Back in the spring, my old home weather station left me (Santa Anna winds broke the plastic mounting, probably just sun rotted). It was an older, very simply unit and I would like something a little nicer now. I am currently limited to a standard wall barometer/thermometer in the house. What are the Ohana using/happy with? Wireless? Hard wired? Features? I am familiar with the principle and uses of a "weather rock" (they have one located on the flightline at my local airport) but I am thinking in my old age I might like something a little more modern.
Hi John —-
Acu-Rite makes decent weather stations that won't break the bank. And they work well in all seasons.
We had one that worked great —- but the screen was black, white, and grey —- we had trouble reading it, and it was small.
So about 7 years ago we picked this one up with a better color screen. It has worked great. Think we got it on Amazon. We also picked up the separate lightning detector that shows the number of strikes, and how far away they are. It shows up on the color screen for the Acu-Rite.
You can spend many times more than this (thousands) —- but this has more features and is easier to see at a glance than units costing many times more.
Wireless is the way to go, big color screen also, history functions, wind direction, wind velocity, humidity, good graphics.
We replace our batteries maybe once a year.
Shop around —- for pricing.
Best, Fred
Weather can be fascinating. Glad you are interested! I report to one of my local CBS TV stations; however, since I limit my reports to current temp, recent precip (rain/snow/ice/hail, etc.) and current wind direction (and an occasional explanatory comment), my equipment needs are minimal, and consist of an outdoor wireless thermometer, old fashioned rain gauge and a wet finger held up in the breeze.
Frank
Mine is an older accurite. It does the job. What I would like to see is local tide level data. I know I can look at my phone or PC, but it would be cool to have it on a weather station display all the time instead of other trend data that isn't immediately of interest to me.
I have been using a simple LaCrosse, indoor/outdoor temperature unit. It does have online monitoring for a price. I thought about adding a wind gauge unit, but for my area, nestled in trees all around us, I would have to place it 100' up a tree. Bill
iphone native weather app :-)
I am sailor so I need somewhat accurate wind forecast, so I know when NOT to go out sailing. Wind Apps work ok, free version is a bit limited.
Also have a Lacrosse. After 2yrs the outdoor/indoor temp monitors seem to be off. Gotta borrow a ladder and go-up on the roof and maybe replace the wind gage/temp unit batteries. It might be 10F warmer than the outside temp in the kitchen but not my office/work shop where it's mounted. All house windows are always open, except for high wind+rain conditions. Also, I lost my clock the other day. NOT gonna subscribe to on-line monitoring.
If you are interested in approaching storms a barometer with a recent graph history feature is nice.