A new weather station installed on a South Whidbey farm this past December was honored by a small but enthusiastic crowd Monday.

Representatives from Island County government offices, the Whidbey Conservation District and Puget Sound Energy gathered at the farm of John and Molly Petersons on Craw Road to pay tribute to the new Washington State University AgWeather station and formally dedicate it to Molly’s father, Robert King Fankhauser, a former meteorologist who worked across the United States.

The device, which looks more like something from outer space than a fancy thermometer, is the third such device on Whidbey: one is at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and another is on Ebey’s Prairie just outside of Coupeville.

The Petersons’ agreed to play host to the station partially because of Molly’s father but also because of the value the device provides to South Whidbey, especially farmers. Temperatures and conditions can be pretty different between the communities, and knowing what’s going on can make a big difference in determining optimal harvest times or knowing what to grow, they said.

Others in attendance echoed those sentiments, and applauded the many partnerships that went into making the project a reality.

“This a grand example of how a community comes together to address a need,” Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson said.

Donations supporting this project have came from Lighthouse Environmental Programs, Puget Sound Energy, Island County Public Works and Washington State University Extension Island County.

To get weather information from the station, visit http://weather.wsu.edu/awn.php.