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User Stories Archive
May 26, 2006 - Artist Welsby Uses Wind, Trees, and Weather Wizards to Create New Masterpiece
In the world of art, Mother Nature rules. We’ve all been moved by her displays of light, color, movement, and life. Weather nuts proud to bear the name see that kind of artistic beauty every day in the sky and wind and clouds. Now a contemporary artist, Chris Welsby, is using Davis weather stations to present a unique visual image constantly re-designed by the wind.
April 18, 2006 - Vantage Pro2 Circumnavigating the North Pole; Taking the Cold in Stride!
Former Bay Area resident Gary Ramos has taken his Vantage Pro2 for 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.
March 13, 2006 - Vantage Pro Providing UK Hospital with Data
Andy Overton, of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, UK, has a cabled Vantage Pro that is really earning its keep, both for Andy and his community. Shortly after he put his weather data online and began to publicize his weather site, he was contacted by a hospital, Doncaster Royal Infirmary, which is about 600 yards from his station.
January 26, 2006 -
Vantage Pro2 Enjoys Spectacular California Sierra View
Dennis Mattinson, an Air Quality Specialist (AQS) at Fort Independence, CA, in the Eastern Sierra, sent us this gorgeous photo of his Vantage Pro2 at work. “As an AQS,” Dennis wrote, “I manage both a professional met station and a PM10 monitoring station. I have wanted to set up a professional grade met station at my home in the Alabama Hills at the base of Mt. Whitney. In November of 2005, I accomplished this goal.
November 15, 2005 - Worlds Apart, Same Sky: UK Davis Station Affirms the Beautiful California, USA Weather
John Fletcher, F.R.A.S., is an amateur astronomer in Gloucester, UK, so he knows how important a role the weather plays in trying to get a glimpse of the stars. He wrote to tell us about his chance to compare in real time, the weather-watching advantages of our Bay Area weather.
September 30, 2005 - Vantage Pro's From Speedways in Shanghai to Your Own Backyard
It was Vantage Pro2 in the lead all the way! Alvin of EcoWatch, our Australian distributor, found a way to combine two things he likes very much: Vantage Pro2 and fast cars. He sent us this photo of a Wireless Vantage Pro 2 used by an Australian car racing team at a race in Shanghai, China.
July 29 , 2005 - Storm Spotters Use Mobile Vantage Pro's and Weather Monitors to Warn Holiday Campers
Blackwell, OK, likes to call itself “America’s Hometown.” It boasts a lovely climate, a smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-the-midwest location, a vibrant Native American community, strong industry, and about 7,500 particularly nice residents. Among them are 15 Storm Spotters. That’s a pretty good concentration of Storm Spotters! To put it in perspective: there are as many Storm Spotters as police officers in Blackwell! Why, you may ask, (even though you did notice that “OK” up there in the first sentence)?
June 17, 2005 - This is One Groovy Vantage Pro
Matthew Pace must be an old soul. He has aptly blended one of the best things from his generation – the Vantage Pro – with one of the best from a past generation: a fully restored 1969 Volkswagen bus!
May 2, 2005 - Vantage Pros Help Young Weatherman Take Home Science Fair’s Top Prize
Thirteen-year-old Frank Kohl took the blue ribbon at the Summerville Connections Academy’s annual science fair this year for a project using the original Vantage Pro and the new Vantage Pro2.
March 10, 2005 - Observing the Observatory
Star gazers, here are a couple of photos to make you very jealous. They are of Joel Fetter’s Vantage Pro, which is mounted on his backyard observatory.
March 10, 2005 - Vantage Pro Helps Keep Trains on Tracks
Jim Bertrand and his Vantage Pro were featured in the January issue of and his Vantage Pro were featured in the January issue of Canadian Geographic. His Vantage Pro lives in his front yard, right next to his two-meter long railway track. His Vantage Pro lives in his front yard, right next to his two-meter long railway track.
January 28, 2005 - Vantage Pro Helps Amateur Astronomer
A Vantage Pro weather station is a very important piece of equipment for the JAT Observatory.
Marcus Thompson, an amateur astronomer, sent us this story about his observatory, and its trusted sidekick, Vantage Pro.
January 28, 2005 - Vantage Pro Wants to Keep School Kids Off Diesel Exhaust
George Allen and his colleagues at NESCAUM (Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, a multi-state non-profit organization) are doing a study on a “hot topic” these days: children’s exposure to diesel exhaust from the bus while riding it. To do so, they followed the bus around town, stopping now and then to make measurements.“Each time we did that, we needed to know the local wind speed and direction,” George explained.
