Topic: Current Weather Conditions

[iisfaq]

I would like to start a discussion about current weather conditions and deciding how to quantify what is happening right now.

I know software like Weather Display has a Icon + description for the current wearher conditions. 

Some of the descriptions can be Dry, Raining, Stopped Raining, Snowing etc...

I guess we would start with some basics

1) Is it Raining?
2) Is it Snowing? 
3) Is it Cloudy?
4) Is it Misty?
5) Is it Foggy?
6) Is it Hailing?
7) Is it Daytime?
Is Solar Radiation very high?
9) Barometric trend? 1 hour or 3 hour trend?
10) Temperature
11) Temperature Trend
12) Visibility - what can define visibility?
+ Lots more I assume like Wind, humidity, dew point ?

Some of these are really seperate discussions as well. Like how to tell how cloudy it is? It it hailing?

I think with this information we could create a very usefull shared function that people could use for any weather releated projects that they may be working on. It also means we are all on a common ground point so data would be known to be accurate (we hope)

I think one weather variable per topic would be a good start - so for example I may start a post called "Is It Misty" and another "Is It Foggy"

What are your thoughts?

Chris

[xykotik]

I saw your fog calculator post.  I personally wouldn't want to post a visibility "calculation" from my dewpoint data, especially because fog can be so patchy, at least around here.  Some people have used a leaf-wetness sensor tucked inside a stevenson shield to detect fog.  I'll probably use a web-cam for "observed" fog, which is a cheaper solution for me than a sensor array, easier than math (although a good exercise) and more fun for users of my site.

While I like messing with a bit of code here and there, you can't beat the simplicity of the Donkey Tail Barometer...

[iisfaq]

I like the idea of the Donkey but would like something better.

I will work on this over the next few months as I really would like to try to identify (if possible) the data behind these trends.

But Earthquakes play a part in my life at the moment - we had a 5.5 and a 6 today - plus heaps of others. I lost power for 3+ hours and my house has more cracks than yesterday - I was concerned if my weather station was still on the roof (it is )

If interested see my site at http://quake.crowe.co.nz

Just to put things into perspetive we have had 6,700+ earthquakes in my town since September 2010!

Sometimes weather takes a back stop!!!

Cheers

Chris

[wuhu_software]

As far as described conditions, whether they be observed or automatic, I would recommend using the METAR international standard for reporting conditions as well as cloud cover.

There is a PDF out there with the entire spec available on the net.

Good luck with those quakes, I cannot even imagine what it must be like there.

[iisfaq]

Good luck with those quakes, I cannot even imagine what it must be like there.

It is very different  - Everyone is always waiting on the next one.

We have had a 5.6 + a 6.3 this week + heaps of others 2,3,4

Incase anyone is interested see this site of mine on the earthquakes at http://quake.crowe.co.nz

chris

[xykotik]

We had a 2.1 early this morning.  You don't even feel those in the middle of the night, or if you are in a car or something.  You 've had lots of the ones that would keep a person nervous.  Praying for you all.

Are you charting that data yourself?  I am wondering where you get your datapoints.  Can you snag it from GeoNet?  The news site I hang out at has a google-map quake tracker for our area (NW USA), but I don't know who builds it.
http://mynorthwest.com/category/earthquake_tracker/

[wuhu_software]

This is a cool organization and they will even send you a USB sensor (currently out of stock) if you upload your data:

http://qcn.stanford.edu/

"For $49 you can purchase a USB sensor for someone else or for yourself. The sensor comes with QCN monitoring software, educational software, a USB cable, installation equipment, and instructions. Pay with a credit card using the online form or print and mail in the form with a check. NOTE: The QCN sensors are low-cost, strong-motion accelerometers, and only record moderate to large regional earthquakes, which may occur infrequently in your region."

http://qcn.stanford.edu/learning/requests.php

[iisfaq]

We had a 2.1 early this morning.  You don't even feel those in the middle of the night, or if you are in a car or something.  You 've had lots of the ones that would keep a person nervous.  Praying for you all.

Are you charting that data yourself?  I am wondering where you get your datapoints.  Can you snag it from GeoNet?  The news site I hang out at has a google-map quake tracker for our area (NW USA), but I don't know who builds it.
http://mynorthwest.com/category/earthquake_tracker/

I get the data from GeoNet http://www.geonet.co.nz which has an service which returns data in a format called QuakeML (a standard earthquake XML Feed)

I am sure other sites would also publish data in QuakeML format http://www.isti2.com/QWIDS/current_dist/QuakeML_doc/Readme.html

Chris

[xykotik]

@wuhu, they were out of sensors when I checked back in early January too.  I wonder if more are on the way?  I did a little digging, and they use Seismic Analysis Code (SAC) format.  It looks like their datasets are available for download, I'll have to do some playing.

@iisfaq, I did a little googling, and QuakeML looks like it would be a good standard, so I added "usgs" (US Geo Survey) and "noaa" (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to the search and it looks to me that they talked about it a lot in 2007 and 2008, but I don't see much after that.  Typical US government.  I'll have to dig some more.

[wuhu_software]

I am not sure when they will have more sensors but I am sure you can figure out which one they are using and order it directly. They are pretty cheap. Then you would just download their software that is free.