Weather stations

by nishanth
(US)

A weather station is used to find temperature recorders, humidity data loggers, wind speed instruments and devices for cloud information records.

Barry's Response - Yes it contains instruments that measure those parameters. If there is a human observer, the station also reports precipitation type, cloud cover and cloud type. They also have barometers to measure pressure.

The brain of a weather station collects the information transmitted by the peripheral instruments, stores it and even processes weather data if sophisticated enough. Some are dedicated to a single instrument, but many handle data streams from multiple sensors (typically a thermometer, barometer, hygrometer for humidity, anemometer for wind speed, vane for direction, and a rain gauge) simultaneously. These data loggers stay on site with the instruments, are small enough to be portable and run off of batteries. They usually work 24/7.

More sophisticated instruments measure specialized data. Examples include:

• Visibility measured by a Transmissometer
• Bottom height of clouds directly overhead measured by a Ceilometer
• Precipitation type and droplet size instruments - a Disdrometer for instance.

The automated equipment makes these stations comparatively cost-effective. Especially when unmanned observations can be made and recorded in a remote or otherwise hard-to-access location.

How to get the data? Sometimes technicians download from the machine directly, but these days they can broadcast a duplicate of the data back to a receiving station, using a cell-phone for instance. More batteries, please.

Search this site for more information now.