December 16, 2004- Vantage Pro Helps Kids in the Philippines
Br. Dan Fenton, FSC, who teaches science at De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland, OR, sent us this charming photo of a Vantage Pro hanging out with a bunch of new friends in the Philippines. He told us that De La Salle North is a special school for low-income students, all of whom have jobs that pay for most of their tuition.
“This year our students raised money to purchase a Davis weather station and software for a project in the Philippines. The project, called Bahay Paga-asa (House of Hope) is a residential center for boys who have been previously incarcerated in jails on the island of Negros. These boys are from extremely poor families and most of them have suffered great abuse in jails and police lockups. Since this center is run by teachers in our organization (De La Salle Brothers) we decided to help provide an educational opportunity by purchasing and sending this weather station."
October 8, 2004- Vantage Pro is This Landlord’s Right Hand Man
In 1996, when the Air Force base in Heath, OH, was closed, two cities and a county formed the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, a 355-acre commercial park. Bruce Boylan is the Senior Manager of Facilities (read “landlord”), and a good chunk of his job is dealing with Ohio’s weather and its ongoing efforts to prevent or hinder the tenants’ ability to do business. One particularly Ohioan task is keeping the roads and parking areas free of snow and ice. That seems simple enough — you contract with a snow removal company. But snow removal is best done after work hours, when the lots and roads are empty. At a cost of $1,000 for a small snowfall, the trick is to get the snow removal contractors there after the snowfall, but before tenants start returning to work at 5:00 a.m. How do you know when to make the call? Being the very smart kind of Senior Manager of Facilities, Bruce knew what he needed to get a jump on the weather: he got himself a Vantage
Pro.
August 30, 2004 - Catalonia Weather: You’re Being Watched
We’ve long known that Barcelona, in the autonomous region in northern Spain known as Catalonia, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Appropriately, its weather is glorious enough to match the area’s stunning architecture and rich culture and history. Basking in the Mediterranean sunshine, with enough rainfall to make everything green, Barcelona is near the top on our list of “Places to Put a Vantage Pro.” As it turns out, our Barcelona distributor, Darrerra S.A., has peppered the city and Catalonia with VPs, thanks to an innovative educational program sponsored by the Catalonia government.
July 22, 2004 - Check Out the Weather, and the View, Before You Head Up to the Italian Alps
In the northeast corner of Italy, there is a famous range of craggy, light-colored mountains called the Dolomites. For centuries, only the Ladins, a people who long preceded the Romans, and those hardy folks who enjoyed a brisk walk over snowbound Alpine passes got to enjoy the unusual mountain formations. But today, the area is a favorite vacation getaway for skiers, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts. And now, those visitors have a high tech way to know what is going on, weatherwise, before they even pack up their skis.
June 18, 2004 - Vantage Pro Helping to Restore Wisconsin Prairie
Fifty years
ago, the residents of Dane County, Wisconsin, looked out over gently
rolling slopes of prairie. Farmers used controlled fires to keep
the slopes open. But modern residents of the area see a different
view: the hills are covered with red cedar and weeds, with only
tiny patches of prairie. But Tom and Kathie Brock are not about
to let the prairie plant community disappear: they run the Savanna
Oak Foundation, Inc., which is involved
in restoration of prairie and oak savanna vegetation in southwestern
Wisconsin. The Brocks recently installed a new Vantage Pro Plus
to help them in their work. Until now, they have had to depend on
the nearest weather station which was over 20 miles away.
February 4, 2004 - Bryan Yeaton and the Weather Mobile Visit Davis
Being a weather
buff, Bryan Yeaton usually looks forward to spending the winter
atop New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, holder of the much coveted
and esteemed title of “Home of the World's Worst Weather.” The
Mount
Washington Observatory, which produces
Bryan’s nationally-syndicated radio show,
The Weather Notebook,
is his favorite place to be, especially
in a slightly above average breeze of 50 mph or so. If there is
a nice ice storm brewing, all the better for extreme-weather enthusiast
Bryan.
December
5, 2003 - Some Call the Wind Sharki, or Willy-willy,
or maybe Elephantra; SoCals Call it Bad News
Reader Ed Marelius sent us aset of portraits, before and after, of his brave little
weather station, which was set right in the middle of the Southern
California firestorm... In Southern California, at least lately,
they’ve been calling the wind a few names we can’t print here. Every
Southern Californian knows about the Santa Ana winds: the warm,
dry northeastern winds that come barreling down through the canyons
of Los Angeles every year around this time. But this year, the Santa
Anas were a major player in the devastating fires that took hundreds
of homes and many lives, and displaced thousands.
