A wireless network of sensors was used to characterize a cold-air drainage event in the canyon surrounding the James Reserve. The flow of cold air at night and the first hours of sunrise have major ecological consequences by limiting the vegetation types to those tolerant of freeze and thaw cycles. A network of wireless sensors provides the opportunity to track this event in real time and fully characterize the cold air flow down the canyon, which may last 1.5 hours, and the pooling of cold air in low lying areas. By adjusting the spatial extent of the wireless sensors and the time interval between data capture, we can optimize the spatial and temporal extent of a sensor network and its ability to describe multiple cold-air drainage events.