CASPER, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming has been awarded a five year $8 million grant from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The grant is to fund efforts “to establish a network of stations to monitor snowpack and soil moisture throughout the plains areas of the Upper Missouri River Basin.”
“The goal is to help predict and prevent future flooding in these areas,” UW said on Oct. 2. The “mesonet” weather stations will be deployed in the color areas of this map:
UW adds that the $8 million contract is part of the overall $48.2 million project that involves collaboration with other states in the Upper Missouri River Basin. Other states include Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Neb., is overseeing the project, contracting with the five states to install and retrofit the mesonet weather stations,” UW says. “A mesonet is a network of environmental monitoring stations.”
The network will be comprised of over 500 stations over an area about 250,000 square miles in size. Some stations already exist and will be retrofitted with improved equipment.
UW Department of Ecosystem Science and Management Professor of Water Resources Ginger Paige will be the principal investigator on the Wyoming portion of the project.
“With the significant flooding in 2011 and 2019 in the Upper Missouri River Basin, it was clear that there was a need for improved ‘total water’ monitoring,” Paige said in UW’s release. “Frozen and saturated soil, and significant snowpack on the Upper Missouri River Basin plains were major contributors to flooding in 2011 and 2019.”
Stations will be installed in the Big Horn and Powder River Basins in Wyoming, according to Paige.
UW adds: “These stations will monitor ‘total water’ within the ‘plains’ areas of the Upper Missouri River Basin, she says. This monitoring entails precipitation (rain and snow), wind speed and direction, solar radiation, air temperature, snow depth and soil moisture.”
Paige says the data will help improve snow and run-off monitoring and modeling which will help with forecasting river levels, drought and reservoirs.
The Army Corps of Engineers will use the data for water management related to the following areas:
- agriculture
- emergency management operations
- the general public
- natural resources
- research
- water resources
“The University of Wyoming has won an important contract to keep communities safe,” U.S. Sen. John Barrasso said in UW’s release. “Wyoming now has critical, additional resources to fund a new network of stations to monitor snowpack and soil moisture. These stations are essential for predicting floods and preparing for them.
“Floods and droughts do tremendous property damage and, tragically, can cost lives. That’s why I worked to create and support this flood prevention program in recent water infrastructure laws. I am thankful to the Trump administration for awarding this important contract to the University of Wyoming.”
UW says the grant was announced by the U.S. Department of Defense on Sept. 28 and will run through Sept. 27, 2025.
Further details are available from UW.
