JaxWeather.net / Bringing Jacksonville, Fl weather to your desktop.

April 2006 - JaxWeather goes Vantage Pro

Thursday, April 24, 2006 12:30 PM

On this past Friday, April 21, 2006 JaxWeather was officially converted over to using a Davis Vantage Pro 2 with FARS (Fan aspirated radiation shield) for all live weather readings...

The Davis Vantage pro 2 weather stations are considered by many as being the about the Top of the Line for true Home weather station use as the next level up will double - triple or even more increase the cost...

Details regarding Davis Weather Stations may be viewed here;
http://www.davisnet.com/weather/index.asp

I will post more once I can get some pictures, however the unit is impresssive and has been communicating flawlessly since it was placed into service. Fully wireless with 24 X 7 fan Aspiration, 6.5" collection cone rain bucket and Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS)...

We hope this will provide even more accurate weather information for our visitors. :)

-Bob

April 2006

Thursday, April 20, 2006 11:15 AM

There really hasn't been much to report on as the Weather Station and related software, Weather Display, have been running along like a well oiled top :)

The biggest news has been with Friendship Fountain, one of my related web sites, as it was reported that the City of Jacksonville was planning on the demolition of... Well i was interviewed on TV-4 News regarding this and I started an email campaign that resulted in an email from the Mayor of Jacksonville stating that the Fountain would not be demolished.

I hope this works out in the end but it will require constant vigilance, you know how politicians can be... :)

I may have some weather related news coming along soon, time will tell... shhhhhhhhh ;)

-Bob

Oct - Nov 2005

Friday, November 4, 2005, 2:49 PM
Well it wasn't pretty around here for a couple of weeks...

Main Weather Station computer crashed and burned and all data was lost... I had backed up Weather Display just a few days earlier however i neglected to copy the backup to another machine. Oyyyyy...

I did an emergency set up on one of my Daughters Celeron dell computers using a Backup from April 2005... While somewhat sluggish it did the job till I decided on new machine which I went with a Dell 3.2 GHz P-4 with hyper-threading, 512 MB RAM and 80 GB HD.

Got the new machine and setup Weather display using the awesome Moving WD to a new computer FAQ from the Weather-Watch Forums.
http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php/topic,9234.0.html

I also was able to capture much of the lost data from the Weather-Display install on another machine that runs the web cam with the help of Brian, the Author of Weather-Display.

Then I noted I was getting dinged for barometer readings and Humidity from CWOP Quality Control. Investigating this I found the La Crosse console was reading high on Barometric pressure, why i have no clue but switched to a second console and readings appear to be back in line.

The Humidity is a different animal as I am using a 1-wire Humidity sensor from AAG. I have removed that sensor from readings at the present and am using the La crosse Humidity readings until i either figure out the problem or obtain a new sensor...

Anyway as I noted not been pretty with all this going on and I sure hope things stay on a more level keel with the end of the Hurricane season approaching, this would be a good time for everything to work right for awhile ;)

-Bob

Station Updates

Thursday, September 22, 2005, 6:59 PM
It has been a couple of months since I had a chance to update the Log...

Additions to the station:
WAP Access: Cell phone accessible Page: http://JaxWeather.net/WAP/
RSS Feed: http://JaxWeather.net/WeatherImages/jaxweather.rss

1-Wire Wind Instrument, kindly provided by Dave from Maryland. You can see his Weather Web Site here:
QuickSkys.com

Dave felt that my little assistance in helping him with some HTML was worth something, but I believe I got the better end of this deal and I sure do appreciate the sensor...

Brian the author of Weather Display was kind enough to code a new option into the program allowing a 1-wire wind sensor to override the wind report from the La Crosse. However as the wind instrument I have is a version one it was decided to allow the wind direction from the La Crosse to still report.

End result: Anemometer mast has 1-wire wind sensor at the top and the La Crosse Anemometer about 1 foot below. This did allow me to raise the mast about 1 foot overall and this weekend I plan on raising it another foot which I believe will give me about as good a reading as the surrounding area will allow without getting too crazy ;)

We have also setup the second La Crosse station as backyard weather station, currently running wireless but will be changing that to wired soon, and connected to Selene's Computer. As a result of some intermittent loss of signal it isn't always up to date but that will be corrected when I wire it. It reports to this page:
Johnson's Backyard Weather

Also been a couple of crazy months tracking and watching hurricanes, which so far have only caused some rain and thunderstorms here in NE Florida and we dodged another one as RITA is in the Gulf.. Still over 2 months to go so not a time to let your guard down.

