Everything you need to know before buying an Automatic Weather station

Weather stations more specifically automatic weather stations are in trend today. All you need is a display along with it and you will be getting all the data you need to know about the weather. Here we have discussed everything you may be wondering about it. Including how it works and what it needs.

The weather station in India needs to be set properly for its unpredictable weather and everywhere else with unpredictable weather needs it as well. We have a detailed guide about it. People still use traditional weather stations but automatic weather stations in India is getting more and more popular. As they offer more bang for the buck for its reliability and affordability over a manual one. Modern Weather stations also have IoT features enabled so the IoT weather station is also a popular thing today so we will be focusing on this one as it’s probably the future of automatic weather stations.

What is an automatic weather station?

Before knowing what exactly is automatic weather station we first need to know what is a traditional weather station?- Weather stations are devices that are used for observing and collecting climatic data it requires human intervention to process the data.

Automatic Weather Station works on a similar principle but does all of this automatically. It can either work as a unit of the large network sending the collected data to big data processing centers or it can work as a stand-alone device that records and transmits data. It mainly consists of two parts one, outside your house between the elements that collect the data and the other inside your house displaying the data. The interval of the collecting data can be customized in the system that can be anything from once a day to once per hour.

What data does the weather station collect?

It collects environmental data such as

• Temperature
• Atmospheric Pressure
• Humidity
• Wind Speed
• Wind Direction
• UV Index
• Soil Moisture
• Near by water temperature
• Leaf Wetness
• Air Quality Index
• Solar Radiation

In coastal areas, marine weather station also collects data such as

• Sea surface temperature
• Wave Height
• Wave period, etc

how does this work

It works in 3 steps

Step 1- At first the automatic weather station collects the atmospheric data depending upon what it was designed to measure, with the help of its sensors.

Step 2- After collecting it sends the data to the network of other weather stations of the forecaster or to the nearest display screen.

For collecting and transmitting the data it uses various components

Step 3- It shows the data to be visible don’t the screen.

What does an automatic weather station consist of?

As the automatic weather station can be tailored according to one’s requirements it can have so many various sensors and instruments according to your needs it can mainly consist

FOR THE COLLECTION OF WEATHER DATA

Things Every Typical Automatic Weather station In India have

Weather Sensor– Despite its name it does not measure all the information together instead what it does is measure wind speed and wind direction. It has two parts one for measuring Wind Speed It’s called an Anemometer and the second part is for measuring the wind direction it is called a wind vane. Sometimes there can be a vane-style anemometer it’s basically a device that measures both.

Sensor Shelter– It’s a protective shell that covers the most important yet fragile piece of instruments and sensors.

Barometer– Barometer is the instrument that is used to measure atmospheric pressure.

Thermometer– We all already know what it actually is it measures and shows the temperature data on that particular day and particular time span.

Hygrometer– It’s a device that measures the humidity or the presence of water vapor in the air.

Air Quality Index Sensor– This sensor measures impurities in the air such as Pm2.5, Co2, No2, etc.

Rain Gauge– The next most important sensor is the Rain Guage. As its name suggests it measures the liquid amount of rainfall. It’s a cylindrical shape container with a linear scale it shows the amount of rainfall in that much area in millimeters. Sometimes they are also used to measure the snowfall. It can be manipulated to measure daily, weekly, and yearly precipitation.

Add one device that brings more functionality to your weather station

Lightning Sensor– They are one of the best sensors for the safety of people. unfortunately, it’s still considered an optional sensor as only the comprehensive weather stations have one. They give visual and audio warnings of upcoming lightning strikes. It also helps you understand the severity of the storm. Like, for example, if a storm has a high number of in-cloud lightning going around, it’s most probably a cyclone or a cloud burst.

Weather Camera– Though most people avoid adding a camera to an automatic weather station in India or anywhere else as the cost goes high and it’s mostly for aesthetic reasons, Still many people feel it’s nice to have a Weather camera in real-time photos and videos. Local News channels may ask for those to show them on their channels and the organizations love the attention they can get from the news channel

Pyranometer-A pyranometer is a type of actinometer used for measuring solar irradiance on a planar surface and it is designed to measure the solar radiation flux density (W/m²) from the hemisphere above within a wavelength range 0.3 μm to 3 μm.

 Sun-Shine Recorder-Its an old-time analog device that looks like a crystal ball used for recording the amount of sunlight that a particular location receives throughout a day. Inside the frame, a paper is placed. It shows the sunlight by burning the paper and then it’s measured from the burned paper.

The digital version often keeps the crystal ball but the readings are visible on the digital screen.

Soil-Moisture meter– This device measures the amount of water is present per unit of the soil.

For Processing and Showing Data

Recording Device and Transmitter– It’s a metallic box that stores two devices and it does two different things. The first one is for reading the sensors and recording the data. The device that does it is called “Data-Logger” and the second part of the device is called a network transmitter that sends the data to the Display Screen It is Paired to.

