Author Topic: Goldstar Stations  (Read 55074 times)

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Offline alexstaar

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Goldstar Stations
« on: August 11, 2016, 07:03:08 PM »
Just checked out one of my stations on WU and noticed a little gold star/medal next to the station name...

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When you hover over the medal, it says:
"About Goldstar Stations:
This is a high-quality weather station that has passed our quality control process for 5 consecutive days."

Wonder what their QC process involves or what the criteria is... Just thought that was an interesting new feature that should be mentioned! Station link here: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KSCSIMPS8#history

Something else weird is that my station in Huntsville, AL isn't showing this yet, nor are any other stations around that I would consider "Goldstar Stations" per WU's description... Maybe it's only a new feature in certain areas? Who knows... Station link here: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KALHUNTS54#history
-Alex

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WU: KNJMOUNT68/KSCGREER81
CWOP: FW5135/EW6390
www.uah-mcthornmoracres-weather.com

Offline Jáchym

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2016, 07:39:35 PM »
Interesting, I tried searching for some more info and didnt find anything either.

One thing though striked me, this is what i found in the Help section:

Quote
...we perform several quality control (QC) checks on incoming weather data observations to make sure we show accurate data on the site.
If your station fails QC, your data will still be saved in our databases but it will not be shown in the normal places on the site such as city pages and the WunderMap.

How can they then explain that not long ago we discussed this in a different thread, where a station showed a dew point of several thousand degrees and I was suggesting exactly this - that it is very simple to filter this out, yet they havent done it.

Offline CW2274

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2016, 07:49:53 PM »
Interesting, I tried searching for some more info and didnt find anything either.

One thing though striked me, this is what i found in the Help section:

Quote
...we perform several quality control (QC) checks on incoming weather data observations to make sure we show accurate data on the site.
If your station fails QC, your data will still be saved in our databases but it will not be shown in the normal places on the site such as city pages and the WunderMap.

How can they then explain that not long ago we discussed this in a different thread, where a station showed a dew point of several thousand degrees and I was suggesting exactly this - that it is very simple to filter this out, yet they havent done it.
Ha, I'd forgotten about the dew temp which was comparable to the surface of the sun, as it was mine! Guess what? I'm a "Gold Star" too! I feel like I'm back in first grade! UU

Offline SpringHillWeather

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2016, 08:13:55 PM »
I just checked and my main station the Ambient Weather 1001 did not get any stars  :cry: but my BloomSky and Ambient WS-0900 both did! :mrgreen:

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Offline Jáchym

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2016, 08:40:33 PM »
I just checked and my main station the Ambient Weather 1001 did not get any stars  :cry: but my BloomSky and Ambient WS-0900 both did! :mrgreen:

Yeah,  looks like your dew point is below the temperature of the Sun ..  "gold star"  don't you get the point?

Lol


Offline SpringHillWeather

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2016, 09:18:01 PM »
I just checked and my main station the Ambient Weather 1001 did not get any stars  :cry: but my BloomSky and Ambient WS-0900 both did! :mrgreen:

Yeah,  looks like your dew point is below the temperature of the Sun ..  "gold star"  don't you get the point?

Lol

Yup, if the Bloomsky gets 5 stars then something strange going on.... LOL
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Offline kg4ooz

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2016, 10:41:14 PM »
My station shows as a gold star, but another local station which regularly reports temps almost 10 degrees too high also is rated gold star.  Makes me wonder how they do quality control to rate the stations.

Offline txweather.org

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #7 on: August 11, 2016, 10:43:47 PM »
Yup. Mine got one too.
Apparently something to do with QC :)
Cool.

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Offline alexstaar

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2016, 10:45:34 PM »
Just strange how my Vantage Vue got a Gold Star, but my VP2 with 24-hour FARS WITH the SHT31 sensor didn't... Weird.
-Alex

Davis 6153 VP2 with 24-hour FARS/
Davis 6250 Vantage Vue
WU: KNJMOUNT68/KSCGREER81
CWOP: FW5135/EW6390
www.uah-mcthornmoracres-weather.com

Offline CW2274

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2016, 10:55:35 PM »
Just strange how my Vantage Vue got a Gold Star, but my VP2 with 24-hour FARS WITH the SHT31 sensor didn't... Weird.
No it's not.

Offline alexstaar

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2016, 11:00:48 PM »
Why's that?
-Alex

Davis 6153 VP2 with 24-hour FARS/
Davis 6250 Vantage Vue
WU: KNJMOUNT68/KSCGREER81
CWOP: FW5135/EW6390
www.uah-mcthornmoracres-weather.com

Offline nincehelser

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2016, 11:25:37 PM »
I currently have 3 stations reporting to wunderground.  Two are gold-star, one is not.

The one that is not gold-star has had a couple of brief outages in the last 5 days.

I'm guessing the consistency of your reporting interval is a big factor.


Offline CW2274

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2016, 11:53:31 PM »
Why's that?
Because QC in the PWS world is a complete crap shoot. What makes you think they know your PWS's better than you do?

Offline hankster

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #13 on: August 12, 2016, 12:02:50 AM »
Can't say their gold star means much. My BloomSky station has one and it shows 4-5 degrees over my Davis Vue (which in itself is 1-2 degree high) during the day.

Offline alexstaar

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #14 on: August 12, 2016, 02:52:57 AM »
Can't say their gold star means much. My BloomSky station has one and it shows 4-5 degrees over my Davis Vue (which in itself is 1-2 degree high) during the day.

