Davis
Instruments Weather Club
April 2006
In This Issue:
WEATHER STATIONS IN ACTION :
Vantage Pro2 Circumnavigating the North Pole; Taking the Cold in Stride!
Here’s a recent picture of Gary Ramos (he’s under there somewhere), with his boat Arctic Wanderer, in their temporary home in Cambridge Bay, Canada. He and his Vantage Pro2 are on their way to making the first single-hand circumnavigation of the North Pole.
Former Bay Area resident Gary Ramos has taken his
Vantage Pro2 on a little adventure. He mounted it on his sailboat, Arctic Wanderer, a Folkes 39’ cutter, and set off to undertake the incredible challenge of being the first person to circumnavigate the North Pole, inside the Arctic Circle, sailing by himself.
He left Seward, Alaska, on May 22, 2005, and headed for Kodiak. From there he headed southeast for False Pass in the Aleutian Islands. After a dicey navigation through chunks of ice on his way to Nunivak Island, Nome and Pt. Barrow, the northernmost point in Alaska, Gary made it to Cambridge Bay in the Canadian Arctic in August. That’s where he’s been since, waiting for spring and the ability to move his boat again.
Gary Ramos’ Vantage Pro2 console must be enjoying the toasty 62.7ºF temps in the cabin of his sailboat. Outside, it is -19.3. Look at the graph… it’s clearly a nice warm day…
The Vantage Pro2 has been performing like a champ. “I turned the heat off in the boat in January,” Gary told us, “and it got down to -25ºF. The console display faded a bit, but it was still reading!”
Although the console specifications assure that the LCD will keep displaying data all the way down to 32ºF (the console will continue to function, that is, receive and store data, down to 14ºF), this one is showing just how conservative that number is.
Anyone who wants to accompany Gary from the warmth of their computer room can do so by logging on to his Arctic Wandering web site. Send him some warm vibes while you’re exploring his fascinating site.
Weather Check Quiz Question 1: You can draw the Arctic Circle on a map simply by finding latitude of 66º33’ and making a circle. Your circle would mark an area in which the sun doesn’t rise on winter solstice or set on summer solstice. Sounds simple enough. But scientists say it is not quite so easy because the Circle “wanders.” What do they mean?
Extra Credit 1: How long does it stay dark in the Arctic Circle in winter?
A. Six months
B. Three months
C. Two weeks
D. One day
E. All of the above
Extra Extra Credit 1: Seven countries are included inside the Arctic Circle. Can you name them? (Click here for answers.)
Hot Springs, Ark., Has Its Own Weather Man
Blue skies over Arkansas, with a lovely jet contrail, make a nice backdrop for Nathan Parker’s hardworking Vantage Pro.
Nathan Parker, of Hot Springs, Ark, told us how his Vantage Pro weather station has come to be a very important asset to his community.
“When my Wireless Vantage Pro ‘Classic’ with 24/7 Fan Aspirated Radiation Shield arrived at my house, it probably never dreamed that it would get to be used in such special ways.
“I use my weather station daily to monitor weather conditions, but I’m also a NWS CWOP with the APRS Reporting Service. My WeatherLink web site, http://wx.findu.com/CW1527 is accessed by hundreds of people daily. They rely on my weather station data for their daily plans.
“I am also a member of the WeatherBug Backyard Network, a dream of mine for years. I was one of the first Vantage Pro owners to join, and now my data is available to anyone with WeatherBug. (Just click on US Weather, then Backyard Network, then search for 71913, and click “Nathan Parker” to check it out.)
“You can also catch me reporting on the WeatherBug blog often (RSS Feeds are available). I use the data I get from my Vantage Pro, along with WeatherBug’s Plus services to provide an accurate weather report for my city. I am now considered a WeatherBug Backyard ‘Anchor,’ the highest title any WeatherBug reporter can get.
“In addition, my local TV network (KARK4) and my church also rely on my weather reports. My church uses them for planning activities, and my local network uses them for preparing accurate forecasts.
“I also used my Vantage Pro station during a science project, and tests revealed it was more accurate than my local network’s $5,000 weather station!
“The most shocking thing about my station is that I use WeatherLink and WeatherBug on a Mac using Virtual PC! It works really well, too. While it’s not the fastest way to use WeatherLink, it does the job and allows me to use all of the great reporting features. Mac users will really benefit from this.”
Wow, Nathan, we think you qualify as a genuine, member-in-good-standing of the Professional Amateur Weather Watcher Club! And your community is very lucky that you are!
