It was a sunny, but windy afternoon as dignitaries, instrumentation scientists, and curious community members met in downtown Logan.
The new environmental observatory wind gage whirls as Logan's Mayor Holly Daines speaks in the city square near the police station and local library.
"It’s a great day for a weather station, isn’t it?" Daines said.
The new observatory is equipped with some of the most state-of-the-art data recording gadgets used to monitor and store information about wind speed, precipitation and temperature.
Logan City worked with local instrumentation companies Campbell Scientific and Apogee Instruments to design and install the environmental measurement observatory.
"I think its significance is first of all education," said Paul Campbell, the former president of Campbell Scientific.
He says having the station set up in the middle of town near the public library is important.
"What I appreciate about this particular location is its proximity to Logan library," he said, "and I hope that it is both informational and inspiring to people who come and go, the patrons who come and go from the library."
President of Apogee Instruments, Bruce Bugbee, said the observatory will play a key role in helping scientists better understand air quality patterns in Cache Valley.
"This is one of the stations that measure carbon dioxide," Bugbee said. "We are using carbon dioxide as a tracer gas to understand atmospheric mixing during inversions. Now, we’re standing in Cache Valley, kind of in the bulls-eye for the emissions of carbon dioxide because of all the traffic right here in Logan.
The station features a plaque explaining each component of the observatory and a brief history about weather measurement.
"[It] is written for the young patrons that come back and forth to the library," Bugbee said.
He hopes to install an interactive display to enhance education opportunities in the near future.