That is the update for now :)
-Bob

June - July 2005

Monday, July 4, 2005, 10:44 AM
June was a wet month, and HOT. July is starting out with a bang, 1,273 Lightning Strikes recorded in three days and 5.87" rain already!

The station appears to be reporting conditions very accurately and the CWOP Quality reports have been consistently on the mark. This would appear to validate the changes I made in the placement of the sensors in April - May.

On another note it is Selene's and my 5th wedding anniversary so from us to all of you have a Happy and Safe 4th of July...

-Bob

Complete Overhaul of Station

Thursday, April 21, 2005, 10:51 AM
After a number of days where I saw temp spikes of at least 5 degrees over what I believed they should be I got my second La Crosse Thermo-hygro sensor and base station out.

Using wireless mode I tested various spots around my house and yard for temperature readings in comparison to the main station's. I also set up a couple of analog thermometers as yet another cross reference.

I discovered that regardless of how well shaded the areas were on the north side of the house the temps reached almost 5 degrees higher then they did from positions west of the house, positions that were well shaded all day.

I suspect that the radiant heating from the close proximity (20 feet) of multiple block walls was causing the disparity.

In any event I went ahead and made the following changes.

1: The thermo-hygro sensor was moved to a more easterly location, still on the north side of our property but in the middle of some heavy large bushes (that are 20 feet tall) that is virtually in shade from sun rise to sunset.

2: The Anemometer was moved from the front north/east side of the house and placed on the pole with the Lightning detector, rain gauge and 1-wire humidity sensor.

I believe that this may slightly affect wind readings however I am of the mind that it is virtually impossible to have 100% accurate wind readings in any residential neighborhood and am willing to take the performance hit, if indeed there is one.

The moves were completed on this past Sunday and all temp readings (humidity has been better as well) have been almost spot on with official reporting stations locally as well as other personal stations I monitor.

I am still planning on adding a solar powered fan to the general area of the thermo-hygro sensor as added precaution against temp spikes especially with much warmer days ahead :)

Thats the latest,
Bob

Routine Update

Wednesday, April 6, 2005, 8:32 AM
In the last few weeks I have primarily been tweaking aspects of the web site, with the following additions...

Additional top navigation links...
Fire Index added
Tide Information added
Current trends added
5 day graphical forecast added

I also helped a fellow weather station owner here locally in Jacksonville get his VWS weather site up and running which can be seen here:
Fife's Photo scroll down for the Weather Links. Robert is a Jacksonville Fireman as well as a new member of the Weather Station enthusiasts...

I have also stayed very active in posting in Weather-Watch, the Forums for Weather Display, and have contributed a couple of FAQs and hope to add more as time permits.

I have also ordered a 1-wire Humidity sensor and will document that addition once it has arrives and I have gotten it figured out LOL...

Thats it for now, happy cloud and lightning watching ;)

-Bob

Lightning!

Friday, March 18, 2005, 8:29 PM
Had a small storm the other day, but the Lightning detector alerted us almost 10 mins before we heard the first bit of Thunder that it was on the way...

Also got a better presentation for the Lightning detector located here:
JaxWeather lightning Page

-Bob

March Station Update

Sunday, March 6, 2005, 9:44 PM
Last entry I indicated we had added a Weather Web Cam. That has been enhanced to provide streaming as well as static images, however for a number of reasons the streaming link isn't noted in text and the linked area has been provided to friends and family. If you meet one of those criteria and don't know how to view the streaming cam send me an email, post a comment, get word to me :)

Newest addition has been a Lightning detector, it is based on 1-wire technology and just will detect lightning strikes, frequency within 30 miles or so. More about setting the lightning detector up can be read here:
Weather Display Forums

I have also been tweaking the home made radiation shields for the Thermo-hygro sensor, which I believe I have finally gotten to the best i can. However I am still evaluating another location for the sensor.

