Advice on Weather station for a newbie

[MikeC]

Hey all,

Just thought I would quickly introduce myself. My name is Mike, from the North East, live just next to Hamsterley forest (if any of you have heard of it...) We get some pretty extreme weather up here as we are quite high...think we are at about 1000feet. Always get some good snow in the winter round here too!!

Recently thought about getting a weather station, I am mainly getting it for the run up to christmas as I just want to be able to tell when some snow will be heading my way After having a good read through some of the topics on here it seems that most of you guys (and gals) also love it when it snows! Brings back all those childhood memories and all that!

So any advice on a weather station would be brilliant. I have seen one that I quite fancy, its a LaCrosse WS3600 and it looks to do pretty much everything I am after. Just a few quick questions, do you know if it will predict snow of it its just got the normal "Rain, Sun, Cloudy and Overcast" type forecasts. Also one more thing, how often does it record wind speed so I can get an accurate idea for gust speeds.

Hope this was not posted in the wrong place, please dont flame me, I am new !

Cheers Mike

[pottyprof]

Hiya Mike..

Welcome to netweather..

You'll find a discussion going on here about weather stations.

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=39119

I can recommend the WS3600..

You can get all the information about will it snow and radar and maps by clicking here and the free stuff is on the right..

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Morning Mike,

You're not too far away from me...I often drive past your neck of the woods on the way to Newcastle.

The weather station you mention takes wind measurements every 30 seconds I think, so whilst it will give you something to compare on a day to day basis, it will underestimate, by some way, the actual gusts you get. But then unless you spend a lot of money, they all do more or less the same thing. To get something which gives you pretty accurate wind speeds, you'd need to spend around £500 for the Davis Vantage Pro 2. A lot of money, but a great bit of kit.

In all other regards though, providing the sensors are properly located, the WS3600 is as good as anything more expensive.

[Tucco]

Hey all,

Just thought I would quickly introduce myself. My name is Mike, from the North East, live just next to Hamsterley forest (if any of you have heard of it...) We get some pretty extreme weather up here as we are quite high...think we are at about 1000feet. Always get some good snow in the winter round here too!!

Recently thought about getting a weather station, I am mainly getting it for the run up to christmas as I just want to be able to tell when some snow will be heading my way After having a good read through some of the topics on here it seems that most of you guys (and gals) also love it when it snows! Brings back all those childhood memories and all that! B)

So any advice on a weather station would be brilliant. I have seen one that I quite fancy, its a LaCrosse WS3600 and it looks to do pretty much everything I am after. Just a few quick questions, do you know if it will predict snow of it its just got the normal "Rain, Sun, Cloudy and Overcast" type forecasts. Also one more thing, how often does it record wind speed so I can get an accurate idea for gust speeds.

Hope this was not posted in the wrong place, please dont flame me, I am new !

Cheers Mike

Hi Mike, welcome to the forum. Do you live at Woodland? No to far from me at Barnard Castle at the moment.

Mark,

Teesdale,Co Durham

[MikeC]

Cheers for the quick replies guys!

I saw the Davis Pro weather stations on the net when I was searching but just can't justify that amount really for the extra I would get from it. Although maybe one day if I got into weather abit more I would probally look at something like this. Looks like an amazing bit of kit!

Does anyone know what weather the WS3600 will predict and also how does it show it? ie. Does it just show a picture of a cloud for cloudy, or rain coming from a cloud when its raining etc.

Also can it be linked up to your computer for real-time monitoring of the weather or is it just for past results?

Cheers again guys!

[Osbourne One-Nil]

I don't know about it's forecasting options, but I'm sure it can be linked to a PC for uploading to a website. If you have a look here, then you'll see some other members' weather stations linked to websites, and I'm sure some of them use the 3600.

[Polar Continental]

Hi Mike, welcome to Net Weather,

As OON says if your sensors are correctly located, most Weather stations including the WS3600 are excellent at producing accurate and very detailed data on current conditions, and are also very good at recording weather data, especially if they are linked to a PC with the supporting software, such as Weather Display. I use the Oregon scientific, with the mentioned software, which I have found very reliable for over 2 years, see my web site, here , or can be found on the Net Weather members map. The above is what they are really designed for.

For forecasting most weather stations work on the same principle as the aneroid barometer, i.e. when pressure is falling and humidity is increasing they will display a rain symbols, etc.

Some of the better ones can show snow symbol when the temperature nears freezing point, but the graphical forecasts on weather stations should really be used as a guide only. But don’t let that put you off from buying one, as I said, they an excellent tool for the weather enthusiast.

As Pottyprof mentions, for forecasting conditions, there are great resources, right here on Net Weather, and many of them are totally free.

PS, You are right about the weather when a cold snap is imminent and especially when snow is forecast, there are many of us who love it here and the forum will become extremely busy come the first winter cold snap. B)

Regards

Paul

[Greyowl]

Welcome to Netweather Mike.

I have a LaCrosse 2300 and it only gives general barometer type readings, Sunny, Rainy etc. There is included in the software a more indepth display for the PC. It still won't give a snow warning though. I take it the software included in the WS3600 is the same type.

