum temperatures more than 4 °C apart within 1,000 m[3]. A line that climbs from a valley to a ridge can cross that much change inside one cell.

Public stations fill some gaps, but they are not placed along your lines. ASOS has about 950 sites, mostly at airports[4]. RAWS has about 2,800 units, built to track fire danger in remote locations[5]. Radar does not close the gap near the ground: the national network leaves more than 70% of the troposphere below 1 km unobserved[6].

Large utilities report the same limits. A western utility briefed California regulators in 2022. It said the HRRR data behind its outage model came only at 3 km and over a 48‑hour horizon. It also said station coverage was limited in some areas, and that its 2021 shutoff challenges were mostly forecast and observation limits. It built its own 2 km forecast model and planned more weather stations[7].

A forecast cell vs your line

One forecast cellOne value for the boxValleyRidgeYour lineReading atthis span2.5 km
Illustration, not to scale. The forecast gives one value for the whole 2.5 km cell. A station on the pole measures the span it sits on.

Four ways to get the data

Each approach answers a different question. Compare them on six things a co-op buyer needs to know before committing staff or budget. Numbers link to the sources at the end of this guide.

01Public forecasts and stations

Where it measures:
A 2.5 km or 3 km forecast grid[1][2], plus stations at airports and remote fire sites.
Fire-weather detail:
RAWS reports hourly and tracks fire danger, but most sites are far from your lines[5].
Who installs and maintains:
Federal and land-management agencies. You do not choose sites or repair schedules.
Time to first reading:
Today. Forecasts and observations are already online.
Link to your grid data:
None. You match forecasts and stations to your circuits yourself.
Data rights:
Free to use. Some station networks restrict redistribution and supply data “as is”[10].

Choose this if

  • You need regional awareness, storm tracking, or planning more than a day ahead.
  • Your territory is flat and open, and an ASOS or RAWS site sits near your lines.

Not the right fit if

  • Your lines cross ridges or canyons that no station watches.
  • You need a reading at the span when you decide on a shutoff.

02Buy and integrate your own stations

Where it measures:
Exactly where you mount each station.
Fire-weather detail:
Whatever sensors you buy, at the logging interval you set.
Who installs and maintains:
Your team. Research networks visit each station about 3 times a year[8], and farm guidance asks for weekly checks of some sensors[9].
Time to first reading:
After you choose sites, buy hardware, and build the power, telemetry, and data path.
Link to your grid data:
You build the path into your own systems.
Data rights:
You own the hardware and the data.

Choose this if

  • You have a field-services team and a data or IT person.
  • You want a few reference sites with research-grade sensors, or full ownership of the hardware and data path.

Not the right fit if

  • No one on staff can own calibration, site visits, and quality control all year.

03Risk-software subscription

Where it measures:
Modeled grids at 2–3 km, plus third-party stations.
Fire-weather detail:
Depends on the product. Ask which inputs are measured and which are modeled.
Who installs and maintains:
The vendor runs the software. You have no weather hardware to maintain.
Time to first reading:
Once the account is set up. There is no field work.
Link to your grid data:
Varies by product. Ask what it imports and how.
Data rights:
Set by your contract. Ask what you may export and share.

Choose this if

  • You want an enterprise risk product fast, and you have no field team.
  • Modeled output at 2–3 km is enough for your decisions, or you already own measured weather data elsewhere.

Not the right fit if

  • You need measured conditions at specific spans, not modeled ones.

04Pole-mounted utility sensing (WatchPost)

Where it measures:
On the pole, at the span you choose.
Fire-weather detail:
Wind, gusts, temperature, and humidity every 5 minutes, and every 30 seconds in high-wind mode.
Who installs and maintains:
Your lineman mounts it. WatchPost owns the station and sends its own crew to repair it if it fails.
Time to first reading:
After you order stations and choose poles. A typical install then takes one lineman about 15 minutes per pole.
Link to your grid data:
Imports OMS outage history and GIS layers from files, then scores risk by circuit. No live OMS, GIS, or SCADA link.
Data rights:
Set by your agreement with WatchPost. Get the export terms in writing.

Choose this if

  • You run long, remote, or mountainous lines.
  • You want readings at the span, risk scoring for your own circuits, and one vendor that owns and repairs the stations.

Not the right fit if

  • Your territory is flat and open, with a public station near your lines. Start with public data.
  • You need a live link to SCADA or your OMS today. WatchPost takes OMS and GIS data by file import.
  • Your poles sit where there is no cellular coverage.

Sources

WatchPost read every source below on October 19, 2026.

  1. 1.National Weather Service. Technical Implementation Notice 14-15 on the 2.5 km National Digital Forecast Database grid.
  2. 2.NOAA. The High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR).
  3. 3.Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Fridley, J. D. (2009), vol. 48(5), pp. 1033–1049: a 120-sensor study of near-ground temperature in the Great Smoky Mountains.
  4. 4.National Weather Service. Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS).
  5. 5.National Interagency Fire Center. Remote Automatic Weather Stations.
  6. 6.Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. McLaughlin, D. et al. (2009). Short-wavelength technology and the potential for distributed networks of small radar systems, 90(12).
  7. 7.PacifiCorp briefing to the CPUC (Feb 2022). California public safety power shutoff briefing presentation.
  8. 8.World Meteorological Organization, TECO‑2012. Oklahoma Mesonet: station maintenance and quality assurance.
  9. 9.University of Florida IFAS Extension. Your Farm Weather Station: Installation and Maintenance Guidelines (AE502).
  10. 10.Synoptic Data. Data disclaimer: restricted data, redistribution, and “as is” terms.

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