Topic: I am So Tired of WU and Wind Gusts

[Randall Kayfes]

We had wind gusts of 31 MPH and as usual WU reports only a high wind gust of 25 and the tabular data only reports a high gust of 18 MPH...

CWOPS got it right.

NWS Mesonet Got it perfectly also.

[cospringswx]

Always happens to me. It seems it never captures the highest gust. Also when my highest gust is recorded on WD it happens sometimes when the site is updating at 5 minute intervals so it doesn't get recorded. Why is that?

[Randall Kayfes]

That is what I don't understand.  If CWOPs and NWS Mesonet can get it perfect what is the deal with WU?

[LFWX]

Could it be the way your software is reporting to WU?

I'll have to check my reports and see if they match up with WU.
I'm using VWS to send data.

[cospringswx]

Could it be the way your software is reporting to WU?

I'll have to check my reports and see if they match up with WU.
I'm using VWS to send data.

I'm using WD and WU misses it. Maybe it's because its recorded at 10 minute intervals and the gust happens not when WU records it?

Here is my WU data page. Note the 10 minute intervals.


 http://www.hayskansasweather.com/wxwuhistory.php

[Weather Display]

make sure to have set to send gust since last data send

[Randall Kayfes]

Uploading interval problems would involve chance which means WU would occasionally get it right.  However for WU to never get the gust correct and for CWOPs, NWS Mesonet to to always get it correct, clearly points to a problem with the WU plugin.  My WU, CWOPs and NWS Mesonet upload intervals are all exactly the same and I have changed the WU upload interval with no change in accuracy. I also tried RF and that did not help either.  The wrong gust information permeates to all aspects of wind speed as averages are also completely off. Barometer and Temp readings apparently change slow enough that they are more accurately reflected.  However my temp readings, as directly compared to the console, can usually be found to be a tenth of a degree off (nothing to cry about).

I am completely happy with all aspects of; WL (15 yrs of data), MS Excel Pivot Tables (15 yrs of data), CWOPs (4 yrs), NWS Mesonet (3 yrs).

I know their is history with WU and Davis but to let this inaccurate data (22%) go on for years and years is a disservice to both entities.

One of my biggest fears is some people use WU as kind of a data backup and their are enough people who simply set it up and never look back.  Some of my friends find NWS Mesonet not flashy enough or they use their smart phones with the WU ap . So WU turns into "the" data source and it is no where accurate...

I am resolved to call Davis this morning as I do not think WU has phones to answer...

[SlowModem]

I am resolved to call Davis this morning as I do not think WU has phones to answer...

For what it's worth:

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[Randall Kayfes]

Slow Modem - I sent WU an email this morning and I am waiting for Davis to open PST.

[cospringswx]

make sure to have set to send gust since last data send

Where is this setting Brian?

[jmcmurry]

Ryan,

It's a small checkbox towards the lower left of the WU Config screen.

- Jim

[Skywatch]

FWIW, Last week I had the opposite happen. Weather Underground got the high gust and CWOP missed it.

[cospringswx]

Ryan,

It's a small checkbox towards the lower left of the WU Config screen.

- Jim

Ok Thanks!

[Randall Kayfes]

I called Davis support and was told it was an WU issue and they would have to take care of it.  I told the tech it sure would have allot more impact if they would move forward with some kind of request for action.  I told him about the chatter on this forum.  He agreed and stated he would get the engineer to talk to WU.

I emailed WU and they responded: "Thanks for the message, we'll get back to you as soon as possible!"

That is all I have for now...

[VaJim]

I have a similar problem here on this end.  My Rainwise MKIII is sending my data to WU via the Rainwise IP-100.  The wind gusts are missing.  The data on my WU site can be traced back to Nov 22nd which is about when I shifted the data transfer from WV32 to the IP-100. 

Tonight I shifted the data transfer back to WV32 to WU and the wind gusts are back.


I also use the IP-100 to feed the following:

PWS:  http://www.pwsweather.com/obs/VBBW1052.html

AWEKAS:  http://www.awekas.at/en/instrument.php?id=10117

They seem to be fine.  So my guess there is a conflict between the Rainwise IP-100 and WU with regard to the wind gusts.  I send a note to Rainwise asking for their help.

[Randall Kayfes]

Still no word from WU I will tickle them again....

[GVaughn]

I pretty muvh have given up on WU.  I seldom look at what they have from me.  I just checked yesterday's data and the report a high gust of 29 MPH - I had a high of 49 MPH sjortly after noon.  WL was reporting a high wind of 36 but my graphing software was showing the 49 so I called Davis.

It seems that I am archiving too oftenb (1 minute) and that causes WL to sometimesmiss the data.  Closing WL and restarting it corrected the problem.  I am storing the weather data in MySQL and generating graphs from the database every 5 minutes.  Usomg a 5 minute interval would potentiall put me 10 minutes behind on the web.  Sonce I am the only one that sees the WL display - and that very seldom - I am not really worried about it.

  I have a little over 3 years of data graphed - daily, monthly and yearly.  I just checked and find I have 33,000 files of weather data graphs.

To change the subject: I notice that the winds affect the temps noticably much of the time.  Temp goes up as wind speed rises and goes down when wind speed falls.  This is most noticable at night.

[d_l]

To change the subject: I notice that the winds affect the temps noticably much of the time.  Temp goes up as wind speed rises and goes down when wind speed falls.  This is most noticable at night.

That's a boundary layer mixing effect.  The ground surface and vegetation surfaces radiate heat extremely well at night in your dry and high altitude location.  With no wind, the air close to the ground cools in contact with those cooling surfaces.  The air up higher stays warmer with no surface contact to cool it.  That is until wind turbulence mixes the warm air down into the cool surface air.

[Randall Kayfes]

I just got a reply it looks like a closer reply (meaning they can close the file because they responded regardless of the validity of the response).

"Hello,
The most up-to-date version of the WU for WL is here:
http://wiki.wunderground.com/index.php/PWS_-_WeatherLink
William
Wunderground Support"

[Ray Proudfoot]

I'm using Cumulus to provide data to WU and the wind gusts are spot on. Yesterday's gust was 27mph and today's 19mph are both recorded correctly.

[Sigdigit]

I am using WL 5.9.3 and WU frequently misses high wind gust.  I upload every 5 minutes and use rapidfire updates.

[Randall Kayfes]

I sent then another email telling them I have had the problem from day one...

[wdn]

same deal here....ive wondered this for several weeks now.....
sometimes its close, but then at time it completly misses it...
it is very frustrating

[mmorris]

Maybe there is a problem with the software that it is only able to send the Wind Gust and can't figure the Peak Gust or it just doesn't send the Peak Gust because there is no place to report Peak. If I remember there is a difference between Wind Gust and Peak Gust.          

[Randall Kayfes]

Here is the latest response from WU:

Hello,
I agree -- it's not about blame in the sense of pointing the finger or shrugging off responsibility. But we do need to figure out exactly what causes it, as this isn't a universal problem across the site with all users.
There must be some configuration or combination of software and hardware that either will send reports lower than the local system records, or that somehow confuses Wunderground's intake of the data.
In the latter case, we'll have to adjust our ingest. But in the first case, we'll have to work with other companies to fix it.
William
Wunderground Support

OK - So we are back to no where new after several weeks of back and forth with WU and Davis.  We all agree it is a problem and that is all we have.  I will email WU today and let them know we still need resolution.