[pottyprof]

Does anyone know what weather the WS3600 will predict and also how does it show it? ie. Does it just show a picture of a cloud for cloudy, or rain coming from a cloud when its raining etc.

Also can it be linked up to your computer for real-time monitoring of the weather or is it just for past results?

Cheers again guys!

Hi Mike..

The WS3600 itself works by indicating trends so you have a sun symbol etc but it is quite accurate. There is the option to connect to a PC. The software that comes with it is pretty basic but allows you to create graphs and logs. I use the Weather Display software and this allows you to do a lot more with it including an automated web page. Site is here.... http://www.weather-display.com/index.php

As OON points out, the Davis is a great piece of kit and the price reflects that. The WS3600's wind gauge is a little more accurate than he suggests though. During light wind periods it samples at a 30s interval but in strong winds it samples at 8s intervals so strong wind gusts are more acurately recorded. Not sure what the changeover point is but I'll get the manual out and find out for you.

[MikeC]

Well just bought myself a WS3600 and should be here tomorrow morning!! Cant wait to get it up and going now.

Will have to get myself on the google map and get some sort of a webpage sorted out. I look forward to adding some results and learning more about the weather. Will have to go and check out some of these charts that are availible and try to get my head around them.

[Mark Bayley]

Hi mikeC I have that weather station to. Its very good and i have had no problems with it so far Enjoy it

[MikeC]

Well finally got it up and running!

All is working well.

I have just downloaded Weather Display and I would now like to create a website that will automatically update the data but not so sure how I go about doing that.

I have just setup an account with Yahoo that gives me a free website but I now need to learn how to upload the FTP onto it....

Very confusing stuff! If anyone could help me or point me in the right direction as to how I do this I would be very greatful.

I would like to get something like this website up and running:

http://uk.geocities.com/paulcarfoot@btinte...aulsweather.htm

Cheers Mike

[MikeC]

Thank you very much, I will have a go at that.

I need to sort something out on my hub which at present is not allowing me to access any FTP sites for some reason, will have to have a look into it and give my ISP a ring maybe.

Apart from that though, the weather station is working brilliant. It had its first bit of rain last night and showed 3.6mm of rain, also had a maximum gust of 27.1mph yesterday as it was quite windy.

Can't wait to get a webpage up and going.

Thanks again for all your help everyone!

[Tucco]

Thank you very much, I will have a go at that.

I need to sort something out on my hub which at present is not allowing me to access any FTP sites for some reason, will have to have a look into it and give my ISP a ring maybe.

Apart from that though, the weather station is working brilliant. It had its first bit of rain last night and showed 3.6mm of rain, also had a maximum gust of 27.1mph yesterday as it was quite windy.

Can't wait to get a webpage up and going.

Thanks again for all your help everyone!

Your figures closely match those from Ken Cook at nearby Copley. Slighlty drier as you'd expect being a few miles further eastwards, it shows you've got the rain gauge in a good location.

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/copley

Good luck with your site.

Mark

Teesdale,Co Durham

[MikeC]

There seems to be alot of people on this site from the North-East which is great to see!! On other various forums that I am on the North-East seems to be internet retarded as barely anyone seems to be from the NE!

I located the rain sensor on the roof along with the anemometer (which is on the TV aerial quite high up) and the thermometer is on the TV Aerial too. Roughly about 10 metres off the gorund which I found out was the best height to have them at. Do these positions sound ok to everyone?

I will take some pictures and post them up so you can get a better idea.

All the best,

Mike

[Thundery wintry showers]

I use a WMR928NX weather station. It's perhaps not quite as good as the Davis Vantage Pro, but you generally get what you pay for (the Davis is usually about £100-200 more expensive). Oregon Scientific claim that the thermometer is accurate to within +/- 5C, but my experiences suggest that the real figure is closer to +/- 0.5C.

Although I am currently down in Norwich my weather station in Cleadon is still going- the advantage of going automatic is that you can take weather records even when you're not in the area!

[MikeC]

Having some problems with the weather station tonight...It does not have any connection with the sensors at the moment...

It lost connection for half an hour at 8Pm but it got it back again at 8.30pm for just over half an hour and has lost the connection again at 9ish, I have been up on the roof and checked all the connections and everything is fine. All of them are bone dry and not a spec of water on them. I have held the main display up agaisnt the sensor too and its still not getting any signal so I dont think its that.

Does anyone else know what it could be?

[pottyprof]

Having some problems with the weather station tonight...It does not have any connection with the sensors at the moment...

It lost connection for half an hour at 8Pm but it got it back again at 8.30pm for just over half an hour and has lost the connection again at 9ish, I have been up on the roof and checked all the connections and everything is fine. All of them are bone dry and not a spec of water on them. I have held the main display up agaisnt the sensor too and its still not getting any signal so I dont think its that.

Does anyone else know what it could be?

You got any radio hams near you? Could be something like that causing interference.. Take the batteries out of the base station then put them back in to reactivate training mode. Could be something close by using the same channel.