Topic: CWOP Observations question. What's wrong with my station?

[A1cntrler]

Maybe I just don't fully understand how it does comparisons to other stations, or maybe mine is just really out of whack.  I'm not sure how to verify the data..

My station has been up and running since Feb or March of this year.  I've also been reporting my data.  I'll go for weeks getting the emails with 0 deviations and everything is 2 green thumbs up.  But, about once a month I get one that is totally out of whack.  The Quality report I got this morning was one of those.  It shows a deviation of -9999.00 with a dewpoint of 50. This went from the report at 0749, with the deviation remaining negative until at 1219.  The dewpoint remained at 50, but the deviation shows +136.53.  It ended the day with 75/235 errors and a deviation of 3541.43.

Can anyone help me understand what is happening here, and how can I correct my station?  I don't want to be that guy that is throwing off the numbers for everyone else.  This only happens like once a month.  Otherwise all is good and compares well to others in my area.

http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/E6898

[SlowModem]

Just glancing at your charts:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?&call=EW6898&last=240

everything looks normal to me.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Most people I know take that QA page with a grain of salt.

You might send them an email and see if they know what's wrong or if any action is needed.  Otherwise, I'd say it's annoying but nothing to worry about.

Good luck! 

[CW2274]

Just glancing at your charts:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?&call=EW6898&last=240

everything looks normal to me.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Most people I know take that QA page with a grain of salt.

You might send them an email and see if they know what's wrong or if any action is needed.  Otherwise, I'd say it's annoying but nothing to worry about.

Good luck! 

Exactly. A little common sense goes a long way here. If your readings look good, don't sweat it. Gladstone to me is nothing more than a starting place. I now completely ignore their QA. Everyone else around me is jacked.

[A1cntrler]

Thanks for the responses.  I figured it wasn't a big deal, but I didn't want to be the guy skewing everyone's numbers up.  Visually my data is withing a few degrees/mph/percentage points of the two weather stations that are within 5 miles of me.  I just wasn't sure where the error readings were coming from, and how it was even possible to have a variation of -9990.00 degrees. 

So should I report this to Mr. Gladstone to see what he thinks about it?

[CW2274]

Thanks for the responses.  I figured it wasn't a big deal, but I didn't want to be the guy skewing everyone's numbers up.  Visually my data is withing a few degrees/mph/percentage points of the two weather stations that are within 5 miles of me.  I just wasn't sure where the error readings were coming from, and how it was even possible to have a variation of -9990.00 degrees. 

So should I report this to Mr. Gladstone to see what he thinks about it?

Sure, if you want. I have a sneaking suspicion he see's this junk more than he would care to see.

[ValentineWeather]

Gladstone won't do much of anything. If it becomes so bad your station gets tagged as sensor fails L3 spatial consistency because of bad data from another station contact Madis.
They will remove the offending station from comparison. But I looked around and couldn't pin point the offender, plus you still have 2 thumbs up so at this time I wouldn't worry about it.

[DanS]

I definitely wouldn't worry about it after seeing the reference they're using to compare you to.

[A1cntrler]

I definitely wouldn't worry about it after seeing the reference they're using to compare you to.

So just so I'm clear on this, in the graph you posted there the red line is a station that I am compared to, and the blue line is my actual readings from my station?

[ocala]

 At the bottom of your summary page there are 10 stations within 6.2 miles. The red line represents the average of all these stations, plus others in the geographical area. It's not a single station.
Yes the blue line is your data.

[ocala]

As was mentioned above don't get too upset if the data is a little off. The fact that you are worried about it is a good thing. Gladstones comparisons aren't perfect but until somebody comes up with something better it's all we have.
My data has been flagged in the past. Specifically the pressure. After investigating the problem sure enough I didn't keep up on periodically checking the pressure data from the local NWS reporting stations and my readings had drifted to the point they were flagged.

[CW2274]

As was mentioned above don't get too upset if the data is a little off. The fact that you are worried about it is a good thing. Gladstones comparisons aren't perfect but until somebody comes up with something better it's all we have.
My data has been flagged in the past. Specifically the pressure. After investigating the problem sure enough I didn't keep up on periodically checking the pressure data from the local NWS reporting stations and my readings had drifted to the point they were flagged.

The problem with Gladstone (certainly not their fault) is that it's based off what they receive. I'll bet more likely than not, most sensors are relatively old and not quite up to snuff compared to new sensors. As I stated above, I don't have bad data now with my new sensor, just that most every one else around me "comparatively speaking", does.

[ValentineWeather]

Gladstone can inquire but that usually leads nowhere. Best results I've had is contact Madis directly. Can't guarantee anything but they have removed a failed pressure transmitter before out of the comparison stream.
Something isn't working correctly because according to Paul this should happen automatically once the sensor failure comes up, but it doesn't so this leads too many getting frustrated.