About NW Ohio Live Services: "Live Weather"

Hello again,

This is the second entry of a series of seven blog entries that will provide additional details surrounding all the elements at NW Ohio Live Services (http://nwohio-liveservices.dyndns.org/).

Today's topic is the "Live Weather" component (http://nwohio-liveservices.dyndns.org/liveweather.html). I have always had an interest in weather phenomena and keeping track of the weather conditions around us. This past year I have also had the opportunity to receive National Weather Service severe weather spotter training (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/skywarn/training/spottran.html) and have been involved with Lucas County SKYWARN® (http://www.lucascoskywarn.org/).

I have deployed a Personal Weather Station at my home location in Oregon Ohio and have recently integrated the weather reporting data with the Internet. My weather station instrumentation consists of an Oregon Scientific WMR100N (http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/product.asp?cid=2&scid=84&pid=922) Professional Wireless Weather Station. The WMR100N includes five different sensors and is capable of measuring and reporting temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind, and rainfall. The wireless feature allows for easy mast mounting of the primary instruments above roof level.

The Oregon Scientific WMR100N weather console is connected to a computer via USB cable. The computer is running Virtual Weather Station (http://www.ambientweather.com/virtualstation.html) software that is capable of logging and redistributing the weather data. I am submitting data to Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/) and they're hosting my "KC8NNO" Personal Weather Station (http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KOHOREGO2). Weather Underground offers and impressive array of personal weather services and historical data logging and analysis capabilities.

I am also uploading weather data to the APRSWXNET in support of the Citizen Weather Observer Program (http://www.wxqa.com/). From here, weather data is sent to the NOAA Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System [MADIS] (http://www-sdd.fsl.noaa.gov/MADIS/index.html) for further distribution and quality control. View my CWOP information and MADIS weather quality ratings: http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/AT081.

The implementation of a new service always has it's challenges. I've just finished with recalibrating my barometric pressure this weekend and my station should now be tracking that measurement with little error going forward. I'm looking forward to seeing a two thumbs up rating from MADIS. I've also had some recent glitches with wind and rain reporting, but hopefully related to cold weather and poor batteries and those will not be causing any further issues.

This concludes the in depth look at the details surrounding the Live Weather element. Stay tuned for the next topic which will cover the Live Camera component in more detail.

(About NW Ohio Live Services - Blog Entry 2 of 7)

2008 NW Ohio Live Services