Amateur Weather

Yet another of my hobbies has been weather phenomena. This might be evident from the number of Cool Pic subjects that have had to do with weather. As a once-aspiring pilot, I spent quite a bit of time studying the daytime sky (see my Amateur Astronomy page for my nighttime sky observations).

Although, as with most other hobbies, the flying was put on the back burner many years ago while raising a family, earning a BSEE degree, fixing up houses, working massive overtime and other activities got in the way. I did manage to build and fly a few model airplanes during that period, so the weather still held great interest for me. In fact, since free flight and RC gliders occupied a lot of my time, knowledge of winds, thermals, cloud formations, etc., played a large part in how successful flights were. Once the kids are out of college and there might actually be some disposable income to dispose of, I would like to get a really nice remote weather station that reports to my computer. For now, a Sam's Club atomic clock (signal received from Boulder) with an outdoor remote thermometer is about as exotic as it gets. I use the old finger method for gauging the rest of the weather: Hold up your finger outside; if it gets wet, it's raining, if it turns white, it's snowing, if it casts a shadow, it's sunny to mostly sunny, etc.

Amateur Weather Manufacturers & Services   Amateur Weather Resources

Amateur Radio Station N4NW
n4nw.org
Stafford County, VA
Current conditions & links.

Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center
fiu.edu/orgs/w4ehw/w4ehw-aprs.html
Celebrating 25 years of Public Service! Our Mission: To Help Save Lives.

Alabama Weather Network
arrl-al.org/NA_weather.htm
Huntsville, AL
The Huntsville Area Weather Network (HAWN) is primarily comprised of Amateur Radio stations using the Automated Position Reporting System (APRS) into APRSWXNET and Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP) [http://www.wxqa.com] sites, which augment the existing National Weather Service (NWS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), etc. weather observation sites across the region.

Amateur Weather Photography Contest
met.utah.edu/jimsteen/ams/photocontest
Sponsored by the AMS Student Chapter of the University of Utah.

Amateur Weather Satellite Imaging
uvm.edu/~swarley/wx.html
Vermont
S. Warley's satellite images from the University of Vermont.

APRSWXNET/Citizen Weather Observer Program
wxqa.com/DCC3.htm
Online system and method of weather data collection from widely separated citizen weather stations.

The British Weather
personal.dundee.ac.uk/~taharley/britweather.htm
UK
Information the British weather from a personal weather station.

BT/WSR-2002 Amateur Weather Radar Project
rocket-roar.com/BT/wsr.html
Amateur radio based weather radar project by Sean Breheny(KA3YXM) and Anish Trivedi.

CT Weather Center, Inc
ctweather.com
203-730-2899 / Danbury, Connecticut
Forecasts, radar maps, warnings and more.

Dayton Skywarn
dayton-skywarn.org
Dayton, OH
Dayton Section - W8OK Severe Weather Observation Reporting Network, serving west central Ohio and the White Water Valley of Indiana.

Free Weather Stuff
wxdude.com/free.html
Information on ordering free weather items.

Hurricane Watch Net, Inc.
hwn.org
Consists of a group of licensed Amateur Radio Operators trained and organized to provide essential communications support to the National Hurricane Center during times of Hurricane emergencies. Our primary mission is to disseminate tropical cyclone advisory information to island communities in the Caribbean, Central America, along the Atlantic seaboard of the U.S., and throughout the Gulf of Mexico coastal areas.

Kincardine Amateur Weather Station
pilor.com
Ontario, Canada
Local weather & cams.

NOAA Radar Operation Center
roc.noaa.gov
Boulder, CO
Large collection of technical papers on NEXRAD (WSR-88D) weather and other types of radar.

Peet Bros. Company, Inc
peetbros.com
800-872-7338 / St. Cloud, FL
Weather instruments, stations, sensors, accessories.

R.M. Young Company
youngusa.com
231-946-3980 / Traverse City, MI
Wind sensors, solar radiation shields & temperature/RH sensors, programmable translators & indicators.

Robert E. White Instruments, Inc
robertwhite.com
800-992-3045 / Boston, MA
Offers a tremendous array of high quality marine and weather instruments.

Royal Meteorological Society
rmets.org/index.php
0118 9568500 / UK
The Royal Meteorological Society is the national society for all those whose profession or interests are in any way connected with meteorology or related subjects.

The Skyhawk Weather Station
theweatherweb.com
Tiltonsville, OH
Serving Tiltonsville, Ohio and surrounding communities in the Ohio Valley 24 hour real-time weather coverage.

Skywarn WX4RNK
wx4rnk.org
Blacksburg, VA
SKYWARN, founded in the early 1970's is made up of a group of trained, dedicated amateur weather enthusiast who work in conjunction with the National Weather Service by observing and reporting adverse weather conditions to promote public safety and minimize property damage.

Surface Stations
surfacestations.com/about.htm
A survey of official temperature reporting stations revealed that the enclosure standards change in 1979, combined with improper siting, has resulted in significant errors that bias readings upward. This website was created in response to the realization that very little physical site survey data exists for the entire United States Historical Climatological Network (USHCN) and Global Historical Climatological Network (GHCN) surface station records worldwide.

TheWeatherWiz.com
theweatherwiz.com/school.htm
Weather prediction education site whose goal is to introduce teachers to the most successful school weather program in the U.S. and get the student involved in this fascinating science. The Program was designed by Jim Witt and honed via years of teaching and weather predictions. The American Meteorological Society is presenting a Special Award at their Annual Award Banquet in Seattle, Washington on January 26th ,2011, For innovative leadership in teaching high school meteorology, mentoring, and inspiring his students to accomplishments in the meteorological community and in life."

Weather Amateur Radio Network (WARN)
warn.org/pages/content
Cincinnati, OH
WARN is the amateur radio organization charged by the Wilmington, OH office of the the National Weather Service to collect and relay severe weather reports from Cincinnati area HAMs to the NWS.

Weather by Giannetta
enter.net/~wxdata/amateur1.htm
Bath, PA
Weather articles.

WeatherMatrix
weathermatrix.net
WeatherMatrix is a worldwide organization of over 6000 online amateur and professional weather enthusiasts -- meteorologists, storm chasers and spotters, and weather observers from all parts of the globe.

Weather in North Wales
northwalesindex.co.uk/pages/498.html
UK
Various local weather links.

WeatherShack.com
weathershack.com
888-992-2270 / Copper Hill, VA
Weather Stations for amateur weather enthusiasts, pilots, and ham radio operators. Featuring Davis Instruments, La Crosse Technology, and Nielsen-Kellerman, we carry a wide variety of cabled and wireless weather stations, wireless rain gauges, weather alert radios, and radio controlled clocks.
Especially useful to those who visit our site is our Weather Station Education Center, a non-commercial and comprehensive guide to weather measurement equipment; how they work, what applications they're used in, and how they should be set up.