Forecasting and weather-data recording in preparation for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games allowed a unique partnership to evolve beginning in 1996, with government, commercial, and research communities sharing weather information in northern Utah and throughout the western United States. Initially referred to as the Utah Mesonet, the collection of data outside of Utah led to its redesignation as MesoWest in January 2000. During the span of the Winter Games, February to March of 2002, weather observations were available from over 278 weather stations in the northern Utah region.