Personal Weather Stations Helping With Weather Forecasting

Weather Storm writes "Weather information from thousands of personal weather stations are being used for weather forecasting by several private and government agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Citizens Weather Observation Program (CWOP) was created by a few amateur radio operators experimenting with transmitting weather data with packet radios, but it has expanded to include Internet-only weather stations as well. As of September 2007, nearly 5,000 stations worldwide reported weather data regularly to CWOP's FindU database. The weather data is forwarded every 15 minutes to NOAA's Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS), checked for temporary and spatial consistency, than utilized by computer forecast models and internal forecast verification programs. In a Febuary 2007 report (PDF) DHS listed CWOP as a national assets to the 'BioWatch' Network, stating that data from personal weather stations could be useful in weather forecasts for hazardous releases. In 2007, the FindU server received 422,262,687 weather reports which is a 29.5% increase over 2006." The personal weather stations certainly come in stylish shapes.

Comments

Installation Guidelines?

[im_thatoneguy]

Are you required to consistently install your weather station? It would seem like you could get some inconsistent data if some people mount them in the sun while others in the shade etc. Or are they just depending on the volume of reports to create a median result?

Re:Installation Guidelines?

[flyingfsck]

People that participate are usually very clued up about the weather systems: Pilots, small airports, farmers and the like. They all have an interest in having accurate data.

Re:Installation Guidelines?

[k4hg]

Not required, but there are recommendations:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dshelms/CWOP_Guide.pdf

There is also a database of siting photos, so an interested meteorologist can see the station in context.

Steve

Re:Installation Guidelines?

[coaxial]

I set up my dad's weather station (a . Highly recommend it, as does Make Magazine)) is part of cwop.

If you get a good weather station, the system comes with sunshades for thermometer, and obviously you won't put it under a tree if you want the rain gauge to work. The only real guidelines they give you about placement is where to setup your anemometer if you have one. You want to put it 7 meters above ground level, and ideally 20 meters from any obstructions. If there are obstructions (e.g. trees and houses), you want to put it at least 2 meters above them. Of course these siting preferences are some times impractical. In these cases, you can still upload your anemometer data, but it's flagged as suspect. Basically ground level wind readings are worthless, so the NWS doesn't really care.

Countering systematic errors actually isn't that much more difficult. You have to realize that no station is in isolation. They're part of a network. Like all sensor networks, some sensors are going to be more accurate and more precise than others. All of this data is put together and outliers can be detected and corrected.

Re:Installation Guidelines?

[coaxial]

(Should have hit preview. :( )

I set up my dad's weather station (a Davis Vantage Pro2. Highly recommend it, as does Make Magazine)) is part of cwop.

If you get a good weather station, the system comes with sunshades for thermometer, and obviously you won't put it under a tree if you want the rain gauge to work. The only real guidelines they give you about placement is where to setup your anemometer if you have one. You want to put it 7 meters above ground level, and ideally 20 meters from any obstructions. If there are obstructions (e.g. trees and houses), you want to put it at least 2 meters above them. Of course these siting preferences are some times impractical. In these cases, you can still upload your anemometer data, but it's flagged as suspect. Basically ground level wind readings are worthless, so the NWS doesn't really care.

Each station is part of a sensor network, and like many sensor nets, some nodes are more precise, more accurate, and more timely than others. By combining the data from all the nodes in the net, outliers can be found and corrected. So you see, it's okay that not every node is perfect, just as long as most of the nodes are pretty good, you can still get good data.

Re:Installation Guidelines?

[CharlieG]

There are install GUIDELINES, and the system cross checks for out of tolerance data - they have an idea what they can expect in an area. For instance, the next CWOP station in my area is about 5 miles southeast of me - and I have another 7 miles Northeast - if my station shows a temp difference of say 5 degs from them, either there is afront coming through (so - do I match the data to the staions to my NW and SW?) or, more likely, my station has a problem

So far, I do OK on Temp and Humidity - I KNOW I have windspeed and direction problems, but then again, that turns out to be an area where MOST CWOP stations have problems - finding a large clear, low area with no obstructions is hard (low as in, they want ground wind, NOT wind at altitude, so your station is supposed to be less than 30 ft up, and something like 300 yds from any obstructions - uh huh)