October 30, 2003 - Progressive Farming with the Vantage Pro
The Schafbuchs farm 1,400 acres of corn and soybeans each year as well as grow specialty corn and soybeans for seed. The whole farm is No-Tilled to save the soil. Schafbuch uses a Vantage Pro to not only monitor current weather conditions and forecasts but also to track historical data. The Vantage Pro is mounted on a six-foot pole in a flower bed for better readings of wind in the areas that are sprayed. Because weather is so variable in Iowa, information from the nearest National Weather Service station isn’t always valuable.
September 2003 - Davis Equipment Was Unfazed by Isabel’s Wrath
Hurricane Isabel
made landfall in North Carolina and zoomed up the East Coast on
Thursday, September 18, leaving massive damage in its wake from
storm surge, rain and high winds. Many in Isabel’s path will be
without power for weeks or longer and it could take many months
or years to rebuild everything that was damaged. Some of the damage
can never be fixed. Two-hundred-year-old houses were damaged or
destroyed in North Carolina. New channels were formed on the Outer
Banks and the main road, Highway 12, washed out. Virginia took massive
damage; Baltimore’s historic waterfront district was flooded and
worst of all, more than 30 people lost their lives.
August
22, 2003 - Davis Weather Station Helped Explain Why Visitors “Feel
Strange” on Venezuelan Mountaintop
Dr. Carlos Rivero-Blanco
and his wife Machela installed a Davis weather station in the small
nature center they staffed in Mucubají, Venezuela. Until they left
a few years back, the station served as an educational exhibit for
visitors to this high mountain ecosystem in the Sierra Nevada National
Park. The park is the largest of 12 national parks in the Venezuelan
Andes. Since returning to Caracas from Mucubaji, the Rivero-Blancos
have set up a “homemade” website to record their many memories of
Mucubají.
July
22, 2003 - Summertime, and the Livin' is Easy If you Wear a Hat
and Sunscreen
Don and Noelene
Mitts, of Laughlin, NV enjoyed reading about humidity's role in
the Heat Index, especially in those places where the high humidity
made the index skyrocket. Out there in dryyyyy Laughlin, they wrote,
"the humidity is so low that the Heat Index is always lower than
the outside temps." So we guess Don and Nolene felt just as cool
as a couple of cucumbers the other day when their weather station
was reporting 115ºF and 8% humidity (HI = 109.9ºF) … right.
June
19, 2003 - Single Male Roadrunner Seeks Female: Free Frog and Own
Anemometer for the Right Gal
"Single Male Seeking Female Seasonal Soul Mate: I am young and handsomely
bedecked with glorious tawny feathers, my head feathers in a jaunty
and stylish 'crew cut,' and I have a very long tail. I'll be waiting
for you, my love, and easy to spot on my luxurious Nevada perch,
a Davis Weather Wizard weather station, complete with anemometer.
I'll be holding a fat little frog for our honeymoon dinner."
May
7, 2003 - Davis
Stations Help Weather Volunteers Do Their Good Work
We have a big E-hug for all those who responded to our call for
stories about weather volunteers. We are hoping to see some of their
stories in their local media. It's about time somebody recognized
the important work weather volunteers do. Every one of those who
responded (as of e-press time) deserves a full page story (and we
just might be doing one on each of them), but we just have to share
a short version of their work with you here. We say, wow!
March
24, 2003 - Architect's
Installation Celebrates Simple Beauty of Vantage Pro Plus
Walter Scott Perry, an award-winning California architect, is a
person with extremely good taste. He finds beauty in the utilitarian,
and in those things that align the needs of humans with the protection
of our environment. One of those things of beauty, according to
Scott, is his Vantage Pro Plus, which rises above his Hollywood
Hills home's grey and yellow garage on an elegant, accessible mast
of galvanized steel tubes and pipes, pipe fittings, turn buckles,
lag bolts, and wire rope.
February
25, 2003 - Vantage
Pro Informs Surfers, Emergency Personnel, the World About City's
Dreamy Weather
Not long ago, Mike Morgan of San Clemente's Beach, Parks, and Recreation
Department told us, his department installed a Davis Vantage Pro
on the pier. Since many of the city's residents are as concerned
about the temperature of the water as that of the air, the department
also purchased a wireless temperature station. The sensor was run
down a conduit from the pier to about a foot above the ocean floor.
