My temperature data!

[tommyzulu]

I am new to this forum and would be interested in views of other members.

I live in Monmouthshire, South Wales and have been really interested in recording the weather accurately for some time.

I had a Davis Vantage Vue which went back to the suppliers so many times that in the end I gave up! An expensive experiment... I now use a wi-fi data logger in a home-made Stevenson Screen (made from  plastic air vents).

I'm pretty sure that the max temperatures are not really accurate -- quite a few days I record maximums several degrees C higher than the BBC reports. But in other respects the system works pretty well.

I can't really record wind data from my site since my house is in a bit of a dip in the land. That is why the integrated sensor set-ups are of little use to me. And rainfall data doesn't particularly bother me.

My data logger is an Omega wifi sensor which connects to my home wi-fi about 20m away and I get a free link to an online site called wifisensorcloud.com

It is not perfect by any means.

Comments from weather watchers would be most welcome.  (Pictures enclosed)

[shuggee]

Hi Tommy - I moved this into here so as to attract the attention of our many weather equipment enthusiasts.

Cheers

[Terminal Moraine]

Hi Tommy, I couldn't find an exact match for your logger when I looked on the Omega site but I'm assuming it has an accuracy of about 0.6c, this is about par for the course for a logger costing around £100.

With this in mind I would think the largest part of any error probably lies with your screen, impressive as it looks for a home build, or your site, or a combination of the two.

Do you find the largest differences from your local Met station are on sunny days?

  Ideally your screen should be built of double louvres ( inside and out) to cut out as much secondary radiation as possible from nearby objects which might heat up in the sun, also the bottom of the screen should have a couple of open strips running the full width to maximise the air flow. If your site is also fairly sheltered due to being in a restricted  back garden these two factors would easily be enough to result in a 2-3c higher reading from your local station. Presumably your screen  is built of high gloss white plastic? If it's a matt finish or any colour other than gloss white this could lead to the screen itself heating up slightly in the sun and radiating heat to the logger inside.

Hope this helps.