About the Weather Station
Since 2004 the weather information has been provided by a Davis Vantage Pro 1 weather station.
However after 11 years of continuous service this station failed in February 2015. Unfortunately spares were very hard to obtain so it meant
replacement with the Vantage Pro 2 instrument.
This station has several improvements including anti bird spikes on the rain collector. Previously false rainfall
readings could happen when overweight pigeons launched themselves from their perch on the rim of the collector. The debris
shield which sits inside the collector was also a magnet for birds and several disappeared before I gave up replacing them.
Fortunately some components of the old station were able to be reused including the solar and radiation sensors, and the Fan Aspirated
Radiation Shield (FARS) which was also compatible as I power the fan from a separate supply.
The Integrated Sensor Suite is sited away from the house on grass approximately 5 feet off the ground. The anemometer is located at the top
of a pole attached to a shed. The previous wooden pole has been replaced by an aluminium one which has also allowed the
height to be raised slightly. It is slightly sheltered by houses as it is not above the roofline.
The data from the sensors is processed by Cumuulus MX
software on a Raspberry Pi 4 and then imported into SQL Server. Prior to November 2021 the data was processed by
Weather Display software.
All data displayed on this website comes from the SQL database. The data is also uploaded to the
Met Office WOW
website.
The data available is nearly complete but there are occasional gaps due to problems or maintenance on
the equipment or software. Over the course of the last 17 years there have also been occasions where erroneous
data has been captured. If you spot any suspect readings please let us know.
Finally a mention for Skyview systems - a local weather company who supplied the Davis weatherstation and whom I have
no hesitation in recommending.