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| Weather Station | ||||||||||||
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The Davis Vantage Pro2 model 6152 wireless. 
This weather station package consists of the weather console, wind vane, anemometer, solar panel, wireless transmitter, and the rain collector. The console displays current weather, history, charts, a forecast, and so much more. The backlighting makes the LCD display easy to read in low light. The optional fan aspirated radiation shield was installed to aid in temperature accuracy to keep the ambient air flowing across the sensors. Also, for wintry conditions, the rain collector heater was installed to melt the frozen precipitation to record moisture content for year long precipitation data logging. To transfer the data from the weather console to the computer, the optional data logger with a USB connection was installed. Software is also included to display your customized weather information on the computer, store the data for archiving, and delivering the data to the internet. |
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| Lightning Detection | ||||||||||||
Boltek's StormTracker uses state-of-the-art technology for real-time lightning detection. StormTracker detects lightning strikes up to 300 miles away and plots them in real time. This data provides an early warning of the approaching or developing storms and which direction the approaching storm is coming from. StormTracker works by detecting the radio signals produced by lightning. These are the same signals you can hear on an AM radio during a thunderstorm. The antenna is housed in a weatherproof enclosure 27 feet above ground level.
Data from the StormTracker at Michiana Weather is also sent in real-time to a nation wide link called StrikeStar by Astrogenic Systems. There are over 150 contributors in the US and Canada that provide data to form a lightning triangulation network called WASP2.
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| Web Cams | ||||||||||||
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| Software | ||||||||||||
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Specialized software was purchased to get the data into the computer from the weather station and the lightning detector.
Weather Display - primary software for data collection and internet data. Virtual Weather Station - secondary software for data collection from the console. VirtualVP - provides data for more than one software program from the console. NexStorm - Lightning map for tracking storm cells and storm ranging.
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| Published Data | ||||||||||||
Data from the weather station is shared and continuously sent to various locations across the US via the internet. This provides other internet sites to display current conditions and to check the accuracy of the data quality. APRSWXNET - Data quality checking. CWOP - Citizen Weather Observer Program PWS Weather - Personal weather stations. Affiliated with WeatherForYou.com and HAMweather.com STRIKESTAR - Lightning data. Midwest area. Weather Underground - Access to weather conditions around the world.
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| Site Location | ||||||||||||
| Placement of the sensors determines the accuracy of the data it collects. Due to the location in a residential neighborhood, efforts were made to conform with the guidelines according to NOAA's National Weather Service Proper Siting Guide. | ||||||||||||
Latitude : 41.70606 Longitude : -86.04158 Elevation : 758 feet
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| Contributors | ||||||||||||
| To display the weather data on a web site, customized software is developed to display the data more effectively by weather enthusiasts around the world. The coding, or scripting, of these programs are available free of charge. Most of the ideas for the scripts are from personal weather station owners. There are two weather forums where anything about weather is discussed in a friendly atmosphere. Feel free to visit them! Weather-Watch.com Forum and WXForum.net
This web site incorporates many of these free scripts and in return, all scripts that are created by yours truly are offered for free. Listed below are the contributors weather web site. |
Two Axis web cams are used to convey the current weather conditions in the Michiana area.
The main web cam is an Axis 221 that has infra-red capability from dusk until dawn. At night, the moon provides enough light to see the clouds and makes the neighborhood completely visible.
The second web camera is an Axis 210 without infra-red. Both cameras provided still images and live streaming video.