NORMAN — When a statewide weather network was being contemplated in the 1980s, one of the aims was to anticipate devastating floods such as the one that hit Tulsa in 1984, killing 14 people and causing $180 million in damage.

Few could have realized that network, now 25 years old, could also help prevent millions of dollars in property destruction from wildfires, be used by law enforcement in solving crimes and even help high school football coaches.

"There are a number of uses we could have never anticipated," said Kevin Kloesel, director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, which operates the Oklahoma Mesonet.