CWOP Weather Station Resources

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Items of Interest to Owner/Operators of Citizen Weather Stations

THREE RECOMMENDED BOOKS, all scientifically accurate, and quite readable.

The Weather Observer's Handbook by Stephen Burt, 2012.
Cambridge University Press, London, UK

"The Rough Guide to Weather" by Robert Henson, 2002.
Rough Guides Limited, Penguin Putman, Inc., New York City, 10024
416 pages, ISBN 1-85828-827-4

"The USA Today Weather Book; An Easy-To-Understand Guide to the USA's Weather" by Jack Williams, 1997.
Current Affairs - American; Science - Meteorology | Vintage |
Trade Paperback | ISBN 0-679-77665-6

SITING and LOCATION of the weather station sensors has a large impact on the data quality for that station. However, safety is the primary concern. Don't locate your sensors in unsafe places. Here is good information and guidelines on weather station siting, but keep in mind that increased sensor height at the expense of safety is not worth it (especially for old bones that may break on impact). Good information .

We have prepared a manual (2.2 Mbyte pdf) for Personal Weather Station hobbyists called CWOP Weather Station Siting, Performance, and Data Quality Guide. We encourage you to review the Guide prior to setting up your station and during its operation. Comments and questions about the Guide are welcome.

Additional resources for weather station operations can be found at the following links:

• Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 1, Surface Weather Observations and Reports
• Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) User's Guide
• 4.7 MB Review of the Forest Service Remote Weather Station (RAWS) Network
• WMO Report#81 on Measurements at Urban Sites
• Siting of Sensors at Airports
• Measurement Accuracy and Good Discussion of Siting
• Campbell Scientific report on siting
• Recommendations for siting NWS COOP Stations
• Pro Data Weather Systems siting page
• Understading Air Currents and Meteorology

WHEN, WHERE and WHAT elevation are very important aspects of weather data. The observation time and 3-D location must be correct. The first two links below are to applications that will set the time on your computer when you are connected to the internet. The third and fourth links will allow you to determine latitude and longitude and the fifth link will allow you to convert between the three formats used by CWOP. The elevation from a handheld GPS is not as accurate as that from a topographic map, so the sixth link below is to topographic maps to help determine your site elevation. The next link below is to a good page on how to use a topographic map.

• Tardis Time Set Program
• NIST Time Set Program
• Latitude and Longitude for a place
• Latitude and Longitude for any address
• Lat/Lon Format Conversion (DMS-LORAN-Decimal)
• Topo maps for your town

These links have discussion on data quality and accuracy.

• NHC Note on Wind Accuracy

This information link is specifically for home weather stations.

• Chapter 16 of Wyoming State Climate Atlas

This is an on-line home study guide oriented to the atmospheric sciences.

• WW2010 University of Illinois home study guide

This is a discussion of radiation shields to reduce temperature error.

• Radiation Shielding Information

These informative web sites have information and links on weather sensor manufacturers. Also, good discussions of measurement techniques for different atmospheric parameters. Also, a collection of helpful lists relating to weather.

• Meteo Technology
• Temperature Sensor Information

Here are two downloads in *.pdf. The first one is the "International Weather Watchers Observer Handbook", by Tim Vasquez; a very informative handbook oriented toward manual observations. It is a single 825 kbyte download. The second one covers monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency with individual downloads for the Table of Contents and the various chapters.

• International Weather Watchers Observation Manual
• EPA Meteorological Monitoring Manual

Here are two good discussions on atmospheric pressure, including station pressure, sea-level pressure and altimeter setting.

• USA Today Weather Item
• Air Density and Density Altitude Calculations

Here are discussions of the theory and details of measuring precipitation.

• Raingauge Calibration
• Inadvertent Rain Gauge Inconsistencies

Two complete listings of meteorology resources.

• Meteorology Resources II

Abstracts of papers related to uses for CWOP data. More suggestions are invited.

• Jason Karvelot, "New Cooperative Observer Observer Networks and Instrumentation Data Quality" (with link to paper)
• Gerry Creager, "Densifying the in-situ surface observing network: The Citizen Weather Observer Program, its role in observation and verification, and avenues for enhancement"
• Paul Rusher, "The Florida GLOBE Partnership Program"

This is a list of places to purchase weather stations. If your goal is to send your weather data using packet radio or the internet, be sure to ask if the unit has that capability before you purchase it. You can verify this by checking CWOP info at upper right of this page.

• TAPR T-238+ Kit
• Peet Brothers Company
• Texas Weather Instruments
• Rain Wise Inc.
• Premier Products
• Weathershack
• WeatherHawk

More to come.