Visitors to Ephram White Park might notice a new feature – a Kentucky Mesonet weather station has been relocated to the park from its previous location near the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant.

Stuart Foster, director of the Kentucky Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center, said the move came after the station was damaged in a lightning strike.

He said the new location shouldn’t affect forecasting in the area.

On the contrary, the real-time weather information the station offers could become more valuable in its new location at the park at 885 Mount Olivet Road, he said.

“With the growing population, nearby schools and industrial park, we felt it was important to keep coverage in that area so we worked with Chris Kummer and Warren County Parks and Recreation and partnered with them on the site at Ephram White Park,” Foster said in a news release.

Part of a statewide network of 71 stations in 69 counties, the Mesonet station collects real-time data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, barometric pressure, solar radiation, soil moisture, soil temperature, wind speed and direction.

That data is transmitted to the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU every five minutes, 24 hours a day throughout the year, and it’s available online at kymesonet.org.

“From our perspective, the partnership with Warren County Parks and Recreation made sense because they had public property that provided a high-quality site that will allow us to collect accurate and representative data,” Foster said in the release. “From their perspective, it provides an on-site source of weather information related to the activities at the park.”

Speaking to the Daily News, Foster called the arrangement “a win-win situation” and thanked the GM plant for its support at the station’s previous location.

“We appreciated working with our partners at General Motors. They were good to work with,” he said.

With the new station located not far from Warren East High School and Warren East Middle School, Foster said the Kentucky Mesonet would be open to working with teachers and administrators to arrange field trips and integrate forecasting data into classroom lessons.

“We’re certainly receptive to those things,” Foster said.

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.