History of the Affiliated Regional Weather Networks

The first Regional network , Southwestern aka "SWN",  was founded by Chris Arndt San Luis Obispo, CA with Matt Pace Gold Canyon, AZ and Ken Capitola, CA in March, 2006, and by the end of that month, there were 7 stations in the network, including Las Vegas, NV,  Tahoe Vista, CA, El Dorado Hills, CA, and   Saratoga, CA. 

The SWN started as a private forum where weather enthusiast members could meet and discuss topics of mutual interest.  One of the topics of discussion what how to increase visibility of the member's personal weather websites in search engine rankings. The idea was to create a mesomap display with links to member websites which would be a useful addition to our respective websites. Due to the member sites posting links to the other member sites, the search engine rankings would be improved. In late March, 2006, Matt started generating the first mesomap graphic and hand-made CSS/HTML to display rotating conditions on the graphic.  Ken True (Saratoga, CA) created PHP scripts to automate the generation of the manual CSS/HTML.  As more members joined the SWN, the original mesomap became sluggish as it would need to fetch conditions from each member site before displaying the mesomap. To fix the issue, a  two-part function with a data collector running via cron on the network hub site, and a mesomap that would use/cache the collected data to dynamically generate the mesomap with rotating conditions for member sites was developed. 
This system became the primary method to collect data/display mesomap on the Affiliated Regional Weather Network websites.

In May, 2008 Jack Ahern, Stillweather.com, asked if the mesomap could be offered for the NorthEast and have a regional network set up there.  The SWN members agreed, and so the Affiliated Regional Weather Network concept was born, and implementations began. From the 45 stations in the Southwestern Weather Network in May, 2008, the number has grown to and we now have:
2218 stations in affiliated networks worldwide as of Saturday, 13th August 2016 19.30.15 UTC

Africa

• Namibia Weather Network 20 Stations in Namibia

Canada

• Canadian Atlantic Weather Network 11 Stations in E-QC,NB,NS,PE,NL
• Manitoba Weather Network 1 Stations in MB
• Ontario Weather Network 12 Stations in ON,W-QC
• Quebec Weather Network 12 Stations in E-ON,QC,NB,NS
• Saskatchewan Weather Network 3 Stations in SK
• Western Canada Weather Network 6 Stations in BC,AL

Africa

• Namibia Weather Network 20 Stations in Namibia

Canada

• Canadian Atlantic Weather Network 12 Stations in E-QC,NB,NS,PE,NL
• Manitoba Weather Network 1 Stations in MB
• Ontario Weather Network 12 Stations in ON,W-QC
• Quebec Weather Network 10 Stations in E-ON,QC,NB,NS
• Saskatchewan Weather Network 3 Stations in SK
• Western Canada Weather Network 6 Stations in BC,AL

Europe

• Austria Weather Network 21 Stations in Austria
• Benelux Weather Network 90 Stations in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg
• Bosnia and Herzegovina Weather Network 9 Stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bulgarian Weather Network 77 Stations in Bulgaria
• Czech Republic Weather Network 8 Stations in Czech Republic
• European Weather Network 676 Stations in Europe
• French Weather Network 98 Stations in France
• Germany Weather Network 44 Stations in Germany
• Hellas Meteo Network 52 Stations in Greece
• Hungarian Weather Network 17 Stations in Hungary
• Iberian Peninsula Weather Network 82 Stations in Spain, Portugal, Andorra
• Italian Weather Network 198 Stations in Italy
• Poland Weather Network 19 Stations in Poland
• Romanian Weather Network 21 Stations in Romania
• Serbian Weather Network 16 Stations in Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia
• Slovakia Weather Network 14 Stations in Slovakia
• Slovenia Weather Network 10 Stations in Slovenia
• Scottish Weather Network 55 Stations in Scotland
• United Kingdom Weather Network 86 Stations in England, Wales, Scotland, N.I

Pacific

• Australia Weather Network 32 Stations in ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
• New Zealand Local Weather Network 104 Stations in North Island, South Island

South America

• Argentina Weather Network 24 Stations in Argentina

USA

• Alaskan Weather Network 5 Stations in AK
• Mid-Atlantic Weather Network 45 Stations in PA, NJ, WV, VA, DE, MD, DC
• Mid-South Weather Network 26 Stations in TX, OK, AR, LA
• Midwestern Weather Network 79 Stations in MN, WI, MI, IA, IL, IN, OH, MO, KY
• Northeastern Weather Network 59 Stations in PA, NJ, NY,CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME
• Northwest Weather Network 31 Stations in WA, OR, ID, MT
• Plains Weather Network 20 Stations in OK, KS, ND, NE, SD
• Rocky Mountain Weather Network 41 Stations in WY, CO, NM
• Southeastern Weather Network 46 Stations in TN, NC, SC, MS, AL, GA, FL
• Southwestern Weather Network 49 Stations in AZ, CA, HI, NV, UT