Weather station
DAVIS VANTAGE VUE
Weather station is a Davis Vantage Vue see detail about their products at link :
http://www.davisnet.com/vantage-vue/
It has a sensor suite which is essentially the outside part and contains sensors for measurement of temperature, wind, humidity, rain, barometric pressure etc.
Then there is an inside console that has a wireless connection to the sensor suite and here one can see all the measured as well as calculated parameters
e.g. temperature inside and outside, humidity inside and outside, dew point, cloud base, sunrise/sunset, daily/weekly/monthly/yearly rain, moon phases etc.
A data logger is connected to the console and this in turn connects to a device called meteobridge which in turn wirelessly connects to the internet (can also be done via ethernet cable)
So even when the power is down the historical data logged by the console can be recovered (up to a couple of days depending on your station settings for the data logging interval)
See link :
http://meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Home
This wiki might help to use the full potential of Groenkloof weather website.
The info section explains the hard and software and connections used.(In the menu bar under the sub menus Weather station and Groenkloof Weather)
Weather data updates every minute.(for both the mobile and desktop sites)
There is a mobile page with current conditions, forecast, forecast map, station history (with drop down menu for today, yesterday, month, year etc. showing all parameters) and lastly a graph with drop down menu for time period and parameter. (Very useful for quick references )
One can switch to the desktop page using the link in bottom right hand corner and vice versa.
The desktop version is where very detailed weather info is available. ( Useful for more in depth detail )
It is divided in “blocks”
The sunrise/sunset times and day length is shown.
Moon with dates of full moon, new moon etc.
The current block shows weather values in easy to read numerical format and updates every minute.
“Live gauges” updates every minute and when the curser is hovered over a parameter it will show the min and max values and the time when this occurred.
In the forecast maps one can use the menu bar top left of block to choose from windy or dark sky maps.
Within the map one can choose from different parameters like wind, temperature, rain, thunder, clouds, pressure etc.
Then station data is shown with now, max, min values and drop down menu for different time periods.
There is also a history block where one can choose different parameters and a trends block with 1,3,6,12,24 hrs etc trends.
Next is a forecast meteogram which is dynamic and moving the cursor over it will show all weather parameters at that point.
Then easy to read forecast with drop down the default using the Norwegian institute of meteorology values. (seems to be most accurate)
Next is rainfall for today, this month, this year (from January)
Drop down gives more options like seasonal (from September) etc.
Rain balance is the stations values measured against 100 year rain data for Pretoria obtained from SA weather services.
Next is graph with several drop down options and a day pie graph where one can pick dates and parameters.
In extremes one can pick a parameter like absolute temperature, precipitation etc. to see max/min value dates and times.
There is a air quality block click within block for more info.
Map to show location of station.
Webcam with view from Herbert Baker Street updates every 5 minutes.
For aviation enthusiasts Cloud height time to sunset and density altitude.
Then SA weather warnings from SA weather services, lightning detection and fire danger index.
Followed by calendar, earthquakes and astronomical events.
World weather...shows current conditions in few world cities.
Database: data is stored every 5 mins and available data runs from January 2014.
The menu at the top is really self explanatory and here there are countless information, statistics etc.
Enjoy!!
Leon :leonrossouw@me.com
P.S. since August 2021 I have added Solar, Uv sensors, Air Quality, soil moisture and lightning detection.
Icons
Temperature
Humidity
Pressure
Wind speed
Wind gust
Precipitation
Solar radiation
Snow
Apparent temperature
Dew point
UV
Visibility
Cloud base
Evapotranspiration
Indoor temperature
Indoor humidity
Sunrise
Sunset
Moon rise
Moon set
Time
Menu
From
To
Fullscreen
Export as image
Settings
Homepage
Webcam
Table
Graph
Map
Steady
Rising
Falling
Warning
Latitude
Longitude
History
Solar eclipse
Lunar eclipse
GPS
Elevation
Day
Month
Year
High temperature
Low temperature
Day
Night
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter