Stars and STEM Stories
GLOBE North Macedonia: A Retired GLOBE Educator Installs a Weather Station to Help Support Local Agriculture
Mr. Stojan Manolev retired in 2024 from a North Macedonia high school where he taught physics while also leading a GLOBE section on atmospheric measurements. After retiring, he began spending more time in his fruit and vegetable gardens. The inhabitants of the North Macedonia region where Mr. Manolev lives rely strongly on agriculture, and they have encountered many challenges in recent years around environmental changes, including surprising frosts early in the spring, very hot summers, and relatively warm winters.
Because of these changing conditions, Mr. Manolev became increasingly interested in tracking local atmospheric patterns more closely. Even though there are several measuring weather stations in his area, he decided it would be useful for local residents to have readily available access to more detailed information related to atmospheric characteristics. At first, he arranged a classic weather station like those used in GLOBE; he most recently moved over to an automatic, solar-powered weather station (view a video of his weather station).
To ensure the station collected the most accurate data possible, Mr. Manolev carefully selected its location in his yard so that the impact of surrounding objects would be minimal. He followed the manufacturer's instructions, which state that the station should be at a height of 1.5 meters above the ground with a 15-meter radius of clear surroundings. The altitude of the weather station is 151 meters.
The new weather station sits in a location with a Mediterranean climate characterized by many warm days, mild winters, average temperatures ranging from –5°C to 35°C (23°F to 95°F). The average annual precipitation ranges from 400 to 600 liters per square meter (approximately 16 to 24 inches), most of which is in the winter and spring months.
Yet local observations suggest those long-established patterns may already be shifting. Past research on precipitation conducted by one of Manolev’s former students indicates a difference between the average precipitation during the decade 1967–1976 and the year 2006. The student’s data clearly showed that the precipitation levels substantially dropped over that time, although the comparison is imperfect because the second dataset represents a single year rather than a 10-year period.
These kinds of trends are exactly what Mr. Manolev hopes to better understand through continued data collection. He is particularly interested in assessing whether his local area is receiving less precipitation each year. Changes in precipitation can affect air humidity and soil moisture, which in turn influence the local climate. Precipitation data are also important for local industrial and hobby farmers because they can help guide decisions about crop planning. Different crops thrive under different climate conditions, and farmers may need to adjust what they grow in the future—especially when their livelihoods depend on it.
To make the information more widely accessible, Mr. Manolev shares it publicly through his Atmospheric Observatory website. He records several atmospheric characteristics, including temperature maximums and minimums, atmospheric pressure, rainfall and snowfall amounts, rainwater pH , and wind speed and direction. He hopes the data patterns revealed through the weather station observations will help both him and the local residents better plan and prepare their crops for the future.
Learn more about Manolev’s dedication to GLOBE.
Learn more about GLOBE North Macedonia.
Story, video, and images courtesy of Stojan Manolev, MSci, Professor of Physics.