Smart Weather Station FAQs Follow
Help & Troubleshooting FAQs / Forecast FAQs / Product FAQs
How do I change my station name?
You can change the name of your station any time via the settings in the app. Go to settings > stations > choose a station > tap the "Name" and edit. Make sure to save changes.
I don't have an iOS or Android device - how do I get through setup?
You can only set up your Hub through the iOS or Android applications. Although, some BlackBerry devices can run Android apps. If this isn't an option or if you have a Windows phone, try using a friend's or family member's iOS or Android device for the setup process. Once the Hub and devices are setup and configured to WiFi, you can access the data anywhere on the web.
What batteries should I use for AIR and/or SKY?
The HUB is designed to plug into a power outlet inside your house. A plug and USB power cable will be included with your station kit. The AIR requires 4 AA batteries while the SKY can use 8 AA batteries, but we encourage you to use the solar panel accessory included with your station kit. We recommend using Energizer Ultimate Lithium (not alkaline, not rechargeable lithium ion) in outdoor environments as they perform much better in variable temperatures. Both AIR and SKY are meticulously designed to consume a tiny amount of power allowing for super long battery life.
What is the wireless range of the devices?
Sensor devices communicate with HUB via powerful sub-gHz telemetry radios and can maintain connection up to 300 meters (1000 ft+) unobstructed, in clear line of sight. The HUB should be placed no farther from the router than any other wireless connected devices. Situations vary with obstructions, wall materials, signal interference and power.
How frequently are measurements reported by the sensors?
All values are reported on a one-minute average cycle. Lightning strikes are instantaneously reported upon detection. The ultrasonic anemometer in SKY and Tempest samples the wind every 3 seconds and sends an average of wind speed & direction to the Hub. The haptic rain sensor in SKY and Tempest also reports instantaneous rain start events when more than 5 seconds of continuous rain occurs.
More on wind sampling...
Every 3 seconds the ultrasonic transducers sample the wind speed and direction. These values are averaged in one-minute observations. The lull is the lowest of the 3-sec readings and the gust is the highest of the 3 sec readings. The one minute averages become part of your station’s long term record. These are World Meteorological Organization (WMO) standard sampling methods.
What does Power Save Mode do for SKY & Tempest?
Power save mode saves battery power by reducing the wind sampling frequency of the sonic anemometers from 3 seconds (normal) to 15 seconds (power-save).
Tempest devices will automatically enter different phases of power saving power modes when battery capacity starts getting low.
What does Direction Offset do for the wind direction?
The wind direction offset value is added to your raw wind direction reading. If you think your wind direction is off or perhaps the sensor device is installed backwards and you don't want to fix manually, simply apply a direction offset. Go to settings > stations > choose a station > manage devices > choose SKY > advanced > direction offset.
How is wind direction displayed?
Wind direction reports are based on where the wind is blowing from. Wind direction is displayed in degree format or cardinal direction. Conventional wind barbs point into the wind but you can also treat the wind as a vector using an arrow that points in the direction of the flow.
How is pressure displayed?
The value displayed on the station home screen of the app is sea level pressure. Also known as relative pressure or barometric pressure, this is an adjusted value based on temperature and total height above sea level (elevation + height above ground).
Station pressure or atmospheric pressure is measured directly by the sensor. This pressure value is not of much use to people, unless for some reason you want to know what the actual pressure is at your house (maybe for brewing beer, baking bread or engine tuning?). Station pressure is displayed in the list view in the app.
Pressure trends: The following trends are determined from changes over 3 hour intervals...
"Falling"/"Rising" if the magnitude of the pressure change is ≥ 1 mb
"Steady" if the magnitude of the pressure change is ≤ 1 mb
How do you decide rain intensity values?
VERY LIGHT: < 0.25 mm/hour
LIGHT: ≥ 0.25, < 1.0 mm/hour
MODERATE: ≥ 1.0, < 4.0 mm/hour
HEAVY: ≥ 4.0, < 16.0 mm/hour
VERY HEAVY: ≥ 16.0, < 50 mm/hour
EXTREME: > 50.0 mm/hour
How do I view daily summaries of observations?
You can view daily summaries of observations using the history tab or through the graph view at the outermost zoom level for any graphed parameter. In the graph view, the box plots represent the highest and lowest observed values for that day. The red line displayed in each box is the average value over the entire day, not the average of the highest and lowest value.
