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Good Weather Station to buy?

Storm Clouds

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Storm Clouds

Storm Clouds

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Very simply way to measure snow: a ruler! A heated rain gauge will help melt the snow that lands within the rain gauge, melt it and give you the liquid equivelant. That is how much precip would have fallen if it were rain and not snow. This can also be done manually and is the most accurate way to do it but it is much more labor intensive. The heater can be added on at a later time if you are not sure you want it at this point. I just got one but have not installed it yet.

Let me guess...just melt the snow that fell in a microwave?

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DaculaWeather

DaculaWeather

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Most of the software packages archive data, they keep a history of everything that's happened at your station. I use NOAA climate charts generated by VWS, you can see those here: http://www.daculaweather.com/dacula_noaa.php

I also have a script that pulls the data I sent to WU, and displays it as charts and tables, you can see that here: http://www.daculaweather.com/dacula_history.php

I have one page for monthly records: http://www.daculaweather.com/monthly_records.php

Things like temp details: http://www.daculaweather.com/dacula_tempdetails.php are all generated by scripts using the data collected by my weather station. Just a few examples of the types of information you can collect and display.

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CNYWeather

CNYWeather

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Most of the software packages archive data, they keep a history of everything that's happened at your station. I use NOAA climate charts generated by VWS, you can see those here: http://www.daculawea...dacula_noaa.php

I also have a script that pulls the data I sent to WU, and displays it as charts and tables, you can see that here: http://www.daculawea...ula_history.php

I have one page for monthly records: http://www.daculawea...hly_records.php

Things like temp details: http://www.daculawea...tempdetails.php are all generated by scripts using the data collected by my weather station. Just a few examples of the types of information you can collect and display.

What he said. Steve is more eloquent than I.

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ARyan

ARyan

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Just got this email We are now a dealer for Davis Weather Stations. There was a huge response from our initial order and plan to order another shipment of Davis Weather Stations in the next few days. Monitor wind, rain, temperature, dew point, pressure, solar radiation, UV, wind chill, heat index and more! You can even connect it to your PC and contribute to government computer model forecasts.

He's kidding right? If amateurs were contributing surface data to models, the models would be absolutely horrendous.

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DaculaWeather

DaculaWeather

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He's kidding right? If amateurs were contributing surface data to models, the models would be absolutely horrendous.

Actually... quite a bit of the data is passed on to all of those agencies, after it goes through a QC process. Here's how it happens:

http://wxqa.com/index.html

I rarely look at my console! smile.gif

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CNYWeather

CNYWeather

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Nevermind guys, I figured out how to upload my data to Weather Underground!:thumbsup: I have noticed that my VP2's forecast is not very accurate. Does anyone else who have a VP2 notice this also?

Never look at my console for the forecast. Not very precise for me.

Join a weather forum too. You'll get a lot of good tips from very knowledgeable guys.

http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php

http://www.wxforum.net/index.php

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Storm017

Storm017

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So I got a Davis VP2 weather station along with the WeatherLink software. I love it! The forecast it makes is not very accurate, but I love it!:thumbsup:

I have NO IDEA how to get my weather station set up with Weather Underground so people can see my data online. Can anyone help me?

Might also want to join and upload data here:

http://www.wxqa.com/index.html

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ARyan

ARyan

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Actually... quite a bit of the data is passed on to all of those agencies, after it goes through a QC process. Here's how it happens:

http://wxqa.com/index.html

I rarely look at my console! smile.gif

I'm sure it is, how much of it is used is another question. Consumer equipment is not viable for true scientific applications. Also, you need to measure at standard levels (wind at 10m, Temp at 1.5m, etc). Manually qa also needs to be done on the data as well, which is what I do on a daily basis. Factor in that the instruments need to be calibrated at frequent intervals.

Meteorological measurements are not a simple process. Consumer stations are cool for knowing what the temperature is outside, but they we will never be used for anything more than that.

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Storm017

Storm017

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Do I always have to have WeatherLink running for new data to be uploaded to Weather Underground?

Yes you do. I have a stripped down pc only running Virtual VP, VP Live, Weatherlink and Weather Display. I use VP Live to upload my data to APRS. VP Live starts the Weatherlink software once an hour to archive the station data.

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DaculaWeather

DaculaWeather

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I'm sure it is, how much of it is used is another question. Consumer equipment is not viable for true scientific applications. Also, you need to measure at standard levels (wind at 10m, Temp at 1.5m, etc). Manually qa also needs to be done on the data as well, which is what I do on a daily basis. Factor in that the instruments need to be calibrated at frequent intervals.

Meteorological measurements are not a simple process. Consumer stations are cool for knowing what the temperature is outside, but they we will never be used for anything more than that.

While some consumer equipment isn't all that accurate, some is. I know my CWOP data is extremely close to the reference station they compare me to. I know I speak for many of us that do have PWS's, we do strive to make sure that what we send is as accurate as possible. I'm sent email's daily letting me know if I have any errors and how large they might be.

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marsman

marsman

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Well it happened again - the station stopped sending data to my PC. Did what the support guy said again - Removed the batteries, removed the data logger, put them both back in, then open up WeatherLink and clear the archive memory. Sucks when I don't check on it after awhile, and I lose 3-4 days of data.

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DaculaWeather

DaculaWeather

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As far as I can tell, WeatherLink IP sends the data off without the use of the computer as an intermediary, right? Does anyone on here have that? I'm curious how much trouble it is then to get the data back to a PC for personal archiving.

That is correct. Getting the data is very difficult but it can be done using scripts etc. The data goes directly to the Davis site to be displayed and archived.

Personally, that method is way too hard if you're trying to archive data. Get the USB or serial version and you have total control over what happens to the data. It appears the USB version is much more stable now but the serial logger is the bullet-proof way of getting the data to the PC.

The only thing I used Weatherlink for was the initial setup of the console, after that I use Virtual Weather Station and Weather-Display to manipulate and mange the data.

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