World's Largest Outdoor Weather Laboratory Sits Near Billings

The largest outdoor weather laboratory in the world sits just an hour and a half northwest of Oklahoma City. It’s called the “Southern Great Plains Atmospheric Climate Research Facility” and it sits near the small town of Billings. 

The facility features more than 50 weather-gathering instruments. Southern Great Plains Site Manager Nicki Harmon is based in Chicago, but she’s a Laverne native and OU graduate, who said she grew up watching News 9’s Gary England.

“We’re in the business of getting the best scientific data, we can report it to the scientific community,” she said. 

Harmon said the 30 or so employees who work out at the Southern Plains facility aren’t there to make judgments about weather patterns, just to gather data and pass it on to scientists.