Will I lose data if my Hub/station experiences an outage?
Power Outage
Sensor devices can store about an hour worth of data and will continue pinging the Hub to reconnect. Once power to the Hub is reestablished and the devices reconnect, stored device data will be offloaded to the Hub for publication.
Tip: In the event of a prolonged power outage, you can power the Hub with an external power bank. The hub requires a minimum 5 Watt (1 Amp @ 5 volts) power supply. Make sure the power bank you select has pass through charging ability, meaning it will charge itself (from the wall) at the same time it powers the Hub. For reference, a 10,000mAh battery capacity can power the Hub for over 72 hours.
Internet Outage
Sensor devices will continue transmitting data to the Hub. The Hub can store about a week of data from one AIR and SKY pair or one Tempest. Once internet connection is restored to the Hub, it will publish the data. Tip: The Hub is able to publish the data locally (UDP, BLE) as long as it has power (setup UDP broadcast and/or leave the app open on a Bluetooth connected device).
My humidity readings seem off, is something wrong?
The sensors inside the AIR and Tempest are tested and calibrated no less than 3 times before they leave our factory. If you think your sensor is incorrectly reporting relative humidity, the first thing to do is check the immediate environment in which it’s located. The instruments are quite sensitive and will pick up ambient moisture from ground vegetation, nearby trees, moisture in wood decks, dryer vents, etc. Siting differences will typically result in different data.
Why is the lightning detector giving false positives?
The lightning detector in the AIR senses the small electromagnetic pulse produced by lightning. Although it will reject most non-lightning emissions, it may report so-called "false positives" from other electromagnetic sources including motors, microwave ovens, computer monitors, speakers, and even motion detectors. Be sure to locate the AIR away from such sources. Sometimes these sources are not obvious. If you experience false positives, the simple solution is to re-locate your AIR in a location free of electromagnetic interference. If however, you cannot identify any potential interference, or you are limited on siting options, subtle changes in the positioning of air can make all the difference. Try rotating your AIR so the logo or vent point toward another direction. If you live in a 'noisy' environment, you may want to disable the lightning alerts in the app or even disable the lightning sensor in the AIR altogether.
What is the RSSI value?
RSSI is a relative measurement of signal strength between either a device and the Hub or the Hub and your router/access point. The closer to zero the better the signal. For example, an RSS of -45 would be great. -12 is fantastic (AIR & hub are probably sitting right next to each other). -65 is still fine once you get close to -80 or -90, you're on the edge and could suffer from packet loss.
How do I clean the SKY or Tempest device?
Under normal conditions, you should not need to clean your Tempest or SKY device. Rain and wind will keep it sufficiently clean. In some cases, you may notice foreign build-up in the wind gap where the ultra-sonic anemometer takes readings. In this case, we recommend removing any debris with a light spray form a hose. You may also want to take the device indoors and use water from the kitchen or bathroom faucet at medium to high pressure. Do not use soap or anything but water. You may need to use a cloth on the top of the device to remove bird droppings and you may also want to wipe the exterior and between the radiation shield plates to remove anything the water does not. Do NOT use a cloth or abrasion of any kind in the wind gap area, which is coated with a super-hydrophobic material.
What does the 'Share Publicly' setting entail?
The 'Share Publicly' settings toggle allows you to decide whether or not others can view data from your weather station and also permits integrated services like IFTTT to use the data. This data does not include any personal identification. It does include a general proximity location for geographical context. If this is of concern, you can simply change the location of your station in the Station settings menu. Here's an example of publicly shared weather data: https://tempestwx.com/station/1934/grid
Where can I see a map of all Tempest stations?
There’s a map of all publicly reporting Tempest stations here: TempestWx.com/map
You can also get to this map from the mobile app, starting from the Settings tab, scroll to the "More" heading and tap the "TempestWx (Map)" link.
What's the difference between the mobile app and the web app?
The mobile app is focused on providing an intuitive view of current conditions and forecast information, both of which are driven and improved by observation data from your Tempest hardware.
The web app (TempestWx.com) includes all of the features of the mobile apps, plus a few extras - typically those that are used less frequently and/or are more appropriate for a browser interface. As we add more features to both apps, we will continue to be guided by our design principles.
