A weather station is a meteorological device equipped to monitor real-time information on climatic conditions. By relying on sensors, it detects information about the weather and then converts it into electrical signs and shows the information to the user(s) according to the parameters defined. Some common parameters that weather stations measure are precipitation, humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure, soil temperature, wind speed and direction, noise, illuminance, solar radiation (incident and reflected), etc.
Because weather conditions influence yield crops, such instruments become vital for agricultural purposes. However, professional weather stations are costly and their complexity requires specific expertise in order to work with them, which is why having a smaller, private weather station can be of great help for agriculture and permaculture purposes. For instance, with relatively small costs, one can create a portable, personal weather station and equip it capable of measuring the wind direction, wind speed and rainfall.
In most home weather stations, rainwater is collected in a rain gauge and self-emptied once measured. Weather data stored in the cloud can tell you when it rained last and how much you received. Some weather station models also have optional soil moisture sensors that can be utilized to know if the soil has the optimal water content. If you’re really into it, you might be able to use the weather station to measure how much water you put in the garden when watering. Using the cloud storage and logging features in your weather station, you can confirm what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t. You’ll learn techniques and tricks that have proven to yield good results based on certain weather conditions
Another great feature most new home weather stations include is a forecast. It can be very accurate for the next several hours to a couple of days, making it much easier to decide whether you should pick early in the day or later in the day. Another great
feature of a personal weather station is the capability to push notifications to your mobile phone. The benefit here is that you can set them so that you know immediately when temperatures approach the freezing point or winds reach damaging speeds. This
would allow you to cover plants to avoid frost damage and bring potted plants into the garage if too windy.