Yes, I agree.
-Alex

Davis 6153 VP2 with 24-hour FARS/
Davis 6250 Vantage Vue
WU: KNJMOUNT68/KSCGREER81
CWOP: FW5135/EW6390
www.uah-mcthornmoracres-weather.com

Offline alexstaar

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #15 on: August 12, 2016, 03:02:03 AM »
Why's that?
Because QC in the PWS world is a complete crap shoot. What makes you think they know your PWS's better than you do?

Well that's why I was wondering what their criteria is for classifying a station as "Goldstar"... It's obviously not simply a station that passes the normal QC that is always occurring automatically (not saying they have a good way of QCing automatically either...). Perhaps only time will tell.
-Alex

Davis 6153 VP2 with 24-hour FARS/
Davis 6250 Vantage Vue
WU: KNJMOUNT68/KSCGREER81
CWOP: FW5135/EW6390
www.uah-mcthornmoracres-weather.com

Offline Jáchym

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #16 on: August 12, 2016, 05:37:55 AM »
And as I mentioned previously, what they say in the Help section about hiding non-sense values (which is very simple to do technically) is not true. They often show that nonsense, and it is not just absolutely crazy values like dewpoint of 1200°C, but also spikes, the SW should be able to detect that I cannot have a temperature of 25°C and in the next minute -10, even though both numbers are theoretically ok.

Offline ocala

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #17 on: August 12, 2016, 05:43:05 AM »
My guess is that they are are using NWS and airport stations as the starting point.
Again a guess, if you stray too far either way you get demoted but if you are in their parameters you get a star.
Really there is no other way to QC the data.
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Offline vreihen

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #18 on: August 12, 2016, 06:22:58 AM »
No gold star for me. :roll:

As Flo said, sprinkles are for winners.....  :lol:
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline miraculon

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #19 on: August 12, 2016, 08:19:29 AM »
I got one too. I feel so special....

 :roll:



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Offline Mapantz

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #20 on: August 12, 2016, 04:35:11 PM »
I checked mine after reading this thread, and had a gold star. Five minutes later, it was gone. Another five minutes after that, it was back again. I decided to check again after another five minutes, and it was gone again. It's just a gimmick, it's exactly like the Met Office' WoW star rating that was implemented a month or so ago.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2016, 04:38:43 PM by Mapantz »


Offline Evening thunder

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #21 on: August 12, 2016, 08:17:54 PM »
I've come to the conclusion that WU's quality control is a bit rubbish.

My station not infrequently gets removed from the map (VP2 with SHT31 sensor), because my valley location means we can be a few degrees colder at night, indeed the other night it was removed when a nearby station only one degree C warmer was still showing.

Yet at the same time, various stations reading several degrees high by day or night, such as slow responding/poorly sited Netatmos, stay on the map.

A station in the next county (Cornwall) hasn't reached 10C in 5 days.. yet it is gold star rating! Our summer may be
bad sometimes but not that bad! it's been reaching the low 20's around that site.
This is about the warmest it's been (oddly at night) with about the smallest difference:
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Also they apparently remove 'inaccurate' stations from the map, yet a 36C and -46C station is allowed?  :-P

(as I write this Wundermap starts being strange, and changes to Farenheight and the settings section to change it back is blank, but that is probably more familiar for many on here anyway and you get the idea)
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Offline Jasiu

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #22 on: August 12, 2016, 08:23:49 PM »
I found it rather odd that they decided to use the term Goldstar as, at least in the US, many people associate that term with the families of fallen military members.
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #23 on: August 12, 2016, 08:26:12 PM »
I've come to the conclusion that WU's quality control is a bit rubbish.

My station not infrequently gets removed from the map (VP2 with SHT31 sensor), because my valley location means we can be a few degrees colder at night, indeed the other night it was removed when a nearby station only one degree C warmer was still showing.

Yet at the same time, various stations reading several degrees high by day or night, such as slow responding/poorly sited Netatmos, stay on the map.

A station in the next county (Cornwall) hasn't reached 10C in 5 days.. yet it is gold star rating! Our summer may be
bad sometimes but not that bad! it's been reaching the low 20's around that site.
This is about the warmest it's been (oddly at night) with about the smallest difference:
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Also they apparently remove 'inaccurate' stations from the map, yet a 36C and -46C station is allowed?  :-P

(as I write this Wundermap starts being strange, and changes to Farenheight and the settings section to change it back is blank, but that is probably more familiar for many on here anyway and you get the idea)
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Yes, exactly, I mentioned this before in a different thread a while ago.

The problem is that they base accuracy on nearby stations so since many more are likely to have NetAtmo than Davis, you can guess which one will be interpreted as inaccurate if all the other ones show the same nonsense... and with regards to filtering out nonsense.... no comments (not long ago one guy here had a dew point of 1200 degrees.... and WU showed it as absolutely normal value...)

Offline nincehelser

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Re: Goldstar Stations
« Reply #24 on: August 12, 2016, 08:31:09 PM »
I found it rather odd that they decided to use the term Goldstar as, at least in the US, many people associate that term with the families of fallen military members.

That usage is not as popular as you think.  Until "gold star families" popped up in the news recently, most non-military have never heard it used that way.

The most popular usage is in the grading of school work.

Look it up "gold star" in urban dictionary for another surprise.

 

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