I could talk all day long about the weather. The weather is one of my favorite subjects and I learned how I grew up and then online. Yes, I also bought books about it. It’s one of those things that, as you get older and start a career, I hope you would have done it instead of your current career. I would have liked to become a meteorologist, but I did my best. I have my own weather station with which I can predict my local climate.
What’s really fun is when I can watch my weather gear and get the same results as the boys on TV and they have the National Weather Service (NWS) to get their information. All my neighbors come to see me when they have questions about the weather and what to expect the next day. If they leave the city, they call me to know what I think of the weather in a city 400 km away. Usually, I just tell them to look at the weather map to get this information because I can only predict the weather here in my city.
You know that? You could do the same thing. It is very amusing and comforting to know that the weather will change without having to run on television or wait for news to arrive to get the information from my weather forecast. To start planning and knowing your own weather, you only need a few simple weather instruments, such as an indoor and outdoor thermometer, a barometer, a rain gauge, a wind vane and an anemometer. You’ll learn more tools as you enter more, but for now, that’s all you need. Oh yes, and access the NOAA or NWS weather charts on your computer.
The thermometer gives you the ambient temperature. We have all grown up with a kind of weather thermometer all our life. The barometer provides a measure of atmospheric pressure that tells you when the weather is changing or is likely to change very soon. The rain gauge captures only the rain, when it falls, and tells you how much it has fallen on your area. The wind vane and anemometer are two instruments that tell you where the wind is coming from and how fast it is blowing. There are other instruments that you can use if you wish, such as a hygrometer or a psychrometer. Both measure relative humidity, which you will want to know later. You can get all these components one at a time or you can do what I did and just buy a residential weather station that already has it all and comes in a box. Unpack it, take out the various sensors and instruments outside and install them, put batteries as it is wireless, enter and configure the software on your computer. It took me about an hour to do everything. Now, I am the neighborhood meteorologist.
There are thousands of amateur meteorologists around the world and everyone exchanges information and keeps weather records for their communities. Although most have not done formal studies in meteorology, the fact is that they love it and they have every interest in observing the weather.
If you are looking for good wireless weather stations at a good price, let me make some recommendations. Remember that prices go from the lowest to the highest, and the big difference is the degree of technological advancement used in the instruments. Most cheaper stations will work very well, especially if they are just starting to become a climate mistake.
For more expensive models, take a look at the Davis Instruments 6152 Wireless Instruments Vantage Pro2 with standard radiation shield. Excellent technology can be obtained for about $ 750. Another highly respected and highly recommended high-end weather station is the Davis Instruments 6153 Vantage Pro2 with a 24-hour fan-assisted radiation shield.
For the best and cheapest weather stations, consider the P3 INTERNATIONAL METRIC Professional Weather Station or the TALKING La Crosse WA-1340 Weather Direct Wireless Weather Station. Oregon Scientific also manufactures fantastic weather weather stations like Honeywell