The Weather Monitoring Station at the Phelps Preserve on San Juan Island | Staff Archive

For the first time, real-time local weather conditions will be publicly accessible via an AgWeatherNet station in the San Juan Islands. 

The San Juan Preservation Trust and Washington State University (San Juan County Extension) are proud to announce a partnership that sees the installation of the first weather monitoring system in San Juan County. The weather station was installed in late July at the Phelps Preserve, an SJPT-owned preserve west of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, as part of the statewide AgWeatherNet system. 

The solar-powered weather station, situated 38 feet above sea level, was installed and will be maintained by Washington State University. 

Above: the 10-meter-tall weather tower| Staff Archive

Below: the solar panel powering the instruments | Staff Archive

The site of the new station is SJPT’s Phelps Preserve, which is in the heart of approximately 3,000 acres of designated Agricultural Resource Land in San Juan Valley. We partnered with WSU on this project because we recognize the value of weather monitoring for long-term agricultural, ecological, and community benefit.  

Hyperlocal conditions around the 10-meter-tall weather tower are now available for viewing online anytime. All weather data are freely available to the public, including air and soil temperature, humidity, dew point, wind speed (at two different heights), daily rainfall, and soil radiation, all updated every 15 minutes. A free account can also be created to access additional tools and forecasting.

These readings will provide more accurate atmospheric information to the islands and will help inform agricultural operations to farmers and residents in the islands, especially those within the farming epicenter of San Juan Valley.  

For instance, one of the Preservation Trust’s Island Marble Butterfly habitat patches is located near the weather station at the Phelps Preserve. Along with the nearby Salish Seeds Nursery and other agriculture-minded neighbors, we will now have current, accurate weather information for that site. 

Prior to installation, the closest AgWeatherNet station was in Anacortes, one of another 160-plus WSU Extension stations throughout the state–all visible via the interactive map at weather.wsu.edu.