Topic: National Park Service Weather Station

[Swede]

I took this photo last month at Pipestone National Monument, Pipestone, Minnesota.  This seems to be the regular setup for the US Department of the Interior.  Talked to one of the employees involved with this program and asked about the Anemometer height of the R.M. Young unit.  He advised it was set at 16 feet above the main structure. So many times we hear that the anemometer MUST be at 10 meters or 33 feet, yet even the Federal Government of the United States doesn't require that for their atmospheric readings.

[CW2274]

At airports, they do. ASOS's and AWOS's are required to be 10 meters, and those are federal government run and maintained.

[Swede]

It doesn't appear to be a requirement for all weather data collection with the Federal Government.  Other Park Service, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management sites use very similar set-ups. Wonder why the variation in height?

[CW2274]

I can't say for certain, but "average" air-carrier control surfaces are "approximately" 10 meters in height AGL, which makes wind data very critical in airport operations, especially landing.

[TheBushPilot]

This is a RAWS station used for fire weather forecasting. Wind speed is measured 20ft standard.

https://www.nifc.gov/about-us/what-is-nifc/remote-automatic-weather-stations