At this depth (about eight feet), the waves do a good job of mixing
the water, which, according to Mike, can be as much as five degrees
warmer in the first foot. The sensor gives swimmers a very good
idea of just how cold the water will feel. The rest of the station
is also out on the pier and beach strollers can watch the wind cups
spin.
January
17, 2003 - What an Honor! Mount Washington has "The Worst Weather
in the World!"
There are colder, snowier, wetter, foggier, and higher mountaintops
in the world, but Mount Washington in New Hampshire boasts a such
a distinctive combination of miserable weather that it has been
dubbed the "home of the worst weather in the world." And of all
Mount Washington's weather miseries, the most miserable is probably
the extreme wind that visits it on a regular basis. In fact, the
highest wind speed ever recorded, 231 mph, was recorded at the Mount
Washington Observatory, in April of 1934. Add to that a bone-freezing
cold, and we're talking weather. A low temperature of -28ºF has
already been recorded at the Observatory this brand new year, and
that's not even a mild threat to the all-time record of -47ºF.
December 13, 2002 - Paddling
Down the Missouri with a Weather Monitor II
Back in 1804, a couple of adventurers named Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark set off to see the sights west of the Rockies, and
hopefully, find a nice easy water passage from the United States,
through the foreign land to the west, and on to the Pacific. Today,
two modern-day adventurers, Michael Clark and John Ruskey, are following
in their canoe tracks. They have just completed paddling a hand-built
canoe down the Missouri from Yellowstone to St. Louis. They shared
their adventure with school children in live visits to schools on
the route and with hundreds of others who followed them via the
Internet on their website. While the modern day river men didn't
have a Shoshoni woman and her baby along for the ride, they did
have a Davis Weather Monitor II that gave the students daily weather
reports.
November 18, 2002 - Honey Bees
are Sweet on their Davis Weather Station
Carol Clement has one of the best protected Davis Weather Monitor
II weather stations around. Not only is it surrounded by an electric
fence, it is also guarded by thousands of buzzing bees. The bees,
we think, are right to be protective because the station allows
Carol to provide them with everything from proper ventilation in
the summer to "bee candy" meals when cold winter days overstay their
welcome. Carol's bees share Heather Ridge Farm, high on a mountain
top in Preston Hollow, New York - two hours and another world away
from New York City. It's a place where the seasons are intense and
short, and where knowing what the weather is doing is vital.
October 11, 2002 - Vrroom! Vrroom!
Davis Weather Stations Race off to El Mirage, and Bonneville Salt
Flats…
June 9th dawned a clear, bright, cool, and windy morning in the
high desert northeast of LA. Seventy-seven specially prepared race
cars and motorcycles, with their drivers, pit crews, families, friends,
and fans had gathered on the El Mirage dry lake bed for a test of
speed. The Southern California Timing Association has been running
these events since the late 1930's, first in the dry lake beds of
Southern California like El Mirage, and also since 1949 at the spectacular
Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
September 12, 2002 - Vantage
Pro Draws Crowds at Maritime Museum
Jerry Ostermiller calls the Colombia River Maritime Museum "the
finest maritime museum on the west coast." As its Executive
Director, we thought he might be a tiny bit prejudiced. But when
he added that his museum uses its Davis Vantage Pro weather station
in an interactive exhibit that draws thousands of visitors, we realized
that this is a man who knows what he is talking about.
August 16, 2002 - Alone Through
the Antarctic Winter
Back in December of 2000, we told you about a group of researchers
from Stanford University who were setting off to install two Davis
weather stations in Antarctica. Under the direction of Professor
Robert Twiggs, Director of the Space System Development Laboratory,
and industry mentor Ronald Ross, the group of undergraduate engineering
students intended to track wind, temperature, and solar and UV radiation
in the harsh Antarctic environment. UV data was of special interest
because of its relationship to ozone depletion over the continent.
July 22, 2002 - Leave a Child
in an Unattended Vehicle? Never!
Much too often we are devastated to hear of yet another
tragedy involving a child left unattended or accidentally trapped
in a hot car. Last year, 34 children in the United States died of
hyperthermia after being left unattended in vehicles.
