Topic: What is the purpose of a PWS website?

[duke666]

Lately it has crossed my mind, why do people visit a PWS website? A lot of sites seem to be a show case for the latest effects or what the 'op' has found on the internet today. A lot of pages seem to be regurgitated data, data sent from the 'op's' PWS to another site (WU, YoWindow and the like) and then that page is displayed on the 'op's' site.

So, why do you visit a PWS web site? Is it for the local, accurate and clearly displayed first hand data? Do you visit for forecasts whether it be a simple forecast or more advanced. May be just to see what the weather is now, yesterday or some other time in the past since the PWS started operating.

From another point of view, for those of you that have some type of user /viewer tracking, which pages do you get the most views on and are those views by local users?

Your comments and experiences are welcomed.....

[DanS]

 Answer to both questions 'What is the purpose of a PWS website' and 'Why do you visit a PWS website'. Personally I feel, besides being a gratifying hobby, it is provided to be available to anyone who has a need or desire to see what the local weather is for that particular area. I have received Guestbook notices from visitors to say 'thanks' and that they check my site before going out for the day.

[wxtech]

I don't usually visit other PWS.  I have maintained a personal weather station and online site here since 2003.  My station is the National Weather Service Cooperative weather station for this county.  I also have the CoCoRaHS site in this town.
My online PWS provides accurate, never more than 5 minutes old wx data, to the public.  I don't track site usage.  Last month the local newspaper editor commented that he was pleased to see the Lexington weather station site back in operation and available and that he missed it when I had it down.  I removed local data temporarily while my Davis VP2+ was being refurbished by Davis.  During that time I redirected users to the NWS page for Lexington.
I maintain a simple site with quick to load graphics and mostly text data.  We are a rural location where internet service is slow or expensive.  I don't flush lots of fancy graphics toward the users.  They just want to know what is happening now.
I don't pull graphics from other places just to make the site impressive.  I prefer reliability and provide links to NWS and other data archive, radar, etc.  It's better to direct my users to the source of wx data and not re-post data from somewhere.
I'm responsible only for the data originating at my wx station.  I compare and adjust my wx data to agree with manual rain sensors or calibrated NWS equipment installed here and inspected by NWS.
Al
http://www.lexingtonwx.com/

[Garth Bock]

Its like any other hobby that starts as a passing interest and grows from there. I like the idea of connecting a device that provides information to the internet so that others can view it (like a webcam). I like the fact that there are challenges and new things to learn. I like the idea of providing information that others can use, locally as well as nationally. When someone says if you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes and it will change...I like to follow with..check my website, you can watch it change and see what it is going to change into ! I like the fact that my station and 2 others in town are nearly the same compared to the station at the airport which I don't think is that accurate. The airport is located to the far east of town in the flat cornfields and our weather is typically from the west/sw and the twin cities are located on 2 hills. As for the 'regurgitated data', the ones that don't have a station feeding it I call weather blogs. Had one here in town where the operator promised "up to date forecasts" for the entire state but was only using screens from the NWS and WU and ....the airport. LOL. To get full access you had to sign up for the blog. While the site looked good there were lots of annoying ads and crap that had nothing to do with weather. The site folded after the operator got caught using screen grabs from one of the other real weather stations in town.

So why do we do it ? Because of the challenge, providing a service to our community, and participating in providing information that could help better weather forecasting.

[Dr Obbins]

Like others here, the weather is a hobby I have had an interest in my whole life. The website is not just about the weather, but also learning PHP.

The visitors mainly hit the home page, radar, and forecast pages. The cell phone pages get a good share also. My Mom loves the earthquake page, and a few people hit the other data pages. Visitors that have email or I have talked to in person like the website because it is localized. This is a rural area and the news shows weather that is about 50 miles away and can be quite different. I started out doing the site just for fun, but now I am feeling somewhat obligated to help the community. Normally it gets about 75 - 100 unique visitors par day, but during major weather events is has hit up to 400 unique visitors.

[SlowModem]

Visitors that have email or I have talked to in person like the website because it is localized. This is a rural area and the news shows weather that is about 50 miles away and can be quite different.

Me, too.  I put what I thought I want to see if I'm away from home on a page.  I can see what's happening when I'm at work.

I got an email from a guy the other day that said he lived close to me and traveled a lot, and he keeps up with condition here, too.

It's not fancy, but it has basic information that is not available elsewhere for this area.

I hope later this year to improve the view with the weather camera.

[cospringswx]

Same here. I received an email from a truck driver that had stopped in Hays for the night. He said he was trying to find weather conditions and came across my site. He also noted that this is a rural part of KS and couldn't find up to the minute conditions anywhere  and he would check the site every time he passed through. I thought that was cool.

[Dr Obbins]

I hope later this year to improve the view with the weather camera.

That can also draw visitors. My cam has been used many times over the years on the "local" (50 miles away) news and currently Insight Cable uses it on their channel 2 weather.   

[SLOweather]

Lately it has crossed my mind, why do people visit a PWS website?

You may be asking the wrong crowd this question. We are mainly the providers of the sites, not the viewers. I rarely look at other PWS sites unless pointed there by a post here.

