Any permie knows how important site analysis is, and getting local data is important. My property is in a vey rural area and I have found that the rain, wind and temperatures are significantly different from places even 10 kilometers away.
If you’ve got a bit of patience before you do an implementation, it is ideal to have a year’s worth of data (plus if you’ve got a neighbour that pays close attention to the weather and has lived there forever, then you’re gold.
Last year, I purchased a Davis Vantage Pro2 to start capturing all the data. Now I can capture all the weather data even if I’m away for a few days. Trouble is, that the software that comes with it is very dated and limited. The interface on the controller is unintuitive and clunky. If only there was a way to get that data out of there and onto the WEB so I can get stats and do reports instead of working. YES!
Okay, what do I need? Well, I bought the USB controller adapter thingy and a Rasberri Pi. My intention is to get this thing updating to Weather Underground for starters. I want to check my LOCAL weather on my iPhone.. and I do mean local.
The Raspberri Pi device arrived today, so stay tuned, because over the next few days, barring any gremlins, I will be making this a reality.
Up Next: Selecting weather station software and an operating system.