Weather Station Details

The weather station is located in Bath in SW England.  It has been in this location since January 2007, but was in Peterborough for 2.5 years prior to this.   The co-ordinates for the weather station are latitude: 51 22 36N and the longitude is: 2 22 26W. The station is located at an altitude of approximately 100m above sea level.  The location of the station can be seen in the 2 maps below.  The station is located on the south side of the River Avon Valley in the centre of Bath. 

The data is collected via an Oregon Scientific WMR928.  The weather station records a variety of information including wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, humidity, temperature, solar intensity, pressure and rainfall.  The data is transmitted wirelessly to the console which is situated in the house.  The console then sends the information to the computer, where the information is processed, stored and uploaded to the internet.  There is also a webcam attached that uploads a picture every 5 minutes. All of the information is uploaded to the internet every 15 minutes.  Some information is also uploaded every 10 seconds to produce virtually real time information via Weather Display Live.  Mesomap Live has also been added which produces real time weather maps for the UK and East Anglia.    

The Console                                                                                         The PC

Sensors

There are a variety of sensors making up the station.  A wind vane is attached to the top of the house and records wind speed and wind direction.  An offset has been applied to the wind speed to take account of local obstructions.  There is also a rain gauge located on the flat roof of an outbuilding and a humidity and temperature sensor located within a passive radiation shield on a pole.  The rain gauge has been modified by the addition of a larger plastic funnel so that it tips with 0.4mm of rain as opposed to the standard 1mm tip.  A solar sensor has been added using a temperature sensor located in a sealed glass container.  This measures the intensity of the sun and calculates the solar energy in W/m². A traditional barograph barometer has recently been added to compare with the electronic display. A good correlation has been found.    

All of the sensors are powered by solar panels with battery backups.

The Wind Vane                                                                                    The Rain Gauge

The Temperature/Humidity Sensor                                                   The Solar Panels

The Solar Sensor