So a few weeks ago I had a discussion with Ed Weibe down at UVic about where how my weather station was installed on my house. They weren’t happy. It was too close and while I felt it was not producing overly heated daytime temps, they disagreed. As they are the ones with the Dr. in front of their names, I conceded to their wisdom. :)
So tonight you’ll notice a few weird values. It’s from me moving the station around…
The upshot is that my station is now placed no less than 1 metre above the peak of my house, and 2 metres above the nearest flat asphalt surface.
The UVic folks wanted me to be at least 1 metre away from any surfaces, so this should more than satisfy them and it should mean that temperature values from my station will be as good as they can possibly be.
Looking forward to that 30 degree weather for Thursday and Friday! I’m on vacation, Summer is Here! Woooo!
July 1st, 2009 at 2:48 am
I’m surprised they are even allowing that. (Near surfaces) I’ve tried to get my temp sensor as far from any surface that may store/expel heat during the day. Ideally I’d like to be about 30 feet from the house in the back yard 4′ above ground, but I don’t have enough real estate.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:24 am
It’ll be interesting to see if there is any change in the difference between your temperatures and Environment Canada’s. During the last heat wave I noticed that your site tended to record the highest of all the local sites, so this might even them out a bit.. or not- we’ll see.
July 1st, 2009 at 7:31 am
Nick: Ya if you look at their pictures of their stations like here:
http://www.islandweather.ca/station.php?id=122
they’re all pretty identical. About 1-2 metres off the surface. Ed said the that’s far enough to be removed from the boundary layer of the building.
Hey btw Nick. what was your highest temp during our heat wave in June?
Bill: I will be watching very closely as well. I am generally 2-3C warmer than the EC station at the Airport, so if that trend changes, we’ll know that the new site is the culprit.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:20 am
Interesting. This is something I have been meaning to mention to you. I would think that anyplace directly above your house would be affected by it’s heat island & associated warm updraft. Perhaps the best place would be on a 1.5m bracket, sticking out from the side of the roof peak. Let me know if you need a bracket fabricated…I’ll supply the labor free, because I use your stations info so much.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
38.1 on the 4th of June was the high point of it here.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Ya I was 35.67°C on that day.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Ya, EC got 34.4 on the 4th of June, which was also the highest of the month.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:46 pm
See i dunno 1C over the temp at the airport seems appropriate to me?
If anything I think Nick is outta whack! :D ;)
July 1st, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Though I guess it’s not really a valid comparison anyway… I really wish i got the wireless version of this station, then i could get a 2nd set of temp/humid sensors and put them down in the yard.
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:20 am
I had an inexpensive station, which was wireless, but I put it back in the box after spending a fortune on batteries for a few months and being frustrated with interference causing false readings. I had a heck of a time finding good locations for the sending units. It could be cause it was a cheap one though…
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
I just need more backyard that I can secure and then I can put my sensor where I want to.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Looks like we are getting those toasty warm northerly winds again. Glad I fired up the A/C already to try and keep the house somewhat cool.
July 5th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Wow.. where’d that wind come from this evening?