Written By Adrian Peralta Diaz, Madeline Vang and Gaojia Xiong, with support from Green Team Advisor Brionna Harder
The Henry Green Team, soon to be the Camden Community Green Team, continues our work in keeping the Camden neighborhoods clean, aligned to our mission of cleaning up and greening up our classrooms, campus and community. We have exciting projects we hope to accomplish this year in partnership with other Henry High School clubs, such as decorating the fence around the Mesonet. In this article, we will update you all about our recent findings from the Mesonet and our plan to beautify its surrounding.
The Minneapolis-Camden Mesonet, the first residential weather tower in the City of Minneapolis, has been collecting data since it was installed in August 2022 in collaboration with Hennepin County Emergency Management. It is located on the south side of the school’s campus near Victory Memorial Ice Arena. The Mesonet recorded November as the driest month of 2023 with only six days of precipitation resulting in a total of 0.16 inches of rainfall. The highest temperature recorded during this month was 67.33 degrees Fahrenheit on November 16, with the lowest temperature recorded on the 28th at 6.34 degrees Fahrenheit. Data like this confirms the changes we see in our local weather and environment. If you are interested in looking at the data yourself, go to hennepinwestmesonet.org/ and choose “Minneapolis-Camden (HE32B).” Click “View full station forecast” to find the current weather conditions. By clicking “Climatological Reports” and choosing a month and year, you will be able to find past reports dating back to September 2022.
In collaboration with our school’s Art Club, the Henry Green Team will host three sessions of an art build on the fencing around our Mesonet. These are tentatively scheduled for Wednesday’s April 24, May 1, and May 15 of 2024. We will make flowers using aluminum cans and a variety of pollinators out of organic and recycled materials as part of an art piece on the fence. With the Art Club and our community, we hope to beautify the fence around the Mesonet. We hope this collaboration will educate the community about the Mesonet and bring awareness to climate change.
The Henry Green Team invites you, the community, to join us at these art-making sessions to help us beautify the fencing around our Mesonet. If you are unavailable to attend but still want to participate, you can donate eco-friendly materials for us to use, or your own art projects that will be added to the fences. Some items we would appreciate are aluminum cans, plastic bottles, burlap, cotton yarn and hemp twine. Donations and materials for this project can be brought to Henry High School, noting that they are for the Henry Green Team. If you have questions or would like to hear more about this opportunity, you can also contact Henry Green Team, Brionna Harder at 612-668-2000 or brionna.harder@mpls.k12.mn.us. We hope to see you at our art build dates this spring, and as we always say, bring a friend or two or ten!