Quality lightning detectors are budget busters if accuracy is high on the priority list. Suggest you first contact Earth Networks to see if you can tie into their network, depending upon where this station will be located. The company provides lightning alerts for municipalities, schools, universities, outdoor stadiums, etc.
As far as the standard wx equipment, you didn't mention whether this needs to be a turnkey system or if you have (or have access to) the mechanical and programming skills to put together a top-notch system of commercial-grade sensors.