It’s Elementary: Vantage Pro2 Helps School Harness Wind Power
Brion Dickens is the Energy Projects Construction Manager for Laker Schools in Pigeon, Mich. His latest construction project was to install their brand new Vantage Pro2 at the elementary school. Although Brion notes that the station has already been an invaluable tool for teaching weather, its real role is even bigger. It is just one part of a large alternative energy project and is being used to track wind and weather data for their 220kw wind farm and small solar array. The wind and solar project was grant-funded and is tied directly into the elementary school’s power.
“When we are done,” Brion wrote, “we will have a link on the school’s homepage that will show the turbines’ output with the Davis wind data on the same page so the kids and anyone online can see in real time how changes in wind speed change the output of the turbines. The weather station was funded by another grant from our local utility which, oddly enough, is getting the extra power from the turbines. Our local TV weather man, Mark Torregrossa, who sold us on the Davis, has been doing ongoing stories about the projects.”
Brion said the Vantage Pro2’s anemometer is mounted on top of a lighthouse that looms over the front entry of the elementary school at about 50 feet. While Brion himself is the project manager, it was his wife Kathy who wrote the grants. They make a powerful team for the lucky students of Laker Schools. Check out their data at Laker Schools.
Christensen Family Keeps Tabs on NorCal Microclimates
Brian Christensen, of Campbell, Calif., was featured in an issue of the Campbell Reporter because of his interest in the weather. His Vantage Pro and his self-proclaimed “Weather Geekiness” have made him an invaluable member of the local community. He is the official local amateur weather forecaster for Campbell. He reports his findings to NBC 11 weatherman John Farley, who then provides viewers with the information during his evening broadcast.
Brian comes by his Weather Geek status naturally: his dad, Harvey Christensen, is known as the weather watcher of nearby Los Gatos, and Uncle Leroy Christensen has the same role in Sonoma!
Check out Brian’s weather page.
WEATHER 101:
Good and Bad Hurricanes News
Bad News: With the raw scars of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season still breaking our hearts, it’s hard to read that the Colorado State University professors
are predicting another higher-than-average season for 2006. According to the scientists, this confirms their theory that we are in the midst of an extended period of above-average hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin. Of the last 11 years, nine have seen above-average hurricane activity.
Good News: But it won’t be as bad as the 2004 or the terrible 2005 seasons. Their extended range forecast calls for 9 hurricanes, (compared to 14 for 2005, the average is 6); 2.3 “intense hurricanes” (compared to 7 in 2005,), and 17 named storms, (compared to 26 for 2005, the average is 10).
Really Bad News: Sit down: this period of above-average activity is expected to last another 15 to 20 years.
More Bad News: We’re not the only ones. Australia has just seen its 12th tropical cyclone as they approach the end of their cyclone season. (Their average is six.) Cyclone Larry, a category five storm, slammed into Queensland on March 20 with 180 mph (290 kph) winds. One of the most powerful tropical cyclones to hit Australia in decades, it left thousands homeless and did hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to homes, businesses, and banana and cane fields.
Really Good News: Larry caused no fatalities and only 30 people suffered minor injuries. This is a strong testament to the efforts of storm predictors, emergency service providers, and the excellent resourcefulness of local residents
Weather Check Quiz Question 2: Once upon a time, all Atlantic hurricane names were after women. When did that change? (Click here for answers.)
TECH TIPS:
Do You Need a Waterproof Sleeve for Your Vantage Pro2 Antenna?
Designing a weather station makes for some interesting challenges, the main one being to make a device with delicate electronics and precise mobility that is also completely weatherproof. When you consider the toll rain, wind, ice, and sunlight takes on your outdoor furniture, you can begin to imagine the issues our engineers deal with. Usually when it’s Davis Engineers vs. Mother Nature, the DE team comes out ahead, but once in a very great while, Mother finds a way to assert her supremacy.
This time, She found a way to send a bit of moisture into some of our outdoor Vantage Pro2 antennas. Although moisture problems have been reported in only a very few outdoor antennas, our crew was quick to redesign the antenna to prevent the problem. For antennas already out in the wild weather, they designed a sleeve that slips easily over any outdoor antenna to insure it against moisture. The antennas in question would be on wireless Vantage Pro2 stations (just the outdoor sensor suite, not the console) manufactured in 2005 or earlier. (This includes additional outdoor Vantage Pro2 stations such as the Wireless Leaf & Soil Moisture/Temperature Station, Wireless Temperature/Humidity Station, Wireless Temperature Station
, Anemometer Transmitter Kit, Standard Wireless Repeater, AC Powered, and Standard Wireless Repeater, Solar-Powered) If you have one of those, we’ve probably already sent you a sleeve free of charge. (That is, if you returned your warranty card!!!).
