On-farm weather stations have evolved from conversation pieces to genuine management tools with each generation able to sense and log more factors more precisely.
RainWise, the New England company that’s been building weather stations for 40 years, has just introduced its new solar powered AgroMET station.
The company, which is working with climatologists at Cornell University’s Network for Environment and Weather Applications (NEWA), said the new station was designed specifically for farmers and is the official weather station of NEWA.
The network’s mandate is to deliver weather information and apps that support integrated pest management and best management practices for agriculture, including:
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- downy mildew forecasting
- fusarium head blight prediction
- weed models
- integrated pest management for soybean rust
- drought monitoring
AgroMET uses the same basic technology as the MKIII, a long-range weather station from Rainwise, but adds leaf wetness and global solar radiation sensors. The optional soil moisture and soil temperature sensors are added separately for maximum data acquisition.
The basic sensor package in-cludes:
- precipitation
- temperature
- humidity
- leaf wetness
- wind speed and direction
- solar radiation
The sensor assembly is 33 inches high and weighs seven pounds.
It includes a 2.4 GHz spread spectrum radio with a transmission range of one mile in the line of sight. It also features a real time two second wind speed and direction update interval.
The solar charged battery provides continual operation below 60 degrees latitude and can operate for 60 days without sun. No connection between the sensors and the power grid almost eliminates thunderstorm and voltage surge damage.
The initial sensor calibrations for wind, temperature, relative humidity and barometric pressure come from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
RainWise bases its temperature and humidity sensors on the same passive solar shield design that the National Weather Service uses.
All hardware is stainless steel, while the station body is fibreglass and structural PVC and is protected from ultra-violet rays.
The station costs $1,445.
The company said it has been working with Weather Underground for the past five years to create a plug and play personal weather station that would let users link into one of the largest weather station networks in the world.
People who have experience operating their own weather stations say the information is more useful if it is linked to neighbouring stations.
