Topic: My PWS not available on the map or list; long time intermittent issue.

[WxFox]

I noticed (again) today that my weather station didn't come up as my set default on the forecast page. On my phone app it tells me my station is currently unavailable. This has happened before, but I've never noticed any other local stations missing. My dedicated weather PC is uploading and updating on Rapid Fire but it's not showing up. I can access it on the WU site by my WU I.D. but not on the forecast. Not sure what it's about but it's been happening now and then since I started uploading two years ago. Most of the time it's there but every now and then it's not, like right now.

[ValentineWeather]

The only thing I can think of, some have reported WU will remove station temporally if data is off from surrounding stations.  You should of got an email if it just stopped reporting after 2 hours. If you didn't get the email its a indication they removed the station. I'm sure this is all done automatically with software and not be some individual.   

[WxFox]

It's back on the map now. I had thought about that. I'm in an area where the temperature and humidity sometimes vary quite a bit from other places nearby. My anemometer is 25' high at an elevation of 705' surrounded by valleys with few obstructions so I also get the wind here more than most. Depending on the wind and atmospheric layers it can be much warmer or much cooler at this altitude compared with other local areas. The terrain and topography are different here than in surrounding places. So maybe that's it. It's been uploading constantly as it always does and they do send notices if it's not, as do several others I upload to.

[Evening thunder]

I'm having the same issue right now here in the UK. I have noticed this before and it has occurred for the past 2 evenings with it not showing up on Wundermap or the forecast page.

I too live in an area where temps can vary significantly, and am in a valley where night temps tend to be lower and drop quicker than surrounding locations, being 2-3C below other stations at present. This makes me think it is removed due to reporting lower than other stations a few miles away.. yet it is perfectly accurate data from a VP2 with FARS (and better siting than most around here seem to have).

It doesn't help that the closest station responds slowly, while others are on hills or coastal towns, often being those slow responding and sometimes inaccurate 'Netatmo' stations, However because there are multiple such stations, they remain even when reading several degrees too high during the day time..

I support quality control but this does't seem particularly promising and if my theory is correct suggests their QC processes could be improved, when stations 'disappear' for being (correctly) 2C lower at night.. (and I've seen way bigger differences than that in strong inversions!), yet ones reading several deg.C too high in the day remain on the map..

[Central Maine Weather]

I was having the same issue at my location (not far from you Eternalfreeze!) when I lived there, so I sent an email to Weather Underground support informing them on my issue. I told them about my location compared to surrounding locations, and I also made a point to tell them that I was running a brand new Davis Vantage Pro2. In the response email they were happy I sent the email and they were especially glad that I explained to them how temps and other weather components can vary quite a bit in that area, and they took care of the problem. They had to remove the data quality coefficient that they automatically have set up for all personal weather stations so that when my data was significantly different (it was never more than a few degrees different but that was originally enough to have my station dropped for a while) than surrounding locations, my data would still show up.

Maybe try to shoot them an email as well and tell them exactly about your situation. I was lucky to get such a great response, and within only 2 days at that!

Best of luck!
     Matt

[WxFox]

Thanks. It was a QC issue about the temperature. It's been worked out now, but I'll tell how it went in case it helps anyone. I did what you said Matt, emailed WU and explained the same things you mentioned, about the variations in this area. The first person I emailed gave me some hassle about it, and, recommended something that I considered bad advice if I understood it right (I don't adjust values of my station without an NIST traceable reference, recently verified and I don't know where to find one). She said she would take care of it anyway, but she didn't. I emailed her again the next day but got no reply and nothing was done. So I emailed to the general help link again on the WU site. Soon I got an email from a man but he misunderstood what I wanted at first. Once I explained to him that I needed a QC adjustment (or whatever) because of my geographical and topographical situation he understood it and made the change, which put me back on the map. After that I discovered my T/H sensor was sometimes working right and sometimes not. I had the sensor from my old station, and it works, and it is now back in service. It always gave accurate readings and still does. I can't say how long it will work because it had 5 years use in my old station but it's working fine now and my readings are much better overall.

[Evening thunder]

Ah interesting to hear about your experiences. I had this again yesterday evening (and likely will the next 2 nights according to the forecast), in fact I briefly re-appeared only for it to take both me and my nearest station out when it's temp dropped closer to mine.. so it looks like I may be sending them an email. 

[LABob]

WU must be tweaking their algorithm because for the last couple of weeks they keep dropping my station in the early morning when it reads cooler than the stations around me. I've emailed a couple of times but they just keep saying that they're working on it.