If not, you can get one online at or by contacting our customer service department by phone at 800 678-3669 (or 510 732-9229 outside the US or Canada), M- F 7:00 – 5:30 PST; or email, at sales@davisnet.com.
We Have the BEST Customers: You were not only understanding of this rare glitch in our design, you went out of your way to thank us for being the kind of company that is proactive in customer service. Ivor N. Knight was so appreciative of the antenna cover he told us, “I wish all my electronic purchases came with this concern for customer satisfaction.”
We even got a photo and a thank you card from Jerry Wygle’s Vantage Pro2 in Arlington, Texas!
You are very welcome!
MAILBAG:
Vantage Pro2 and WeatherLink Make John’s Lawn Perfect
John C. Hobbs, a Senior Analyst with IHS Environmental Services, in Canton, Ga. is using his
Vantage Pro2 to reach his goal of having a perfect lawn while minimizing the potential negative impacts on the environment of water waste and leaching of chemicals into the soil. When he installed $10,000 worth of sod last year his water bill went from $50 per month to $270! Besides the extra cost, overwatering led to fungus and weed problems – and to the realization that he needed a Vantage Pro2 to help him monitor his irrigation schedule!
John dropped us a nice note to tell us how happy he was with his system, especially his WeatherLink software.
“I tried all the other third-party programs on the market thinking that since I would be paying more for them I would get more. WRONG! WeatherLink gives me the information I need in a very intuitive manner. Daily, I check my solar radiation, soil temp, soil moisture, and rainfall to help me manage my irrigation system. NONE of the third-party programs allow me to look at this information as easily as WeatherLink. I especially like the custom charting section. I can easily adjust the spans from one day to one week or even a year. Once I've created the span I want I can easily move this ‘window of time’ by grabbing the slider at the bottom of the screen. Perfect!”
John wrote that some people might think he wouldn’t need a weather station of his own because he could just use data from nearby weather stations.
“I could argue several points against why this isn't reliable,” John wrote. “First, the closest station to me in any direction is 20 miles away. ‘That's not that far away,’ someone might say. WRONG! My rainfall for last month alone is 2.25 inches less than the closest weather station’s data I received. When my lawn needs four inches of water per month, a 2.25-inch differential is HUGE! Secondly, when using pre-emergence chemicals to control weeds timing is everything. 48 hours can make the difference between 95% weed control and 25%, which is virtually no control. Soil temperatures for the closest weather station to my location have been averaging 4-5 degrees cooler than my temps. Using this data would have delayed my herbicide treatments by up to two weeks. This would have caused me to end up in the 25% control range. Thanks to my Davis Vantage Pro2, I have been capitalizing on these windows of opportunity. The unit will pay for itself this year alone in water savings, chemical savings, and labor. Not to mention the peace of mind!”
It’s always good to hear from users of our stations. John gave us an extra bonus by offering our design staff some excellent suggestions on ways to improve our system for use in irrigation, all of which will be studied by our engineering department. Thank you, John!
Chewy, With a Hint of Vanilla Vinyl
Julian Thomas, of “the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State,” had a comment on last issue’s story about diagnosing a weather station that suddenly stops reporting rainfall. He noted that this happened to him a couple of years back with his cabled station and the cause was easy to diagnose: critters had chewed through the cable! We’ve heard of voracious, cable-eating birds (especially cockatiels in Australia), teething squirrels, and phantom critters that chew in the night. We don’t get it – cables don’t look that tasty to us – but apparently some beasts think they are made of licorice! One more reason to do your annual “spring check” of your station!
Weather Check Quiz Question 3:You know placement of your weather station is important – for example, the anemometer must be high enough to be out of the protection of buildings and trees for accurate measurement. But what about temperature? Is the temperature at 5 feet really much different from the temperature at ground level? (Click here for answers.)
Too Much Rain + Quake Memories = Bay Area Jitters
While we usually have rather boringly lovely weather here in the Bay Area of California, this winter has brought us some record-setting not-so-nice stuff in the form of raindrops. Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Service told us that as of April 12, we’ve had 98 days with measurable rainfall in San Francisco for the current season (July 1 – June 30).
“This is the fifth highest number of days since San Francisco rainfall records began in 1849. The average number of days with measurable rain in San Francisco is 68 per season,” Jan said.
Our hills, proximity to the Pacific, and mountains to the east are usually enough to keep rainwater draining or in snowpack, but this year we’ve seen deadly mudslides, destroyed homes, and closed highways because of the saturated soil.
