City council approved renewing a lease with Environment Canada for use of the North Battleford Cameron McIntosh Airport to monitor temperature changes and other weather-related occurrences. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff).

By Angela Brown

Whether the Weather?

All clear ahead for Environment Canada contract at airport

Oct 16, 2019 | 2:00 PM

While North Battleford’s Cameron McIntosh Airport is best known as a place where planes set off for lofty new heights, it is also the site where Environment Canada tracks temperature highs and lows for the region and Western Canada.

North Battleford City Hall gave the all-clear at its meeting Tuesday to renew an agreement with Environment Canada. It will continue to lease land at the airport to operate an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) and the Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) equipment at a cost of $500 per year for the next 10 years.

“That agreement is really important for us,” Mayor Ryan Bater said. “It provides a presence for Environment Canada to record accurate weather information and lightning information.”

Bater said Environment Canada has an index page on its website that keeps “real-time data” on lightning strikes across Canada.

The information gathered by the CLDN is sent to Environment Canada’s Storm Prediction Centres to assist weather forecasters determine “the extent and severity of a lightning storm,” according to City Director of Operations Stewart Schafer’s report.

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Environment Canada also measures precipitation, humidity and other weather-related conditions in the atmosphere.

City Manager Randy Patrick mentioned the Lightning Detection Sensors system in particular is helpful in many emergency response situations by alerting people when and where strikes occur.

“I have been in industries that used it,” Patrick said. He added the information is especially valuable to utility companies responsible for maintaining power lines to make plans when a major storm is passing through an area.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow