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Weather station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A weather station is a facility with instruments and equipment to make observations of atmospheric conditions in order to provide information to make weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate.
Typical weather stations have the following instruments:
- Thermometer for measuring temperature
- Barometer for measuring barometric pressure
- Hygrometer for measuring humidity
- Anemometer for measuring wind speed
- Wind vane for measuring wind direction
- Rain gauge for measuring precipitation
Except for those instruments requiring direct exposure to the elements (anemometer, rain gauge), the instruments should be sheltered in a vented box, usually a Stevenson screen, to keep direct sunlight off the thermometer and wind off the hygrometer. The instrumentation may be specialized to allow for periodic recording otherwise significant manual labour is required for record keeping. Automatic transmission of data, in a format such as METAR, is also desirable as many weather station's data is required for weather forecasting.
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Historically readings were taken by weather observers who were typically not paid and performed the duty as part of their permanent jobs (e.g., postmaster). These weather readings were taken between 7 and 9 a.m. local time daily as unpaid observers were unwilling to take readings from midnight to midnight. Since the advent of automatic weather stations, these time intervals occasionally remain as a part of tradition when reporting daily to outside organizations.
- Anemometer
- Automated airport weather station
- Automatic weather station
- Barometer
- Hygrometer
- Personal weather station
- Rain gauge
- Thermometer
- Weather satellite
- Weather ship
- Wind vane
- International Weather Watchers Observer Handbook (PDF 768KB 45 pages)
- Association of American Weather Observers
- Citizen Weather Observer Program
- CWOP Weather Station Siting, Performance, and Data Quality Guide (PDF 800KB 88 pages)
- Weather Stations & ETo Stations
- WeatherBug Network Observers
- Initial Guidance to Obtain Representative Meteorological Observations at Urban Sites, by Tim R. Oke (PDF 423KB 51 pages)
- NWS Cooperative Observer Program
- NWS Observing Handbook No. 2: Cooperative Station Observations (PDF 1.4MB 94 pages)
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