June 6, 2002 - Techy Teacher
Mike Coon Has a Roomful of Eleven-Year-Old Weather Pros
It was a quiet moment in science and math teacher Mike
Coon's day. He didn't have a class to teach at the moment, so he
was relaxing with a few first graders who were working on their
Power Point presentations instead of playing out in the Montana
snow. The din in his classroom was down to the high pitched roar
a handful of first graders can't help but emanate, and he didn't
have to get the wrestling mats out in the gym for another 25 minutes.
None of his 40 self-built classroom computers were in need of technical
assistance. It was about as peaceful as Mike's day ever gets.
May 16, 2002 - Most Folks Run
AWAY From Storms...
While we might be just entering hurricane season, tornado
season is already off to a late but dramatic start. The weekend
of the 29th of April brought a series of tornadoes, including at
least one F3, which left a 100-mile-long path of death and damage
in 10 Midwest counties from Missouri to Maryland. The twister killed
at least six people, including a 12-year-old boy in Marble Hill,
Missouri. It whipped 46 full freight cars off their tracks in Kentucky,
leveled mobile homes, injured dozens, and forced hundreds into shelters.
Over the weekend of May 4th, Happy, Texas, became the latest target
of a series of tornados that left two people dead. News like this
is particularly sobering because the long narrow path of a tornado
is so difficult to predict and prepare for.
April 12, 2002 - The (Dust) Devil
and Dr. Gilreath
As the camera panned over the African countryside in the
final episode of Survivor Africa, those fans who are also fans of
weather phenomena were probably most interested in the tall, spinning
columns of dust meandering across the open expanse. Like a miniature
tornado, dust devils, or dust whirls, pick up dust and light debris
and spin it around in winds from 30 to 60 mph.
March 17, 2002 - Davis Perception
II Onboard Volvo Ocean Race Boats
Ever dreamed of a cruise around the world? How about the
2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race version of that dream: ten months aboard
a snug sail boat with 11 other sailors, racing against seven other
teams of top-notch international sailors, covering 32,700 nautical
miles, and circumnavigating the world with prevailing winds.
February
26, 2002 - Weather Monitor II Tells Rick Dolliver When to Tap his
Sugar Maples
Apparently, people aren’t the only ones who react to wind chill.
According to Rick Dolliver of Williston, Vermont, Sugar Maple trees
don’t like it much either. In fact, the trees themselves are very
precise biological weather stations that release their sweet sap
only when a rather precise combination of temperature, humidity
and wind conditions are met.
Feburary 9, 2002 - Finns Win
Nordic Combined Gold with Davis Vantage Pro
Were all on pins and needles watching the finals of the Nordic Combined
on Sunday, rooting for both Todd Lodwick, the home-team favorite,
and for our friends on the Finnish team. The Finnish team used our
Vantage Pro station to help determine the optimal waxing techniques...
January
7, 2002 - Australian Students Study Air Quality with Davis Instruments
and Innovative AirWatch Program
Ask a student
in a western Australian school how the weather is, and you might
get a surprisingly precise answer. An innovative educational program
called AirWatch has placed Davis weather stations, along with air
monitoring equipment, in hundreds of Australian schools...
December
7, 2001 - Volunteer Fire Reservist Bryan Jarvis Provides Current
Weather for Community Fire Department
The town of Lewisville,
Texas, used to be a small town, according to Fire Reservist and
weather-buff, Bryan Jarvis. Just a few years ago, Lewisville had
two traffic lights and two fire stations manned by paid firemen,
supplemented with a 16-man volunteer fire department. But times
have changed...
November 29, 2001 - Skiing Guests
at Hawk Inn Mountain Resort Check Weather Conditions as They Check
In
In the middle of Vermont's winter playground, one resort has turned their Davis weather station into an added perk for guests by keeping the console at the check in counter...
September 27, 2001 - Vantage Pro Named Official
Weather Station of the 2001 Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon
Fiesta
We're proud to announce that our new Vantage Pro has been named the official weather station of the 2001 Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. An annual spectacle of color and adventure, it's the most photographed event in the world. Now celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, this year's Fiesta will take place over nine days, from October 6 through 14...
April 19, 2001 - Weather Stations in the Classroom
A story of schoolkids in Sacramento, California. When the kids, who were already familiar with our Weather Monitor II through their classroom studies, saw our new Vantage Pro stations, they responded with the words, "Way cool!..."
We want your
story! If you have a story and a photo you'd like to share, e-mail
them to story@davisnet.com,
or send them via snail mail to:
Davis Instruments
Attn: My Story
3465 Diablo Ave
Hayward CA 94545-2778
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