My father recently spent a little over $90 for a brand new personal weather station, i.e. PWS for short. PWSes are easy to find on Weather Underground. Just type in your city/state or ZIP, wait for the page to load, scroll down and hit the Personal Weather Stations tab, like this:
All weather reports start at weather stations. The official ones are called MADIS, an abbreviation for the Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System. Creepy name, but very useful service. The unofficial ones are PWSes. And you’d be surprised how often internet weather sites use them in the United States. One could easily assume that all weather reports are from MADIS stations. Not true. Many times the reports you see come from a PWS, which is literally an internet-enabled personal setup at a person’s house. This person has the stuff the big guys do, just on a much smaller scale.
To answer the question of whether or not a PWS is better than the internet in terms of accuracy, the answer is yes.
I have noticed on many occasions that weather reports from MADIS stations, even if they’re only a few miles away from where you are, can be distinctively different from a home setup. A classic example of this is the wind meter. At an airport (a popular spot for a MADIS station), their wind meter has no obstructions whatsoever unless you count the control tower. At home there’s trees, poles and wires. You’ll notice very different wind gust reports between the two.
You will also notice differences between your location and the nearest MADIS station for just about every other type of report you could get. You will see variations (be they large or small) for temperature, humidity and so on.
Remember, you can participate
So how does one get his or her PWS listed on Weather Underground? Register it; it’s as simple as that. All the info is there, including what you need for hardware, software and so on.
Which do you trust more?
Which has been more accurate in your experience on the internet? MADIS or PWS? Let us know.
[...] Are Personal Weather Stations Still Better Than The Internet? [...]
Wireless weather stations are better than the internet because the internet is still forecasting the weather for a general area where as a home weather station will forecast the weather in your immediate area.
I’m of the opinion that it depends what you are looking for or to get out of a weather station. Most general public want to know the basics of what the weather will be that day (temp, sunny, rain etc..) If you want to get more specific infomration about your “micro climate” you will want to have your own personal weather station, especially if you’re into gardening or outdoor activities. The best thing is advances in technology have made it possible for anyone to afford a PWS and if they are a bit tech savy, join a great resource like the Weather Underground to learn and share. I think everyone should have a PWS and learn more about the weather and stay tuned in.