Rain is another one that is hard to get exactly right, but you can gte close (my rain gage is on my desk behind me - I had no time to climb and put it up this fall) - a proper rain gage is at ground level, and 8" in diameter - most automated gages are smaller, and tend to be up with the rest of the station - this means that wind gusts is squalls can affect your rain readings, but it's going to be better than nothing

Having talked to the local weather forcasters (and been in their office) - they definately do look at the madis data - and they get to know which of their local stations tend to be sited well, and maintained (like the folks who will drop by their office and ask for advise). Heck, before the local forecaster changed, I regularly would get say 3:00am phone calls from the weather office "Charlie, can you go outside and get me a snow reading?"

feh

[rastoboy29]

I don't need a personal radio station to tell me that a thunderhead will be following me around all day.  I already know that.

DOH

[imasu]

This submission was worthy simply for attributing the acronym DOH to the Dept of Homeland Security.

Re:DOH

[Big Nothing]

In a Homer Simpsonesque interpretation of the acronym "DOH" it should deifinately be that of the Homeland Security. (DOH is actually the Department of Health, which is not a bad fit either.)

Mixed opinions

[ShaunC]

NOAA is the single remaining government agency that I still trust implicitly. DHS is nearly the polar opposite. I'm not sure what to make of a collaboration between them, but I'm encouraged by the fact that they're taking input from regular citizens. No doubt NOAA is behind that initiative.

There has been tremendous pressure from commercial weather interests to devalue the NOAA/NWS, to decrease its funding, to cripple its information distribution, in favor of making people pay to get the sort of weather data that NOAA has been distributing for free ever since they were chartered. I'm happy to see that new programs with public participation and cooperation are still being created. WX data is crucial for everyone, let's keep it open and free and public.

Re:Mixed opinions

[gotzero]

I do agree this data should stay open. They should make a larger appeal for weather data points. I would happily give them the data from a station at my home as long as I knew it would be a public information good...

Re:Mixed opinions

[GPSguy]

Actually, the data are now likely to remain free for some period. NWS got a boost when Rick Santorum (R-PA) failed of reelection last time.

I'm not an NWS employee but I do work with them on several projects. I've been present when some of the private sector have called for NWS to stop giving away data, forecasats, etc., to the public... just as long as they kept giving it away for free to the private companies. This isn't right. It's just plain wrong.

I do participate in CWOP, and several of my projects benefit from MADIS. Both of these are really cool projects, and they really do help improve weather forecasting both by allowing more data for data assimilation, whereby we use real world observations to enhance the data for the models, AND by allowing for more data for forecast verifications. NWS would love to have the funding to place more weather stations under their direct control out there for these purposes. Congress has seen fit to not make that possible. MADIS is an example of of a stellar program to gather in data from a variety of sources, and then to process it to afford some indication of data quality based on neighbor-comparison, reasonableness and internal consistency. CWOP is a sign of citizens volunteering their data to allow a really good Federal Agency to do their jobs better.

Oh, and while I'm at it, NWS is one of the few agencies who compute and use real metrics for performance, including how well their forecasts perform. So many other agencies seem to create metrics designed to prove they simply know how to play the game. I've gotten to see the process surrounding how they look at storm-based warning evaluations, and the effort going into making sure the evaluations mean something, and that they represent what's really happening were eye-opening for me.

Yeah, they are doing it right.

Re:Mixed opinions

[ScrewMaster]

The GP is right. The outfits that are currently taking data from the NOAA and disseminating it (for a fee) are dead-set against the NOAA releasing weather data in an open format. They apparently have a sense of entitlement here, feeling that it's their data, even though it was acquired by a taxpayer-funded agency.

Re:Mixed opinions

[coaxial]

Actually, AccuWeather doesn't want to defund the NOAA, they just want to keep NOAA from distributing their data. AccuWeather wants NOAA around, because NOAA provides a big chunk of the data AccuWeather uses! Weather data collection is expensive, and they don't want to have to collect it all themselves.

Davis WS

[Vskye]

Minus all the dumb ass comment's, I've ran a cheaper weather station, and placement is key. (reflective sun, etc) But my friend has a nice Davis weather station (wired varmit) that works just great. They also have Wireless versions available. (disclaimer .. no ties to the company, etc..) As far as software goes, Linux versions are available, although running Windows software via a VM works.

