Topic: Newb trying to get started

[PCBob]

Hi. Complete newbie here to the whole weather tracking thing and I had a couple of questions that may implicate me as crazy but I'll try anyway.

Since I was young I have always liked to measure things, track statistics and generally play with the tools that do that sort of thing. Weather instruments is my latest fascination. I have done alot of reading and right now I've tentatively decided on a Vantage Vue w/weatherlink but haven't pull the trigger yet.

My question is what do most of you do with the data? I think I understand the farmers and gardeners that rely on the data for planting but what about the average 8-5 office junkie like me?

I guess I'm trying to justify it in my mind that after I order it, wait out by the mailbox for the man in the brown truck then have fun with installing it, making it work and any calibration comparisons what is the popular next step? I'm familiar with WU, CoCoRhas and CWOP and that all seems like some fun but was curious what others do in the day to day as a weather hobbyist.

Thanks very much for any input, I'll probably order this week and have some fun this weekend.

Plant City Bob

[ocala]

Hey Bob welcome to the forum.
I really just use the data to do a year by year analysis. Rainfall this ElNino compared to the last one. Number of days below freezing this Winter compared with last etc. Nothing earth shattering really just fun to do.
Also the graphs in Weatherlink are by far the best of any software out there in my opinion. It's neat to see when a cold front actually comes through. You can see the dew point, temperature, and humidity all drop, and also see the wind shift.
Again nothing weather major just very fascinating to me.

[Downlinerz2]

   I agree with Ocala.  I am not sending my data to CWOP or WU as yet but will probably someday.  I like to go through the data to see things that Ocala mentioned.  I also keep a daily diary, or log, of weather conditions that I like to match up to the data from the station. I just write down a paragraph or so of what the day was like. For example-rainy, windy, cloudy(what type), fog, frost, frontal passages, storms, and any other significant features of the day. I then can compare the numbers from the station to the conditions in the diary.  As time goes by I have 2, 3 & 4 years of data to compare.  What the heck, it makes the day more interesting.

[weatherforyou]

I do it partly to know what the weather is where I'm at instead of miles away and thousands of feet higher or lower.  Most of the weather sites (except WU and WeatherForYou.com) use data for my town from a station which is 12 miles from my house and almost 3000 feet higher.  Right now it says it is 32 degrees and snowing when, in reality, it is 45 degrees and raining lightly.  They usually have much higher winds up there than here in the valley also.  The next closest station is near the same altitude but their climate is most often totally different.

I do send my data to most of the other services because I want others to know there is more accurate data available (and because I'm part owner of one of the services ).

Also I've had a fascination with weather since I was a kid. 

[DJMWX86]

Welcome. I send my data to 5 diffrent places via the World Wide Web. Now wither or not any one looks at it, doesn't matter to me much just as long I know it's out there for who ever is interested. In fact my High School science teacher form many years ago does a weather section of his class (which I loved) is using my data for his class via WU.    I also have a weather diary now on my 10th and last year of recording my station data every day. I hope to graph all 10 years but that will take some time.  If your not the diary or data sending type, it's still nice to see what's it's like in your own backyard but since sending the data is free, might as well take adantage of it. Who knows, you might find other cool things about weather along the way like this great forum for example. 

[DanS]

I find it encouraging and rewarding when I get e-mail and guest book messages from around the world saying things like " I check your website before planning a trip to Chiang Mai ". Also I'm the only internet posted PWS in northern Thailand. It's handy when you're away from home and want to check in to see how things are going too.

[PCBob]

Thanks for everyone's input, great community here!   I'm ordering today and can't wait to get pictures up of my install. 

Bob