New Or Traditional

[stingrays4]

Hi i am wondering whats members opinion is on here about old style weather stations or more modern electric type of weather stations?

As i am trying to decide whether to get the more 'traditional' type of weather instruments or these more modern 'press' a button and a answer appears!? Looking forward to hearing your opinions

[stingrays4]

Hi well i am surprised at the lack of answers ,so here is my own answer i guess it depends on what your happiest with and prefer to use - so for me i will be going old school then one day will get an all singing all dancing davis

[vortex_liam]

Old Skool is more reliable as it is not going to be failed by bad programming, But new is better with good programming and softwear

[Thundery wintry showers]

For most voluntary observers electronic ones are best because the accuracy of modern automatic weather stations is very close to that of traditional instruments, and you don't have to keep taking manual readings every day. I can get weather records from my automatic weather station in Cleadon from down in Norwich simply by having the daily data sent to a data logger and emailed to me twice a month.

But if you're happy and able to take manual readings at the same time each day then old-school traditional instruments may be a better bet.

[darrog]

Much should depend on where you will site the equipment and can you take daily readings every day between 0600-0900hrs (preferably the latter).

a simple way may be to look at the COL website and use their station grading system (bases on trad' equip') to obtain a grade for where your stn would be sited. If you can site it well, afford 'proper' trad' equip' and can do daily readings then the answer will be go for trad' equip' - however, it should be borne in mind that:

1.) a lot of sites using trad equip' (even those who report to the Met'O) will use a Davis Vpro2 as back up.

2.) trad' equip' is expensive, (eg: a grass thermom' delivered to the door £118) a few bits and bobs and you have the price of a vpro2 - little point in buying naff non standard trad' equip' because in no time you will want standard equip' - best look at the fairmount website.

There is something an AWS simply can't provide when going out each day to read the weather. Even if you do get an aws do go out each day and note the prevailing weather, cloud type and amount, snowfall and depth, etc, etc. it will add to the experience of weather watching.

I know that this will anger some, but a Vpro2 is simply the best, not cheap, but why waste money on anything else?

If your site is 'less than ideal' (some lucky people and I'm not one of them, do have good sites, but most are compromised in at least one aspect) then an AWS may be best, as much in that it may not be wise to spend so much on trad' equip' at an overly compromised site.

obviously you can also go away and an aws will still be taking readings, whereas with trad' you will need to ask a friend

[johnholmes]

yes do make your own weather diary with or without an auto weather station-if you are a weather fanatic, and it sounds as if you are, then when nothing of interest is around with the weather, reading your own weather files is huge fun. Over many years you also build up some form of climatological data for your particular area, bearing in mind factors which may make your site not ideal.

As has been suggested check the COL site.

make your own weather diary.

choose which equipment you think best suits you.

The COL link is this

http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/col.html

and Roger Brugge is always willing to chat via e mail.

My own weather diary is in Excel format and is as near as can be to the 'old' 3259A Met O form,

see link below

new master monthly.xls

enjoy, please ask any questions either via this thread or pm me.

regards

John

[TonyH]

I have started saving up for a Davis Vantage Pro as after research they appear to be the 'bees knees' of the AWS world! Just need the £600 plus to get up and running.

Many years ago in Coventry I used a Stevenson Screen for thermometers which was accurate compared to the previous Six's Max-min on a shaded wall, and had a Father-in-law (RIP Ray!) who assembled and painted it for me. I would love to have one again but these too are a heavy investment. Also, even if using an AWS I find a Snowden rain gauge indispensible for a back-up of Met-Office spec rainfall readings.

Keeping a diary is also great fun, and I have done this almost every day for almost 40 years. Having my 'cheap' but very useful La Crosse WS2300 uploading to Wunderground is great as I can track my home weather while out and about or even away. With Teamviewer I can also access the dedicated WS laptop (permanently online) from any PC while away and access the raw data, and graphs, etc on WeatherDisplay.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Tonyh

[stingrays4]

Hi thanks for all the info - quite alot to digest there:D . I have only been looking around at the moment,as i am currently building a new fish shedd, so funds being tied up in that at the moment:) . I did get a great Metcheck catalogue and working out costing of thermometers,anometers rainfall meters and a barometer it seems the Davis Pro2 seems a good buy :wallbash: . Also keeping a 'proper' diary of the records is a great idea and one i had not really thought of doing:doh: ,so shall do plenty of more research and take it from there:) and thanks for all the info:D .