I obtained a back-up WS-2310 that I am going to use to evaluate possible better placements for the main sensor, my main problem being I do not want to move the wind sensor as it is proving to be about in the best possible location now.

Between work, the Weather Station and routine home (yard work has started again) it is never ending from rise and shine to collapse into bed for the night...

That's it for now... More when I get a chance,
Bob

Busy... Busy... Busy!

Thursday, February 10, 2005, 6:35 PM
Wow...

How does anyone keep a daily blog I will never understand...

Between work and the station all my time is gone, gone, gone...

Recent additions... Regional page, Additional Astro Information, Updated Mesomaps, Davis View Weather Flash, and a Web cam!

JaxWeather Cam

More will be coming i am sure...

I also made some adjustments to the station itself, raised the wind sensor to about 20 feet from ground level, moved Thermo-hygro sensor away from house wall onto an area over grass (for better humidity readings) and I am still working on shielding again.

So check it out, leave any comments you want here, or in the Guestbook...

Hope you enjoy,
Bob

Weather Software

Friday, January 14, 2005, 1:08 AM
After starting with Virtual Weather Station, and getting everything setup and running to where I was fairly happy I went to check out Weather Display which I had reviewed before I had gotten the La Crosse, once again.

My original decision to go with VWS was after I had downloaded and played a bit with both VWS and WD. Both evaluations were prior to my actually receiving the La Crosse weather station. I found VWS to be far more intuitive in getting up and running and actually was a bit overwhelmed with the WD setup and number of options...

However on my second go around with Weather Display I noted one thing right off the bat. The data from the La Crosse was read much more frequently using WD than it was with VWS and wind gusts that were not being reported using VWS got reported using WD.

By this time I was also starting to play with the Demo version of Weather Flash, the live Flash module for VWS and I also tried Weather Display Live, the Flash module for WD.

Ultimately I found with some serious time and reading and searching the WD forums I was able to get more information to my web site using WD than VWS and as of now WD reads data directly from the La Crosse and uploads the majority of data to the web site.

VWS pulls data from WD and still provides some images and other aspects of the web site. I am also running both Weather Display Live as well as Weather Flash now, thanks to my wife Selene letting me pick my own Christmas Presents :) ...

My original opinion has not changed. If you want a fairly easy to set up software package and want to just get it up and running and pretty much leave alone VWS may be the right choice.

However if you run into problems or want more than what VWS provides, then maybe Weather Display may be the better choice. VWS with the Flash module will cost more than WD and it's accompanying Flash Module by almost $85.00 if just buying the software standalone.

Current prices:
VWS = Internet Version $99.95
WD = Internet Version $70.00 (Approx as it has to be converted from NZ$)

Weather Flash (VWS Flash) $89.95
Weather Display Live (WD Flash) $36.00 (again converted from NZ$)

I will discuss differences more at length as time goes on. Whatever you do, don't buy one without checking out the other. They both offer 30 day evaluation versions. Some may find one suits their needs more than the other does and vice versus.

One thing I can say about WD is that I have had the pleasure of corresponding with the Software Author, Brian, who has helped me with specific problems as well as is very active within the WD Forums.
http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/

VWS also has a support forums however the Author of VWS does not appear to have the time to devote to direct support through the forums, however the Author of Weather Flash, Tim West, does provide a great deal of support.
http://users.boardnation.com/~ambient/

That is it for now but more on this subject will be forthcoming...

-Bob

More Software... More, More, More...

Sunday, January 2, 2005, 3:18 AM

the last couple of weeks have been busy...

i first obtained and installed the VWS WeatherFlash module which i played with for a few days and determined i did want to purchase a license and add it to the web site..

then i went ahead and installed Weather Display to see if it offered anything more than I was getting from VWS... not looking to start any wars here, so let me just say that after a week of evaluating Weather Display (for the second time) i decided that i also would like to license it and use it in conjunction with VWS for the web site.

i also installed the Weather Display Live module (WD's flash module) and decided i wanted that too! greedy ain't i :P

currently both Weather Display Live and VWS WeatherFlash are licensed and up and running on the site...

next post will outline differences and what is running what, on the site.

till then happy new years to one and all!

-bob