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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.
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?
This submission was worthy simply for attributing the acronym DOH to the Dept of Homeland Security.
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.
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
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.
Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
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.
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.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
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.
God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
No... The data are subjected to some QC checking and yours would be discarded and marked as "half-baked".
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. "
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
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.
-- QED
"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."
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.
Banjo - The more I know about Windoze, the more I love *nix