I got started in this over 20 years ago with a Digitar weather station. After we moved to our current home, I upgraded to a WMII. When APRS came out, I saw a way to see the weather conditions at home on an amateur radio screen in my truck. After that, my first weather web page in '98 or so was so I could see almost-live weather on the computer at work. And it snowballed from there. SLOweather was always built around what I wanted in a weather portal. It was the same with my webcams. That others enjoy it too is a bonus.

A lot of sites seem to be a show case for the latest effects or what the 'op' has found on the internet today. A lot of pages seem to be regurgitated data, data sent from the 'op's' PWS to another site (WU, YoWindow and the like) and then that page is displayed on the 'op's' site.

I don't regurgitate any weather data that I can't produce myself. I do use radar and forecast information from StrikeStarUS and the NWS. However, even with the NWS, I use the point forecast database instead of the generic one for our City.

So, why do you visit a PWS web site? Is it for the local, accurate and clearly displayed first hand data? Do you visit for forecasts whether it be a simple forecast or more advanced. May be just to see what the weather is now, yesterday or some other time in the past since the PWS started operating.

All those and more... Since starting WeatherElement.com, we've added 21 stations to the SLo County network. It's fascinating to see the difference in conditions over small and medium distances, and to see the difference just a mile or 2 will make in the point forecast. Even across 100' of elevation and 300' of distance, there is sometimes a big temperature difference. None of those big sites (Accuweather, weather.com, intellicast) can show that type of granularity the way an array of PWSes can. WU and PWSweather come close.

From another point of view, for those of you that have some type of user /viewer tracking, which pages do you get the most views on and are those views by local users?

Most is local. However, being a college town, I get a fair number of hits from the parents of students attending Cal Poly, and being a vacation destination, hits from the San Joaquin Valley, as travelers check to see what the weather is before they leave home.

The biggies, though are the main page and lightning tracker during bad weather. I've often stated, "Bad weather makes good hits." Rain is the biggest driver, followed by thunderstorms, and high temps. Cold weather, however, (<30°F is considered cold in our Mediterranean climate) doesn't seem to be as big of a hit driver.

Having said all that, to answer your Subject line question, "What is the purpose of a PWS website?", I suppose a lot of it, too, is, for lack of a better term, vanity. To have a cool site that other people will look at. About the same reasons some people blog, or are active on Facebook, or Twitter, but with a weather focus.

[SoMDWx]

Here's one for you...

I live ~ 50 miles SE of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world - Washington DC. You would not believe how much they do NOT mention or forecast for our area. Hence, I started a site here in Southern Maryland and get many,many hits on the site and FB page..... People love it. It's one of those things. Fill a nitch and people will come.... or....

Jim

[cospringswx]

Here's one for you...

I live ~ 50 miles SE of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world - Washington DC. You would not believe how much they do NOT mention or forecast for our area. Hence, I started a site here in Southern Maryland and get many,many hits on the site and FB page..... People love it. It's one of those things. Fill a nitch and people will come.... or....

Jim

Same here. We got our weather from Wichita which is 3 hours southeast of here. They don't focus on the weather out here. There main concern is Wichita and Salina. In other words the cities with large populations gets all the attention.

[CNYWeather]

I started my site for myself to monitor the weather at home while I was at work.

I became a local TV spotter and started reporting to my local NWS office.
Low and behold, they used my station for 2 months as the official reporting station for here when
they de-commissioned the ASOS at our old airport and moved it to the new one at the old Air Force Base.

I put up a webcam, local news has used it every day since 2008 on 2 or 3 of their newscasts daily,
started whoring it up on Facebook and Twitter, and now more people visit my site daily than I could ever imagine.
I've found that people want to know what he weather is NOW not 40 minutes ago because the local airport reports come out once an hour.

Plus without my site, I would never have met so many cool guys and gals here that have the same interest in weather like I do.  

[W3DRM]

Mine started off as a hobby with no intent of making many changes to it. However, once I joined the Southwestern Network that quickly changed and I started adding more and more items to my website. Along the way, I discovered that my location was unique in that given our widely varying geography on the eastern slope of the SIERA range meant that METAR reports from the South Lake Tahoe airport at 6300 feet were NOT indicative of our local weather in the Carson Valley at 4800 feet. Nor were METARs from others in our area due to various mountains and valleys between them and myself. The Carson Valley is tucked-away and the NWS has very little visibility into this part of the State of Nevada. During bad weather I often get calls from the NWS office in Reno asking what's happening down our way.

So my PWS has now become a main reference site for our local fire department, Nevada DOT personnel and Nevada Dept of Forestry. I get emails from those groups thanking me for providing them with current and local weather data that is not available anywhere else. It's these things that keep me going and providing a service that is useful to not only myself but my community in general.

I get a large increase in hits just before and during the major storms we get here in the SIERA.

And, as my wife says, it keep me out of her hair too... 

So, to answer your original post subject line "What is the purpose of a PWS website?". As you can see by the responses that have been posted so far, the answer is as varied as the number of PWS there are around. I just hope that what I provide on my website is of some use to those looking for weather in my own area.

[duke666]

Guys,

I just wanted to say I am very grateful for all of your replies. Hopefully they will not only help myself but, they will help others in designing / upgrading their own PWS website too .

Hopefully more replies to come yet .