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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Weather Equipment, What to I use do gather information?

Temperature unit, in our Backyard.

Some people may be wondering what I use to gather weather information, This is a post explaining what I use and how I use report weather information.

Above is my Temperature unit, This gauge reads Temperature and Humidity along with Dewpoint, This gauge sits right in my backyard, so as you can see live weather information from me actually does come from right here in my yard! Wind Gauge # 1 Main Wind Gauge

This is my Main wind gauge, This gauge only reads how fast the wind is going, It is located at the top of our house, The highest I could get it to go.



Wind Gauge # 2 Secondary Wind Gauge.

This is my second wind gauge, This one also reads how fast the wind is going, But it also tells me wind direction and Wind Chill, This wind gauge is located on the West side of our yard, This one is in a test spot, to see if it can read different wind speeds then my main one. Main Unit Inside our house.

This is the Main Unit, This is where the Main Wind Gauge, Secondary Wind Gauge, and Temperature Unit report information. as you can see on the left corner the temperature was 37.6F when I took this picture, rounded off the temp is 38.F The humidity was 86% and the number on the top right is the Heat Index, Although I'm not sure why I had that up it was 38.F at the time. this unit has a High and Low recording capability for up to 10 days, Which means all I have to do is click on the Min or Max button and it tells me how high or low we got!


Rain Gauge.

This is what I use to measure Rainfall amounts it goes up to 5 inches, This gauge measures in tenths it is located near my Garden which is a spot clear of trees, If your wondering, If I have ever recorded over 5 inches in one storm, The answer is Not yet! but I have gotten up to 3 inches in a storm system.


Yardstick I use to measure Snow.

I use a general yardstick to measure snowfall totals, I normally just stick it into snow that piles up on my snowboard and measure snow this way, It has proved to be pretty useful. After I measure Snow, I normally report to the National Weather Service right after.


Record Keeping


My Priep Book

After getting the information using the rain gauge or yardstick, and after I've reported to the National Weather Service, I record the information here, I have been recording for about 2 years now, I usually write a little information about the system or storm, like impacts systems or storms may have had or, if it was a strong low of cold front which caused it, Then I write Rainfall to Snowfall totals, I underline them, Then I add it to the monthly totals, Then I add it to the seasons total, and that's how I come up with monthly and Season total Snowfall and Rainfall.


Temperature Calender.

This is my temperature Calender, I record High temperature only, I'm not sure why I decided only go with this, but this is all I ever recorded since I started recorded 2 years ago, Along with Temperature, I also recorded daily wind directions, and if wind gusts over 20MPH it gets added here, I write temperature and wind information down every single day, this makes it easy to pinpoint our warmest and coolest daytime high temps!

Thanks for reading this post on how I recorded my weather information, I hope you like taking a look in how recorded weather information!

1 comment:

Josh Herman said...

D, this is a fantastic entry. It's always a pleasure to find out how someone else goes about their daily weather observation routine. Are you a COOP Observer for the NWS or CoCoRaHS? I can't recall if you have ever mentioned it...

I quickly did a search and I noticed two observers for the NWS in Polk county, and two for CoCoRaHS. None of them hint to me that they are you. :)

If you don't mind. I have two suggestions that may enhance your daily routine experience. The first is to join CoCoRaHS as Polk county has one in Turtle Lake that rarely reports and one in Centuria that has only a few reports in this October. Second, have you ever used Microsoft Office? Mainly, Microsoft Excel? You may have gotten the software when you purchased your computer, but if not, and you are interested in putting all your weather data into a computer database I'd like to suggest looking into the software called OpenOffice. It's a software that some think is easier to use than the Microsoft product and best of all it's not expensive, actually it's FREE. For more info on it click here.

Regardless, D, you are dedicated and that speaks volumes. Keep up the great work.