Distracting myself a little from frantic general election planning, I’ve been installing a wee weather station at the bottom of the garden.

It’s the cheapest available (as far as I can tell!) that measures lots of different things, and communicates with a PC for logging the data. It’s a Lacrosse WS-2300.

The site I chose for the sensors was the best available, but there are a number of flaws. Firstly there is nowhere anywhere near our house that’s suitable for a wind meter. We’re surrounded by trees, and there’s a huge hill on one side. Even sticking it on the roof wouldn’t do, as the tree in front of our house is taller than the highest point on the house. And the roof would also not be all that convenient for access when it comes to replacing batteries. So wherever it goes, it won’t be terribly accurate as the shadowing from buildings, trees or hills will funnel the weather and shelter it from the lower breezes.

The other issue I thought about when installing was that the fence post I’m using is a little too close to the compost bin, which is rotting away merrily and producing quite a lot of heat.

It’s become clearer from today’s temperature readings, which are about 10 degrees too high, compared to other nearby people’s observations, the forecast, and my other outdoor thermometers, that the thermometer is in full sun. I will either have to move it, or make a Stevenson screen.
The software it came with has fairly serious limitations, so for the last day or so I have been using Weather Display on a free trial, which has been uploading to a webpage. Weather Display has thousands of features, most of which have very limited application. The screens are a complete eyesore, and the website it generates is an affront to the eyes, and web standards (huge images covered in text, for starters.) See for yourself.

I’ve been experimenting with a Mac application called Weather Tracker, which says it should work with the weather station I have but that isn’t quite right…

Have been happily uploading data to Weather Underground, too.