National Wind Institute - TTU NWI

Big milestone for the West Texas Mesonet! 🌦️

This week, installation of Mesonet station #182 near Sonora, Texas, was completed — marking 25% completion of the new stations being deployed as part of the Texas Senate Bill 5 Flooding Project.

These stations will help provide critical weather observations across Texas, supporting flood monitoring, forecasting, research, and public safety efforts for years to come.

We’re proud to continue expanding the network and improving weather observations across the state, one station at a time.

Yesterday, the West Texas Mesonet had the opportunity to visit the 6th–8th graders at Hunt ISD for their Science Alive Day! 🌦️

Students learned about the West Texas Mesonet, StickNet tornado and hurricane deployments, mobile Ka-band radars, and careers in meteorology. We always enjoy sharing how weather research and observations help keep communities informed and safe — and, hopefully, inspire the next generation of scientists along the way!

Check out this video highlighting Dr. Kishor Mehta and his work at Texas Tech!

https://spectruminfocus.com/section/in-focus/in-focus/2026/05/08/studying-tornadoes

Studying tornadoes Our guest is Dr. Kishor Mehta from Texas Tech University.

Ka-radars: spotted!

Quality control check: approved by the locals ✔️🌾

It takes a lot of road time to keep the West Texas Mesonet running—at least two visits per station each year and about 2,000 miles a week!

Photo from Senior Technician, Matthew McEwen

The research for Enhanced Fujita Scale is deeply tied to Lubbock LUBBOCK, Texas — More than five decades after the devastating 1970 tornado tore through downtown Lubbock, its impact is still being felt — not just in memory, but in the science that helps sa…

🌪Why do storms form along the Caprock?

Dr. Chris Weiss, a professor at Texas Tech University and NWI faculty affiliate, explains that thunderstorms need three ingredients: water v***r, instability, and forced upward motion. The Panhandle has the first two covered — moisture from the Gulf and big temperature contrasts on spring afternoons. The Caprock delivers the third. Its ~200-meter rise in elevation can lift easterly winds just enough to spark a storm, making this stretch of West Texas a springtime storm hotspot.

On Friday, April 17th, the next lecture in the McDonald-Mehta Lecture Series will feature Dr. Julia Matevosyn presenting her work on "Integration of wind, solar, and battery storage resources into power systems."

Please join us on Friday, April 17th, 2026, from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm in the Environmental Sciences Building, Room 120, to hear about Dr. Matevosyan’s work.

🌿 Tech Tuesday: Leaf Wetness Sensor

Leaf wetness sensors measure the presence and duration of moisture on surfaces, helping capture conditions like dew, rainfall, and drying time. This data supports applications in agriculture, research, and environmental monitoring.

Installed at all 178 WTM stations, these sensors show when and for how long surfaces remain wet, improving our understanding of surface-atmosphere interactions.

Tuesday, April 14th, NWI is hosting Dr. Marco Giometto to present his work "Insignt into hurricane mean flow and turbulence from microscale large-eddy simulations."

Please join us on Tuesday, April 14th, 2026, from 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm in MERC, Room 102, to hear about Dr. Giometto’s work.