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An Excellent Weather Station for the Enthusiast on Your Christmas List

| November 24, 2020 @ 9:00 am

If you have a weather enthusiast on your holiday shopping list, I have a suggestion that I can promise you they will enjoy.

If you have even a remote interest in weather, understanding the weather at your location is critical. Being able to measure and record it presents countless doors to an understanding of how the atmosphere works, down to our neighborhoods.

I recently received a WeatherFlow Tempest Weather System to evaluate.

I installed it on a post that I set in my yard. Mounting the sensor to any flat service or a pole is simple.

Set up was a breeze. I downloaded the app for my iPhone, set up my account, plugged in the hub, which communicates wirelessly to the sensor, and proceeded through the setup steps on my phone.

The app confirmed my location and calculated my altitude, which is important for the barometric pressure reading.

I then connected the hub to my WiFi network. Within just a couple of minutes, data started flowing from the sensor, through the hub, and to the app.

Then I installed the Tempest station on the post I had sited and set in the yard. The device attached easily to the top of the post by rotating onto a screw head. One important thing to remember is that you have to orient the blue arrow to true north with a compass for accurate wind direction detection.

The sensor is solar-powered, so no changing batteries.

Here is the data that is measured or calculated:

*Air Temperature
*Dewpoint
*Humidity
*Wet Bulb Temperature
*Delta T
*Built-in radiation shield
*Pressure – station
*Pressure – sea level – calculated by altitude
*Pressure tendency
*Wind speed -3s
*Wind Direction
*Wind Gust
*Wind Lull
*Brightness in lux
*Rain accumulation and duration today and yesterday
*Lightning detection up to 40 km
*Solar radiation, UV index
*Air Density

You can receive the following alerts
*Rain start
*Lightning
*Status
*Quality Control

The app shows an hour by hour and a 10-day forecast that WeatherFlow says comes from their proprietary interpretation of the various weather models including their own operation WRF. It then uses AI to calibrate the forecast for your specific location.

Weather stations all over the world are mapped on their website, so you can look at reports from all over the globe, or across your area. Your station actually has its own webpage.

I tested my data against near ASOS stations and the readings compared very favorably, which was good to know. The temperature and dew point readings were within a degree or two and the barometric pressure was within 0.02 inches.

The only thing I missed was having archived data. But then I figured that I could use IFTTT (If This Then That) to create and update a Google Docs spreadsheet with updated data every minute!

It can also be integrated into smart home apps including Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can use it to control lights, a connected thermostat, or even a sprinkler system.

If you’re looking for a great Christmas present for that weather enthusiast on your list, look no further than the WeatherFlow Tempest weather system. Available at https://weatherflow.com/tempest-weather-system/. It is also available on Amazon.

Category: ALL POSTS, Hodgepodge

About the Author ()

Bill Murray is the President of The Weather Factory. He is the site's official weather historian and a weekend forecaster. He also anchors the site's severe weather coverage. Bill Murray is the proud holder of National Weather Association Digital Seal #0001 @wxhistorian

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