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Posted
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)
  • Weather Preferences: Unseasonably cold weather (at all times of year), wind, and thunderstorms.
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)

Hi. I recently got a new Oregon weather station, and have set it up nicely. But I have a question about the temperature sensor. It is set up on the back of my house (facing north) and is protected from all sunlight. This morning, it is showing a reading of -6.0C, and this has made me begin to doubt the accuracy of it. This is because data from Writtle (other side of town) shows that there the temperature has sunk to -7.0C:

http://www.weathercast.co.uk/world-weather/weather-stations/obsid/99127.html

I'm not sure if this is the Met Office station in Writtle, but I'm assuming it is. Now here is my question. Assuming the data for Writtle is accurate, is it possible that there is a temperature difference between my location (Great Baddow) and Writtle of 1C? Or is there likely to be some inaccuracy with my temperature sensor? Or perhaps I have placed it in a bad position? It is on the back wall of my house, less than a foot away from a window, perhaps warm air is slowly escaping from the house and distorting the figures a little? I don't live in a valley or anything like that, and Writtle is a little more rural than my location, so perhaps it is possible that both my temperature sensor and the Writtle station are accurate?

I would really appreciate any information or advice you may have.

Thanks.

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Posted
  • Location: North York Moors
  • Location: North York Moors

You need to compare over a longer period and different weather types,

In the current fairly calm weather you could easily be several degrees different.

If it consistently seems out you can set an offset I expect.

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Posted
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)
  • Weather Preferences: Unseasonably cold weather (at all times of year), wind, and thunderstorms.
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)

You need to compare over a longer period and different weather types,

In the current fairly calm weather you could easily be several degrees different.

If it consistently seems out you can set an offset I expect.

Ok thanks, I will keep checking on it.

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  • 3 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

I just recently bought a new weather station, only a cheapy one for £150. I was just wondering whether it's a quirk with rain gauges that sometime it doesn't record the rain even though it has rained.

 

When I say rain, I mean a very brief light shower, or a very very light period of rain/misty rain, say over an hour.

 

Is there something wrong with it, or is the rain so light or brief it just can't measure it?

Edited by SteveB
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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Highland Scotland
  • Location: Highland Scotland

If it's a tipping bucket raingauge it's likely the rain wasn't sufficient to tip the bucket even once, thus no precipitation was measured.

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Posted
  • Location: North York Moors
  • Location: North York Moors

The resolution varies between makes, I'm not sure any widely available models go to less than 0.2mm - which is about enough to make a dry surface start to 'run' with water. 

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Thanks for replying. Since I posted I have got through two weather stations.... both had faults which meant they had to go back.

 

Will save up a bit more money and buy a better one.

 

Anyone got any recommendations? will have about £200-300 to spend.

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Posted
  • Location: North York Moors
  • Location: North York Moors

Probably look at a Vue, it is annoying you have to pay extra for the logger thing though.
Someone was making a knock off version but they changed the design recently so they didn't work (for now) - at least on VP2.

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Vue?

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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

Davis gear, sold in various formats, try Google to see just what is available but generally more than the figure you suggested to spend I think?

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Thanks John,

 

I've been looking around on the internet this afternoon, I think I will have to save a bit more & buy one between £400-800

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Posted
  • Location: Dorset
  • Weather Preferences: warehamwx.co.uk
  • Location: Dorset

Thanks John,

 

I've been looking around on the internet this afternoon, I think I will have to save a bit more & buy one between £400-800

 

I have a Vantage Vue, best station i've had! I did have an Oregon WMR200 which was fantastic but i fancied an upgrade.

The thing i will ask is, what's the location of the Vue like? Is it away from building and trees etc? Mine is in an open space but it's not the perfect location. It's 4m up but rain isn't skewed thankfully as i compare it with a manual gauge that i have near to ground level. These things are important because you cannot separate the instruments unlike the Vantage Pro.

The data logger is important if you want a decent data suite or run a permanant website, £399.99 for the Vue and data logger at the weathershop

Edited by Mapantz
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Posted
  • Location: Highland Scotland
  • Location: Highland Scotland

Depending on the range of sensors you want, Peet Bros stations might be worth a look (though there are not that many sellers here). These have separate instruments unlike the Davis Vantage vue and have the advantage that unlike Davis stations, they don't require a data logger to hook up to a PC.

They seem pretty good for general use in the UK, but the anemometers are not as robust as the specifications would have you believe! Highest recorded gust prior to self destruction of several anemometers has been around 80-90mph - though icing may have played a part. On the other hand several Technoline WS2350 stations I have have recorded repeated gusts above 100mph without anemometer damage, highest being recorded at the Glencoe Carpark at 113mph .

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Posted
  • Location: Chelmsford
  • Weather Preferences: Hot and dry summers with big thunderstorms.
  • Location: Chelmsford

Living in Great

Hi. I recently got a new Oregon weather station, and have set it up nicely. But I have a question about the temperature sensor. It is set up on the back of my house (facing north) and is protected from all sunlight. This morning, it is showing a reading of -6.0C, and this has made me begin to doubt the accuracy of it. This is because data from Writtle (other side of town) shows that there the temperature has sunk to -7.0C:

http://www.weathercast.co.uk/world-weather/weather-stations/obsid/99127.html

I'm not sure if this is the Met Office station in Writtle, but I'm assuming it is. Now here is my question. Assuming the data for Writtle is accurate, is it possible that there is a temperature difference between my location (Great Baddow) and Writtle of 1C? Or is there likely to be some inaccuracy with my temperature sensor? Or perhaps I have placed it in a bad position? It is on the back wall of my house, less than a foot away from a window, perhaps warm air is slowly escaping from the house and distorting the figures a little? I don't live in a valley or anything like that, and Writtle is a little more rural than my location, so perhaps it is possible that both my temperature sensor and the Writtle station are accurate?

I would really appreciate any information or advice you may have.

Thanks.

Living in Gt Baddow the answer is yes - I have had 2-3c differences at night even more sometimes in mid summer. Gt Baddow is alot more built up than Writtle!

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Posted
  • Location: Dorset
  • Weather Preferences: warehamwx.co.uk
  • Location: Dorset

 and have the advantage that unlike Davis stations, they don't require a data logger to hook up to a PC.

 

You can get around that with a £5 cable.

I looked in to Peet Bros stations a while ago and found them to be inconvenient for my liking and they don't data log, they have been saying that one will be on it's way for years and still no joy!

The Davis customer service is unique too, i've never seen a bad comment made about that.

If you want a hassle free station, i still recommend a Davis. If you want a Peet Bros, good luck in finding good independant weather software for it though, there's nothing that supports 240 data points a minute.

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Got my WH1080 back, they said they have replaced the out door sensor.

 

Anyway, had it for 5 day's now without any issues..... fingers crossed it stays that way.

 

Will use this one as a stop gap until I've saved enough money for a better one.

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