Our design goals are to keep the Tempest apps purposefully simple, elegant and easy-to-use. Feedback on our apps generally comes in two forms: Some users want a more technical, sophisticated view of the data from their weather station. Others simply want to know what the weather is doing now and in the future in a simple and clean interface. Our challenge is to provide both.
What are the IFTTT column headers for the observation log applet?
If you are using the pre-made applet, the column headers are as follows: Timestamp, AirTemp, Humidity, Pressure, WindAvg, WindDir, WindLull, WindGust, Rain, UV, Brightness, SolarRadiation, LightningStrike
Know that you can make new columns and convert from the base units or add a conversion to the data coming in to a cell. This is one of the pre-configured IFTTT applets which is simple to set up but the configuration cannot be changed. However, you can actually create your own applet with your own configuration (parameters, units, etc.).
To configure your own data logging applet...
From IFTTT, go to My Applets > New Applet > select WeatherFlow for the "If" part > choose New Observation. Then choose Google Sheets for the "Then" part > "Add Row" > customize your preferred ingredients to a formatted row.
How can I use my data on my website or blog?
There are several ways to integrate your smart weather station data into a website. If your website uses WordPress, check out the beautiful Weather Station plugin (https://weather.station.software/). You can also link your station to Weather Underground, then use one of their weather stickers (https://www.wunderground.com/stickers/). The desktop software Weather-Display (www.weather-display.com) is a powerful tool for visualizing weather data and also provides a nice way to publish data to a website. Finally, if you are an experienced developer (or know someone who is), you'll want to check out our API (https://weatherflow.github.io/SmartWeather/api/).
How do I link my station to Weather Underground?
To send your weather station data to WU, create a WU PWS and gather your PWS ID and Station key. Then login to your account on the web app: https://tempestwx.com/ and go to settings > stations > choose your station > public data > Weather Underground and enter your WU PWS station ID and key. Wait at least 30 minutes to an hour before WU starts publishing your data. This process could take longer depending on WU issues.
Forecast FAQs
Where does the Forecast come from?
The forecast data displayed in the Tempest app is produced by WeatherFlow. Our modeling systems start with data from a variety of third-party sources, including global and regional numerical models from US and European weather agencies, as well as WeatherFlow’s in house regional numerical models. The forecasts are then enhanced using the rich source of WeatherFlow observations in WeatherFlow’s proprietary machine learning (AI) forecasting platform to improve the forecast for your specific location.
How is Tempest's forecast better than others?
Improvements are made to the local forecast as the machine learning (AI) ingests observations from your Tempest System and other observations in your area. We pay a great deal of attention to the quality of the observations coming from your Tempest and our Continuous Learning AI seeks to improve the quality of your unique observations. You will notice advantages in accuracy over other forecasts starting about ~60 days from the time of installation. You may notice additional improvements going forward as we learn more about your local weather.
Why does the daily probability of precipitation not match the hourly values?
The probability of seeing precipitation at any hour during the day will always be greater than the probability of seeing precipitation within one hour of that day. It's a little like the fact that the probability of an individual coin toss is 50% heads, yet the probability of getting at least one heads in 5 throws is almost 97%. The actual values presented are derived from the complex interplay of math, physics, meteorology and magic that happens in the WeatherFlow data science center.
Product FAQs
See FAQs
Can I see my weather station online?
Yes. Go to https://tempestwx.com/ and user your Tempest login credentials to view your station. You can also share your weather station with friends and family by sharing the URL noted at the bottom of your station’s web page. You can use any connected device to view your weather data. iPad – yes. iPhone – yes. Android phone or tablet – yes. Computer – yes. Anything with a browser.
Do I need WiFi?
Yes and no. Most people will locate their weather station at home and connect to a home WiFi network. Doing this will enable consistent weather data to flow into our servers and allow anytime data access. It is possible to operate a Smart Weather Station via your smartphone, however, data will only be reported when the phone is directly connected to the weather station (via BLE).
Solar power accessory for SKY
SKY is capable of running entirely off solar power using the solar panel accessory. The solar is expected to provide 5 years of battery life with an internal lithium iron phosphate battery and up to 30 days of power on a full charge even in full overcast conditions.
How does the ultra-sonic anemometer work?
SKY houses a sonic anemometer in the top of the device. The SKY measures wind speed and direction based on the time of flight of sonic pulses between pairs of transducers. This allows for a high degree of accuracy especially in variable wind conditions. For more information see Wikipedia on Sonic Anemometers.