Re:Davis WS

[sucati]

what linux software supports davis systems? I was about to purchase a vantage pro2 but didn't like the $150 price tag on the proprietary serial cable.

Grants

[ascii genitals]

It would be great if I could apply to a program/agency and get a standardized weather reporting kit in order to participate for free. Basically just have them distribute grant money in order to set up even more stations.

Re:Grants

[jamesh]

That would be pretty cool. The weather station nearest us (~10km away) recorded no rain about a week ago, but we got heaps. The sort of rain that has been coming through here has been really really patchy the last few years. So if we had a weather station it would have recorded completely different rain, humidity and wind speed for that period. I'm sure that sort of activity happens all over the world, so more data collection points would give a much better picture of the 'now' weather. Not sure if that translates to better prediction though.

Re:Grants

[jrumney]

I guess having a cost barrier to entry (weather stations are not cheap) ensures that only people who have a genuine interest participate. If the general public started participating, they might end up installing the equipment incorrectly, or maliciously injecting bogus data, and the quality of the data collected would deteriorate.

Re:Grants

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe I've seen something like that before. Either the NWS or CWOP do indeed have a program like this. They basically loan out additional hardware for this purpose. It's usually older decommissioned hardware (not 100% automated) that has been replaced with a newer, more up to date AWOS/ASOS.
Check with your local NWS forecast office, they might have some idea about this. We always need more surface observations.
The cost of purchasing your own hardware, depending on what capabilities you wish to have, generally starts at about 2 grand.

As for the NWS' dedication toward freely/openly available information is amazing. Although, even given the advances made in forecast models they would have nowhere near the accuracy they do now without input from additional sources like your average wx geek. So, they almost have to retain an openly available design. Additionally, I believe they have made a significant effort to remain as open as possible with both their information and software.

Re:Grants

[dugjohnson]

If you want one, just buy one.

Why should the government buy you a station? If they are going to put up stations, they'll just put up their own wherever they want them. Why give you a grant so you can have your own weather station, unless you're some kind of weather guru, in which case you probably already bought your own.

The administration on a government grant program alone would cost more than the station, its installation and maintenance. This is a voluntary program of citizens working to help a portion of the government help other citizens. For practical access, go to Weather Underground. They both promote the NOAA program and publish the values from participating stations.

The Davis Vantage models are great and reasonably priced, compared to a year of Starbucks, say, and there are other usable less expensive types available.
Ambient Weather sells stations and software. I have no financial connection with them, other than buying stuff from them. They helped a weather noob (moi) get a system that works well for me. And, yes, I participate in the uploads.

Re:Grants

[TapeCutter]

"Not sure if that translates to better prediction though."

Computer climate/weather models use finite element analysis. If they get enough data to improve the resolution of the models, and enough computing power to make use of the better resolution, then yes the predictions should improve.

Disclaimer:IANAMeterologist

Re:Grants

[grumling]

They've become quite a bit cheaper over the years, and some of the newer wired sensors are very affordable: http://www.aagelectronica.com/. You don't need a display unit for the 1-wire sensors, just an open serial port. There is some free software available.

We don't need grants, just people willing to maintain a personal weather station and share data.

Now, I live in an area with a lot of federal land (a national park, forest and recreation area). It would be useful, since the ranger stations already are equipped with weather stations, if they could add their observations to the CWOP, or get them to NOAA somehow, but I'm sure that would require an act of congress, and be way over the top as far as cost/value of the info.

Re:Grants

[stars_are_number_1]

However (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this), having more data to work with will make your overall predictions and observations better. Yes, having a thermometer bring in a reading of 65 degrees when it's really 35 outside can be a problem. But it seems that most inaccuracies would be blatant enough that they could be rejected as such. It would seem that any variance that is minuscule enough to not be noticed would not affect the accuracy very much.

Re:Grants

[dugjohnson]

Then how about an agreement with whomever is the property owner to put it on their property for free, in exchange for the owner having the use thereof?
I'm just missing the benefit to the government. While I know it doesn't actually work like this, imagine that I had a reason to have lots of these out in a grid and I had access to tons of land of my own and I have control over rights of way and I could work with, say, utility companies, cell companies and gas companies who have lots of stuff sticking out of the ground, even on private property, that they control and visit regularly.
Why would I want to work with you?