As one of the old-timers in the field of Automatic IoT weather stations, we know the importance of recording the data and recording is not enough it needs to show data whenever and where ever we want in-app or a physical paper, So provide all those in our Iot Weather Station.

Screen– The visual part of the weather station almost every modern weather station has one it shows all the that are recorded in the weather station. It’s everyone’s favorite part of their IoT Weather station. Its works are mostly based on the cloud.

Who can use an automatic weather station?

Every organization that deals with people going outside or planning an event can be benefitted from this. If you are looking for an IoT weather machine chances are you already have some idea on why someone may need one but for more knowledge, you may read this. If you already have prominent knowledge you should skip this section.

If you run a School or College that teaches STEM fields or have a large campus area and are worried about the safety of students or if you own a golf course or even an airport all of you can be benefitted from an IoT weather station. Let’s dive deep into it.

For the safety of people– If your organization span across a lot of people a large open space or if you organize an event across a huge open space, an unfortunate weather hazard may cause huge problems, for example, a storm or lightning may be life-threatening. A College with a large campus where people stay outside most of the time also may be prone to similar risks. It will also be terrible for your business reputation.

An IoT-enabled weather station will help you in real-time weather monitoring and warning the crowd in that exact place. It can save lives and also help take better decisions in planning events for your business. You will need the lightning sensor here.

Airports are another place where IoT weather stations can be highly beneficial for the safety of the people on board and for those who are on the ground. The real-time weather information can help the authorities take important decisions about the flites.

More than 15000 people die each year from lightning strikes at golf courses. A proper thunder cloud warnings would have saved them. It is another reason why golf courses and other places that offer outdoor sports should have a weather station.

STEM Learnings– Automatic weather stations in India and all over the world can help students understand the subject of meteorology better, especially when the theory part is long descriptive and boring practical knowledge of using practical machines will raise interest in students and it will be easier for teachers to get students attention easily.

For Weather Enthusiasts– People who have an interest in collecting weather data for fun and love playing the numbers they collect each day and week, Use a weather station with limited features. This collects data inside and outside the room. It is another use of weather station.

Advantages of an IoT weather station

Now as you know who can use it, it’s time for you to learn why it’s important to have your own automatic weather station when you can use third-party applications available online.

Proper Measurements– If you consider listening to the weather forecasts for a while you know how accurate most of the time they are, already. Most of the time they are proven inefficient and unreliable. Not because they use a cheap machine but because the weather machine they are using is showing the weather elements of that nearby place. Sure they are connected in the network of many weather stations and collect and process the data of a huge area but still it’s not enough if you stay far from that certain area where those weather stations cant cover.

The advantage of your own weather station is it will be able to tell the highly accurate measurements of the area and most importantly at the place where you want it the most.

Easy to operate-And if you were thinking about the old traditional weather stations the drawback for this will be, you will need to be an expert or hire an expert to read this above all you need to physically go there and do the calculations every time you want to see and check the weather but an automated weather system does all of that automatically in realtime.

Consumes soo little power– Weather stations even the most robust ones consume little to no electricity. It can with a small solar panel, wind turbine, and even from the power coming from the wall adapter of your smartphone.

Try to think about it, If you were needed too much electricity to operate this how the automatic weather station in India is available in almost some of the remotest places like the top of mountains to I’m middle of the forest.

Technical Malfunction Free– They often don’t require any routine maintenance. They can work in some of the hardest climates without stopping, sure being a digital product and working with the help of electricity it can face mishaps but still, it’s in the minimal amount.

How to mount the IoT weather station

When installing the weather station you have to avoid places like under a tree, as it might get in the way of collecting the right amount of light or rainwater, you will also need to keep it in an ally where it does not get the air properly or get air in too much amount of it as the buildings work as an air funnel you should try to keep that away from the places as shown in the picture. Read further for a detailed guide.

Temperature:

• Place the thermometer directly inside sun
• Place this atleast 5 ft away from ground and 50 ft away from paved surfaces
• Keep the thermometer ventilated

Rain & Humidity:

• The humidity sensor needs to be 50 ft away from nearest waterbody
• The rain collector should stay away any shadows
• Needs 5 ft distance any obstructions
• Try to create a situation as if the container is kept in the in the middle of a huge ground

Wind :

• The animomeater needs to be placed 33ft above ground

Here is a video for helping you with that.

Frequently Asked Questions

(1) How often will I collect the data?

The collection of the data can be customized according to your requirements

(2) Collection part is fine but how will I access the data?

Every weather station provides some kind of storage system as for Kotai Electronics we provide a custom cloud server for you to see data anytime and every time.

(3) How durable it is?

Our IoT weather station is built in India specially to withstand Indian weather and work effortlessly without stopping.

Conclusion

If you were looking for information about an automatic weather station in India or anywhere else now you know everything about it. You also know why the IoT weather station offers better performance than others. Just don’t forget the dos and don’ts of the installations and you will be fine. And you can check a few other youtube videos also for more reference. If you face any problem we also provide on-site help.

Thank you

Have a great day….