How does the haptic rain sensor work?
SKY uses a patent-pending haptic rain sensor in the top of the device. Using a combination of pressure and capacitance, SKY measures and counts each falling raindrop. Algorithms exclude things that are not rain (like the rumblings of a passing train or Harley). This allows SKY to report the instant rain begins falling, the current intensity, and the total rain accumulation over time. Accuracy compares to a large tipping bucket, but does not get fouled with leaves or bird poop.
Is there a solar radiation shield for the AIR?
If your AIR must be placed in direct sunlight - make sure to house the unit within an adequate solar radiation shield. There are solar shields available on the market, search “solar radiation shield”. We’ve tested the Ambient SRS100LX: http://a.co/fu9505i and the AIR fits snugly inside if you build the layers around the unit.
Does the AIR & Tempest really detect lightning?
The AIR and Tempest detects cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud lightning activity. The sensor detects electrical transmissions from lightning activity up to 40km (approx. 25 miles) away and gives an estimate of distance. Humans can typically sense lightning only up to 25km away. The sensor algorithm is even smart enough to reject man-made signals such as microwave ovens and motors. That said, it’s important to place the AIR away from electrical disturbances for best performance. The maximum detection efficiency at 5km is about 40%, at 15km ~35%, and at 40km ~18% or so. Please note that the sensor is an early warning system designed to track the head of the storm, it is not necessary to capture every single lightning strike. It is enough to capture some events to get information on how far the leading edge of the storm is away from the sensor’s position. The system is based on statistical analyses of lightning strikes and is thus not comparable to expensive lightning measurement equipment.
Why don't I get an alert for every lightning strike?
To prevent users from being overwhelmed by lightning detection alerts, we set up a rule that our software follows: for each lightning strike, an alert is sent if it’s been more than 30 minutes since the last alert or if it’s closer than the previous strike.
What is the temperature operating range of the equipment?
The Hub is not intended to be used outdoors, it should not be in an environment where relative humidity can reach 95% or more because water could condense on the circuits and cause damage.
AIR and SKY's temperature operating range is from -35F to 140F.
How durable are the Tempest & AIR/SKY devices?
We use a marine-grade plastic formula for the device casings, which are designed to improve durability and keep the devices shining white for many years to come. No matter where you live; in the heat of Central Florida, bitter cold of Canada, or across the seas, the AIR/SKY won't degrade from years of weathering.
Can I use this on a moving vehicle?
Many owners have installed the equipment on a boat, RV, storm chasing vehicle, motor homes, etc. but the device and software is not designed to support use on a moving platform. There is no GPS in the hardware, so the station location needs to be updated manually upon relocating. Wind direction is determined by aligning the device to true north. Rain readings are triggered by vibrations detected by the haptic rain sensor, so, a moving platform, especially on the road or water would cause false rain readings.
However, when you're parked at a location, the system would still be a great asset for weather data. The Hub (base station) connects to WiFi but it is not necessary aside from the occasional software update. A phone or tablet with a Bluetooth connection with the Hub is all you need to get data locally. The Tempest device transmits data over radio to the Hub. The Hub does need to be powered, requiring 1amp @5v power supply.
Is the Tempest (or AIR/SKY) a scientific/professional instrument?
The Tempest device (like AIR & SKY) was designed to be the best weather sensor device for residential use in the world. The sensor hardware within Tempest devices are best-of-class; as good or better than what you find in other home weather stations. The data these sensors provide is higher quality than data coming from most home stations as well as what more expensive, “pro-sumer” hardware produces. Moreover, the Tempest system is more than hardware - using advanced quality control analysis and machine learning techniques, our goal is to provide you the most accurate estimate of real-time conditions, as well as a guaranteed better forecast.
In addition to data accuracy and forecast enhancement, there are several attributes where the Tempest (and AIR & SKY) perform better than other devices, better even than "professional" devices. These areas include cost, simplicity, ease-of-use, low maintenance, and high reliability.
And while we do intend to develop a line of commercial/professional weather hardware devices in the future, the Tempest (and AIR & SKY) is aimed squarely at the home consumer. Despite being designed for common residential use with available WiFi, they will perform exceptionally well in a variety of situations. That said, features like power management, signal range, connectivity, inputs/outputs have not been optimized for the various advanced needs of the scientific / professional user.
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