After climbing time and time again onto the hot tar-laden roof of our apartment for much testing, adjusting, and testing some more, I think I’ve finally finished both siting and futzing around with the weather station.
In the end, I ended up modifying the anemometer with a retrofitted RJ11-to-CAT5 solution (involving much splicing and soldering) that will prevent odd wind spikes into the 50-80mph range, and wrapped electrical tape around the body of the anemometer itself in order to prevent any light leakage from throwing off the directional sensor. All-in-all, everything seems to be working to its potential at this time. If you look at at this graphic from the 14th and note the wind direction from 3pm-6pm or so compared to today’s after 2pm (it was inside for testing before that time), you can definitely see a marked improvement in accuracy. (Hint: The wind isn’t incoming at 247 degrees (without deviation) around here for three hours straight. Ever.)
Some exciting developments are in the hopper for personal weather station owners, so stay tuned. For now, I can say that the staff of Weather Underground are among the most helpful, responsive, and friendly around.
