Author Topic: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?  (Read 2581 times)

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Offline noctilucent

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Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« on: January 14, 2021, 03:19:56 AM »
On the PWSWeather graphs, alongside "Humidity" there's a legend for "Sky cover" but nothing is graphed, only humidity.  Is there any way to feed in data for this?  And if so, what format is required?

Offline bchapman

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2021, 08:36:48 PM »
I've been wondering the same thing.  So far I don't have a solution.  I'm using an ecowitt gw1000 and weewx.

Offline CW2274

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2021, 09:15:03 PM »
On the PWSWeather graphs, alongside "Humidity" there's a legend for "Sky cover" but nothing is graphed, only humidity.  Is there any way to feed in data for this?  And if so, what format is required?
Unless there is something I'm unaware of here, sky cover is only offered from 'official' sites such as ASOS's. PWS have no capability to determine sky cover, therefore left blank.

Offline cbull23

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2021, 09:19:45 PM »
My Davis Vantage Pro has been showing sky cover on my dashboard since I started uploading to pwsweather. It does not calculate sky cover, but pwsweather is using my humidity data to display sky cover. Not a very accurate metric, but it looks to be limited to Davis stations.  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
« Last Edit: February 17, 2021, 09:22:50 PM by chrispyt2 »
My Sites
WU: KNJMONTV22
CWOP: FW2458
PWS: KNJMONTV22
NWS: FW2458

Offline galfert

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2021, 09:33:18 PM »
Not limited to Davis stations.  And I don't think it is related to humidity. I'm using GW1000 with Meteobridge to upload to PWSweather. I have no idea why my PWSweather station is showing Sky Cover as I do not see that on my Meteobridge anywhere.

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The one thing that does come to mind is that I do know that there is a new PWSweather upload API and I do know that the Meteobridge was one of the first to support this new upload method. This is not an open API at this moment. PWSweather supports this new method and they still support the prior known method. Maybe that has something to do with this or maybe not.

If I were to guess I think that Aeris is getting this data from elsewhere and just appending it to stations and that this data is only available for some regions and not others. I think it is simply satellite cover data. That is purely a guess on my part. I have submitted an inquiry to Aeris to get more information.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2021, 10:03:25 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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Offline noctilucent

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2021, 04:00:01 AM »
My Davis Vantage Pro has been showing sky cover on my dashboard since I started uploading to pwsweather. It does not calculate sky cover, but pwsweather is using my humidity data to display sky cover. Not a very accurate metric, but it looks to be limited to Davis stations.

I'm feeding from a Davis and not getting any indication of sky cover.  Wherever it's getting this from it's not the weather station.

Having said that, and in response to @CW2274's comment, there are ways to submit sky cover data using e.g. a ceilometer or, more rudimentarily, a webcam and some image processing.  So the issue isn't really what to feed it from, it's how to communicate it to PWSWeather.

Offline CW2274

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2021, 04:14:36 AM »
My Davis Vantage Pro has been showing sky cover on my dashboard since I started uploading to pwsweather. It does not calculate sky cover, but pwsweather is using my humidity data to display sky cover. Not a very accurate metric, but it looks to be limited to Davis stations.
Having said that, and in response to @CW2274's comment, there are ways to submit sky cover data using e.g. a ceilometer or, more rudimentarily, a webcam and some image processing. 
My comment of sky cover was in regard to automation that an ASOS, or like, can provide. A PWS can not.

Offline noctilucent

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2021, 04:17:59 AM »
My comment of sky cover was in regard to automation that an ASOS, or like, can provide. A PWS can not.

Challenge accepted.  Hold my beer...
« Last Edit: February 18, 2021, 04:22:57 AM by noctilucent »

Offline CW2274

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2021, 04:21:39 AM »
My comment of sky cover was in regard to automation that an ASOS, or like, can provide. A PWS can not.

Hold my beer...
Don't get lost.

Offline bchapman

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #9 on: February 18, 2021, 05:38:42 AM »
This is the response I got from Aeris when I asked them why I wasn't seeing my own data in "Current Conditions" in the AerisPulse app:

*****************************************************
   
Nate Flohrs (AerisWeather Support)
Feb 1, 2021, 9:40 AM CST

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for reaching out to AerisWeather!  For the purposes of providing complete weather data, the Aeris Pulse app is currently designed to only return stations that provide sky coverage information.  In your location, the nearest station that provides those details is several miles away, which is why you are seeing those results. 

If you haven't already, you may want to go to settings > data options and select "All" as the observations source.  This will ensure that the closest station that provides sky data will be utilized. 

There is an alternative solution that may help you access the data coming specifically from your station.  Because you are a PWS contributor, you are eligible for the contributor plan from AerisWeather.  It allows you to access weather data through our API for no cost while your station is sending information to our servers.  You can find more details here. 

Hopefully that helps to explain the behavior you are seeing!  If you have any additional questions, please let me know. 
Thanks,
Nate
AerisWeather Support Team
https://support.aerisweather.com

Offline galfert

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #10 on: February 18, 2021, 10:13:29 AM »
I got a great response from Aeris.

Quote
For PWS stations or software that do not support/send cloud cover, the PWS ingest system will check to see if there is a recent nearby airport observation (METAR) that provides this information. If so, the ingest script will utilize this and make note of the station used. This is the method that PWS has used for the last 10-15 years, though in Jan 2020, we narrowed the radius used to check for a nearby METAR. Some software packages such as VWS perform a similar check as well.

If you would like to verify the ICAO being utilized for the cloud info, with your PWS contributor account you can query the Aeris API for your PWS station ID:

https://api.aerisapi.com/observations/pws_YOURSTATIONID?client_id=XXXXXXXXX&client_secret=YYYYYYYYYY

The response will include a skywxSrcattribute which states the ICAO that was used for the sky information. In the future, as an alternative and for improved accuracy, we may offer the option of using our new conditions endpoint, which can return the sky cover for the station's specific latitude/longitude, using the latest satellite information at the time of the observation.

I also notice that we do not have information on this within our FAQ; I am going to suggest adding this to the FAQ today.
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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Offline bchapman

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2021, 03:36:23 PM »
This is why this bothers me.  I'm not all that concerned about forecasting but the current conditions should be reported from the closest station.

Same date and time...very large difference.  AerisPulse app on the left, PWS Monitor app on the right

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« Last Edit: February 18, 2021, 03:38:22 PM by bchapman »

Offline WSWeather

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2021, 05:19:49 PM »
I send using Cumulus and sky cover data is on my PWSWeather page.  However, I am halfway between ORD and MDW which is almost certainly why.

Offline Bashy

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Re: Is sky cover information used by PWSWeather?
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2021, 12:15:58 AM »
PWS should use our solar sensor data for the cloud cover and they would set that to sunrise to sunset so that its only for daytime use, so why they do not is a little baffling

As for the stations that do report it, it looks like MADIS stations do (not sure about others) and that is probably coming from the nearest official station. Prior to me setting up on PWSweather, my CWOP station was already on there, evidently they pull that data from someone other than me, i wanted my own data on there so that i could use that for YoWindows current condtions so i set it up, the one i setup does not show cloud on there, but my CWOP does and it shows as MADIS in the top right.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2021, 12:46:51 AM by Bashy »
Kind regards
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