Personal Weather stations

[Thomas]

Davis Wizard III has work great over years..there times I rather watch winter windchill tan tv.

 

[dmccarty]

Some of it may be due to where the sensor is located. Some may be in the shade or near a blacktop driveway, etc. Of course wind speed is affected by open ridgetop vs. tree covered valley. Not everyone has a choice in location.

Some evenings coming home, I've seen a 4-5 degree difference between the bottom of our driveway and the top.

But yes, it is surprising the variations.

One reason we have not bought the weather station is that we have NO good spot for the anemometer. I would assume that the weather stations in our area have the same problem.

Rain. Well you get what ever rain you get. But it is interesting to see how we might get one inch or rain and a station a couple of miles away get a fraction of an inch or no rain at all.

Temperature one would think would be somewhat constant but it sure ain't. In the winter the temp at the house is 5-10 degrees warmer than at our gate which sits about 80 fee lower than the house. The gate is in a shallow valley so all the cold air runs down hill.

The house is in a rural area. Work is in the city. Winter or summer there is a 5-10 degree difference between the two. Work is always hotter. The river and lake I drive across always moderates the temperature. On a cold day in the winter the air over the lake can be 5 degrees warmer than on either side of the lake. The air temperature can be 20 but them ducks on the water are a bit warmer than one would think. :laughing:

Then there are the temperature difference on the North/South roads vs East/West roads.

Hey, I got a long drive! Got nothing better to do but glance at the truck thermometer from time to time!

Later,
Dan

 

[Ken45101]

Got nothing better to do but glance at the truck thermometer from time to time!

Yes, how did we ever live without thermometers in our vehicles? Even our motorcycle has a temperature display

 

[Pushing_Tin]

I've had the same weather station for a few years, after going through several cheap versions. I use Weather Display - the Weather Station software , but build my own Web Page, which you can see here Lawson Hill Farm. I wanted to track wind currents in hopes of using a windmill for powering a pond aerator.

Don't have enough wind, but love having rain data, since the nearest reporting station is 12 miles as the crow flies.

The picture is from a security camera and years ago showed the view of a large lake at the bottom of our hill. I need to open it up again.

The weather-display software is amazing stuff and gets better all the time. You don't need to be connected to the Internet to get all the neat graphs and data.

That is is really cool! But I think your barometer is pretty far off. 30.80 is extraordinarily high. I haven't seen that high of a reading in the lower 48, only when I lived in Alaska. I just looked at Indianapolis and they are reading 30.01.

 

[Pilot]

As Ken said, location is very important.

Our weather station is almost located properly, next to our lawn, but over weeds. Our heat pump has a sensor that has a readout on our thermostat. The sensor and heat pump are on the south side of the house on a concrete pad, a foot or so from a south facing wall. On hot days, the thermostat can report 20 degrees or more higher than the weather station. They agree early in the morning. The heat pump sensor's purpose is only to determine if it's cold enough to switch to propane, so the difference is of no importance because around here if it's cold, it's usually cloudy.

The thermometers in our vehicles usually agree closely with our weather station if the vehicles have been moving.

Then there are frost pockets--low flat areas that radiate heat to the sky on clear, low humidity nights. One morning going to work I saw a range from 36 degrees to about 18, then back up to about 36 again on my 32 mile drive to work. I'm glad I don't live in that frost pocket. First place to get low ground for, too.

 

[sodamo]

I have the same exact station, but mine is not connected to the net. Kinda wish I had paid extra for it. It has been amazingly bulletproof for the past two years. It has seen temps from 108 down to 8 and aside from cleaning some moss and bird crap out I have had to do nothing to it.

Yea, I didn't get the IP option at first. We would always look at the console. Added the IP in July, and hardly look at the console as we almost always have the iphone handy.

 

[sodamo]

...I wanted to track wind currents in hopes of using a windmill for powering a pond aerator.

Don't have enough wind, but love having rain data, since the nearest reporting station is 12 miles as the crow flies....

Wish I'd invested in the weather station before I waste money on wind generator.

 

[sodamo]

.... What is very interesting is how much the temperature, rain, and wind speed can differ amount the different weather stations even though they are all within 5-10 miles of each other....

I monitor another station that's maybe 5 miles from me and am constantly amazed at the differences. I keep thinking I sure find the owner and visit.

 

[sodamo]

One reason we have not bought the weather station is that we have NO good spot for the anemometer. I would assume that the weather stations in our area have the same problem..../QUOTE]

I'm not totally pleased with the location of my anemometer as I suspect it is influenced by the house. To relocate it would require another wireless transmitter to place where I'd like it. I decided I'd rather the IP/internet function than better wind data. Seems I usually look at our flag for instant wind data.

 

[lhfarm]

Hard to go wrong with the Davis units.

We have a weather monitor II (?) and its been great. Someday i plan on getting the adapter to hook it to the computer.

If i had it to do over id get a wireless vantage though. Hacing the ability to move the base station around (like closer to the couch) would be nice and running wires thru a hot attic during install isnt fun on the best day:thumbsup:

The house is surrounded by trees and I had problems with my first two stations. With the wireless version, the station is mounted on an antenna mast in the open meadow. The console is in my basement media closet, since I display the weather on touch screen computer in the kitchen and from any Web page. The Davis wireless setup is really good.

That is is really cool! But I think your barometer is pretty far off. 30.80 is extraordinarily high. I haven't seen that high of a reading in the lower 48, only when I lived in Alaska. I just looked at Indianapolis and they are reading 30.01.

I don't think I have adjusted the pressure since I installed the station. I probably used an Indianapolis reading, but that is 50 miles away. Thanks for pointing that out.