And few of us Bay Area residents are unaware of the anniversary we’re celebrating this month: it’s been 100 years since the 1906 earthquake and following fires that leveled San Francisco. While we’ve all imagined what such a quake would do today to our highways and bridges and high rises and huge population, we try not to think of the added impact soil saturation would have. But being the kind of guy he is, Jan is thinking about it. He got to thinking about it even more when Rich Davies of the Western Disaster Center mentioned it. If you want to think more about it, Jan offers a couple of web sites to really get the anxiety flowing: the ABAG Landslide Hazard page, and the USGS Earthquake Centennial page.
For Bay Area residents who have forgotten what the sun looks like, Jan reminds us that there plenty of areas of the U.S. where they would love a bit of our precipitation. There are currently serious droughts in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Much of the middle of the country and the east coast is abnormally dry, as is a good portion of Alaska. Check out the USDA drought map. The NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center Long Rang Outlook calls for drying out in California, but continued drought through the summer in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas with above-normal temperatures.
We’d thank you Jan, but the queasy feeling we’ve got makes us feel more like checking our stored water supply, testing the straps on the hot water heater, inspecting the foundation for cracks, and then taking two aspirin and lying down. With our shoes and hockey helmet on…
Weather Quiz Question 4: How many earthquakes are detected every day worldwide? (Click here for answers.)
Extra Credit 4 : According to the USGS, how many homes in the Bay Area have a disaster supply kit? (Click here for answers.)
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Can’t get enough chatting about your Vantage Pro? You need to check out this “ring” of Vantage Pro users. Now you can stop boring the cat…
YOU'RE BRILLIANT!:
Answers to Quiz Questions
Question
1:
The Arctic Circle defines an area about 1,680 miles from the North Pole. But what it marks is the southern limit of the circle in which the sun does not rise on the winter solstice nor set on the summer solstice. The reason this circle “wanders” is due to the wobble in the earth’s axis. The axis shifts 22 to 24.5 degrees every 20,000 years, and then back in another 20,000 years. How does the wobble affect the Arctic Circle? According to Ned Rozell, a science writer at the Geophysical Institute, "the 2.5 degrees of axis shift every 41,000 years equals about 200 miles of movement in that time, or about 25 feet each year. T. Neil Davis, who wrote the Alaska Science Forum column 20 years ago, pointed out that the wandering of the Arctic Circle is highly variable. The circle's location may change as much as 50 feet every year, making it difficult to be a perfectionist when posing for pictures at the Arctic Circle wayside on the Dalton Highway, or when pitching one's tent." (Back to stories.)
Extra Credit 1: E. plus everything in between! On the outermost edge of the Circle, the midwinter darkness lasts about a day, but as you move farther north, the time increases to six months of darkness at the North Pole.
(Back to stories.)
Extra Extra Credit 1: Canada, Finland, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Norway, Sweden, Russia, and the United States. Check out Bugbog’s cool map. (Back to stories.)
Question
2: Until 1979, meteorologists chose the list of hurricane names based on the names of their wives and girlfriends. Apparently, sometime around 1979, one or more of those ladies seemed less than pleased at having her beloved show his devotion by naming a destructive, deadly, violent, uncontrollable, and unpredictable force of nature after her. We also guess that more and more of those meteorologists were female themselves. Around that time social forces were finally opening up the worlds of science, business, and leadership to women – as well as opening up the world of having a storm named after you to men.
(Back to stories.)
Question
3: Yes! Temperature changes with distance from the surface, because during the day the earth is warmed by the sunlight and then warms the air near it; at night the earth radiates warmth into the cooler air. During the day, air near the surface can be in the range of 20ºF (11ºC) warmer than the air a meter above the surface. On a calm, clear night, one might see a difference of 7ºF (4ºC) between the surface temperature and the temperature at about a meter. (This colder air near the surface is called a radiation inversion.) These effects are most pronounced in calm, clear weather. This is why meteorologists developed a standard height placement of 1.25 meters/4.2 feet above the surface for thermometers. (Back to stories)
Question 4: Around 50. But the USGS thinks there are thousands more that are too remote or too weak to be detected. Mother Earth is not a quiet sleeper! (Back to stories.)
Extra Credit 4: Fewer than 50%. Excuse us, but maybe you think the term “Earthquake Country” refers to a kind of shaky slide-guitar and fiddle music??? (Back to stories.)
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
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Well, that’s
it for this edition. You’ll be hearing from us again next month!
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