Re:Grants

[dugjohnson]

Which I also just don't get. Why don't they weather stations have embedded web servers? My cable modem does. Why couldn't the weather station archive data to a memory card, like so many digital picture frames use? Why not have a cat5 connection or an optional wireless connection ( which the user could do themselves with a Apple Express plugged into the cat5 port). Everything right (from the vendor) now seems to be tied ms boxes.

They have that now, but it is pricey. Vantage's is a bit less than a grand.
Wireless from the sensors to the display/monitor is pretty much available, but it IS a box on the other end near the computer and it uses either USB or RS232. I would imagine that there is software for linux and/or OS/X since it is just a serial data stream that can be retrieved from the data logger (at least in the Vantage setup, which is what I am used to).

Re:Grants

[dfries]

$32.50 for the USB 1-wire DS2490 seemed a bit much for me to buy multiple. I just have to conclude that the scale of operations just isn't there yet. There are drivers in the Linux kernel tree for this device, they just need some improvement. The are currently a bit of a CPU hog when they don't need to be. I submitted two trivial bug fix patches yesterday and I'm working on more to address the CPU hog issues.

I have the ds18b20 sensors. Once I get the drivers up to snuff I intend to put some temperature sensors around the house (just one outside), and control the furnace and A/C with the data. Sure, I could get a digital thermostate, but this is more fun and I intend to get a running total of the cost to heat and cool. Once I get that all working I'll put some additional insulation in the attic. I want to know just how much it saves me.

Any suggestions for controlling the furnace with a computer? I've thought about putting together some relays and a parallel port, but I thought I would first see what was available.

Re:Grants

[Rorschach1]

It's also not too difficult to get one of those cheap systems on the network, even if it's somewhere reasonably remote - there are some mountaintop systems around here, for example. I'm a little biased, but at least for the AAG stations I think the best option is one of my kits - they'll talk directly to the station, and can be used with just about any junker 2-meter ham radio you can find on eBay. A ham license is required, of course. If you set it up to control power to the radio, you can knock the average power consumption down to under 100 mW, which makes running a station on a cheap 5-watt panel and a smallish gel cell battery feasible.

In the US, just getting a packet out on 144.39 MHz gives you a pretty good shot at making it on to the Internet. There are gateways all over the country, and an extensive network of mountaintop repeaters. The same exists in several other countries, though not always on the same frequency.

Downsides

[Tablizer]

"Grandma, wait, don't fart near that.....nevermind"

Applications of distributed technology

[Dutch Gun]

This is an interesting application of distributed and networked technology (I'm not sure what else to call it - would this be classified as distributed computing?) - using technology to extract information from an extremely large number of processing nodes in a way that is impractical on a smaller scale. It reminds me in a way of projects like Seti@Home/Folding@Home. That is, using the combined technological resources from a large number of people to do some pretty cool things that just weren't possible a few years ago.

It will be interesting to see what other sorts of projects in this vein take shape in the near future.

Re:CUT uP WeATHEr STATIONS RUN BY PATRIARCAHL SCUM

[gomiam]

The weather must be about to change at your location, because your mental joints are aching quite a bit. Brain arthritis, perhaps?

Weather Underground and Google Maps

[phorest]

If you've never seen it, Weather Underground uses Google Maps and overlays all the personal weather stations (PWS)in an area view. They even have a published iGoogle gadget.

Jim Hansen

[TapeCutter]

I am not from the US but I first heard of Jim Hansen in the 80's, IMHO he is one of the great minds of the 20th century and has shown the required balls to publicly 'speak truth to power' on several occasions to both sides of US politics.

A public servant who really does serve the public, what will they think of next?

Re:False apocalypse?

[Anonymous Coward]

No... The data are subjected to some QC checking and yours would be discarded and marked as "half-baked".

Troll food

[TapeCutter]

Jim has a better track record than you. From the wiki link...

"In 1981 Hansen and a team of scientists at Goddard had reached the conclusion that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would lead to global warming sooner than previously predicted. While other climatoligists had already predicted that a trend would be apparent by 2020, Hansen predicted, in a paper published in Science, that the change was already occurring and that there would record high temperatures as early as 1990. He also predicted that it would be difficult to convince politicians and the public to react. "

Re:Troll food

[TapeCutter]

Oh I see, "facts" come from editorials in US newspapers whilst "political whores" publish in the journal science.

Re:Troll food

[TapeCutter]

If you are looking for an enraged response to satify some perverse personality flaw then your out of luck, I'm all out of troll food today.

NOAA to be trusted?

[filbranden]

Wasn't NOAA evil? I thought that was RIAA's submarine division. ;-)

Huh?

[ScrewMaster]

checked for temporary and spatial consistency

I think he meant "temporal".

Open source weather

[ukemike]

goto wunderground.com

enter your zip code

There is a box on the page called "Current Conditions." Scroll to the bottom of that box and click on the link called "Google Map of Personal Weather Stations." Here is an example link:

http://www.wunderground.com/stationmaps/gmap.asp?zip=94608&magic=1&wmo=99999

Each of the station icons, which indicate current conditions, can be clicked on to access much more detailed current conditions and often extensive history as well. I'm lucky that a nearby neighbor has one, and I get accurate data from his station all of the time. It's really the ultimate site for weather geeks.

A few years ago I was managing a hazardous material removal in a high profile public location. All of the work was done late at night to maintain access for the public to the building. Each night the crew had to build a 2 story containment of poly sheeting. Of course the site was near the shore and subject to high winds which could blow down even the best containment. Since there was a personal weather station very close by I was able to monitor the windspeed from the comfort of my home. On two nights the wind got over 20mph, and I shut them down for the night to prevent the containment from being blown down.

A Similar Sort of Organization

[PineHall]

"CoCoRaHS (the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network) is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications."

My weather station ...

[Spc01]

Yep. here's my weather station: Page: http://weather.spc-tech.com/ Images: http://www.radiocity.si/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3352#3352 Enjoy.

Look Out the Window

[BanjoBob]

I was trying to determine the weather so I could decide if I wanted to drive 60 miles north. The sky was very cloudy and dark. It was cold and it looked like snow would fall any minute. The Weather Channel and Weather.com both said it was clear skies all the way. I checked the forcasts on Accuweather and weather.com. Same thing -- nothing but clear skies all day. There was just one problem. You couldn't see a clear sky anywhere.

I really suggest that before these services post data like this that they look out the window first.

Computers, data, NEXRAD and all are fine but, they often are blind too. I would guess that along the Rocky Mountains that the weather service is correct about 65% of the time. The other 35% they are so far off that it is amazing. We've had an inch of rain when it is reported clear skies and good weather. We've had snow on clear days. We've had clear days when the weather service reports cloudy...

My dad was piloting a plane out of Kansas City when he was told to take a heading directly into a huge thunderhead. He told the center that there was a huge thunderhead in front of him on that heading. The center told him there wasn't -- nothing on the radar. My dad asked the controller to...Look Out The Window. He was given directions around the storm. It's no wonder that weather is a part of learning to fly.

Best advice - look out the window.

Re:Look Out the Window

[Shotgun]

One beautifully clear day, I got an itch and called my flight instructor to see if there were any openings for a flight that day.

"What? It's pouring rain," was his response. The airport was about 30miles away.

Since Congress has seen fit to allow consolidation of broadcast TV, all the news channels are one big conglomeration. The guy doing your weather reporting is also doing it for a city a couple hundred miles away. What he reports is the overall weather pattern, and that may have very little to what is out your window.

The problem is exacerbated by mountains. They tend to mix the layers in the air, creating micro-weather systems that aren't see over a wider area. The best thing to do is to look at the RADAR and satellite systems for yourself, and integrate that with what you see out the window.

Battery Issues / Electronic Gadgets Not Required

[spgass]

I received a personal weather station as a gift. It's not the kind that broadcasts to the Internet, but it's still nice to be able to check the outside temperature when inside. My only complaint is that it runs through batteries. We're down to 7.2F tonight right now in Virginia and the cold weather is hard on batteries. Lithium batteries seem to last longer, but they are also more expensive. I recommend a classic non-electric thermometer as backup. In my area, you can be a weather watcher for the local TV station with minimal equipment: just a reliable thermometer and rain gauge.

Re:Typhoons!

[shokk]

No, you'll be discarded from the system for providing false data while no one else is showing the same thing, and you'll be left with a fun paperweight.

Re:CUT uP WeATHEr STATIONS RUN BY PATRIARCAHL SCUM

[spgass]

I posted a blog post in an attempt to clarify my thoughts.