[sloweather]

Friday, I spent 6 hours up the coast on the 350 acre ranch installing the first 4 Vantage Pro 2 Plus stations, and one repeater.

Stations 1-4 are installed, and there's a repeater at Station 3, on the same pole.

The consoles are in a shed at Station 4, at the bottom of the canyon at 256' elevation.

Station 1 is at 597' and far enough back on the hilltop that it's not LOS to the shed.

Station 2 is at 324', LOS to the shed 1,230' away.

Station 3 and the repeater are at 508' elevation, 1,704' to the shed, and 2,950' to Station 1.

The future Station 5, will be down on the ocean terrace at 77', 1,485' to the future Long Range Repeater.

The future Long Range Repeater will be on the bluff top at 573', 4,823' to the repeater at Station 3.

After I complete the network and hardware installation and build the solar power system, each station's data will be available on the Internet on a WeatherElement page similar to http://www.weatherelement.com/missioncollegeprep.

I have some pics of the installations if anyone wants to see them.

 

[fatkidracer]

who cares about the weather, i wanna see more of your 350 acre ranch that has ocean front with it!

 

[APinNY]

I'm just wondering why there is a need for 5 stations. Is the weather that different in each of those areas?

 

[sloweather]

who cares about the weather, i wanna see more of your 350 acre ranch that has ocean front with it!

Sorry, I should have been more clear. It's not my ranch. I'm installing the stations for a client who owns the ranch.

 

[sloweather]

I'm just wondering why there is a need for 5 stations. Is the weather that different in each of those areas?

They are looking at microclimates, potential home sites, and potential wind turbine sites.

The weather here along the central California coast can vary greatly over fairly short distances. This is due to the proximity of the Pacific Ocean, the shape of the coastline, the topography of the mountain ranges, and the weather systems themselves.

Here are a couple of examples from my own experience:

We live on a hilly 10 acre parcel, on which the www.sloweather.com weather station is located. The station is at our home, and I have a second sensor suite down in our woods. During a low-level temperature inversion, I have witnessed the temperature at the house 10-15°F higher than down by the cabin, a distance of only 300' laterally and about 100' vertically. It's really noticable walking down the trail and passing through the thermocline. You head will be in the warmer air and yor feet in the colder air.

The second is rainfall. Through my weather site and WeatherElement.com, I can monitor rainfall at 5 weather stations pretty much in an east-west line from the ocean to a mountaintop about 25 miles away in the Los Padres National Forest.

2 of those are evenly spaced 2 miles apart from home. In some storms, the rainfall at the middle site is half what it is at mine, and the farthest station a half of that, or a quarter of mine.

Here's a graph of rain from all 5 stations from a June 2011 storm, from west to east:

 

[sloweather]

I'm just wondering why there is a need for 5 stations. Is the weather that different in each of those areas?

Regarding the ranch itself, when I was there Friday, we were in the clear warm sun up on top looking out over the marine layer clouds/fog a few hundred feet below.

When we get Station 5 installed down on the terrace, it will be interesting to see how it's temperature and humidity compare to Station 1 in that situation. Also, comparing the rainfalls will also be interesting.

The terrace is 500' below the top. Orographic enhancement as storms get pushed up over the top should cause more rain to fall.

 

[APinNY]

That is quite a difference. You wouldn't think temperature and rainfall could vary that much in an area that size. Thank you for the explanation. :fing32: