Weather station
A weather station is a facility with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation amounts. Wind measurements are taken as free of other obstructions as possible, while temperature and humidity measurements are kept free from direct solar radiation, or insolation. Manual observations are taken at least once daily, while automated observations are taken at least once an hour.
Instruments
Typical weather stations have the following instruments: Thermometer for measuring temperature
Barometer for measuring barometric pressure/air pressure
Hygrometer for measuring humidity
Anemometer for measuring wind speed
Wind vane for measuring wind direction
Rain gauge for measuring precipitation
Exposure
Except for those instruments requiring direct exposure to the elements (anemometer, rain gauge), the instruments should be sheltered in a vented box, usually a Stevenson screen, to keep direct sunlight off the thermometer and wind off the hygrometer. The instrumentation may be specialized to allow for periodic recording otherwise significant manual labour is required for record keeping. Automatic transmission of data, in a format such as METAR, is also desirable as many weather station's data is required for weather forecasting.
Networks
A variety of weather station networks have been set up globally. Some of these are basic to analyzing weather fronts and pressure systems, such as the synoptic observation network, while others are more regional in nature.
Global
Citizen Weather Observer Program
Weather Underground Personal Weather Stations
United States
Arizona Meteorological Network (AZMET)
Central Pennsylvania Volunteer Weather Station Network
Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN)
Georgia Environmental Monitoring Network (GAEMN)
Indiana Purdue Automated Agricultural Weather Station Network (PAAWS)
MesoWest
Michigan Automated Weather Network (MAWN)
Missouri Weather Stations
National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program
Oklahoma Mesonet
The Pacific Northwest Cooperative Agricultural Weather Network
Southern Hemisphere
Antarctic Automatic Weather Stations Project
Australia/Bureau of Meteorology AWS network.
Australia/Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
Australia/Lower Murray Water Automatic Weather Station Network
Translation
The phrase "Weather station" occurs as such in the following languages: English, Simple English.
Translation(s) in other languages: Catalan: Estació meteorològica, German: Wetterstation, Estonian: Ilmajaam, Greek: Μετεωρολογικός σταθμός, Spanish: Estación meteorológica, French: Capteur météorologique, Galician: Estación meteorolóxica, Icelandic: Veðurathugunarstöð, Italian: Stazione meteorologica, Latvian: Meteostacija, Lithuanian: Meteorologinė stotis, Dutch: Weerstation, Japanese: 気象台, Norwegian (Bokmål): Meteorologisk stasjon, Norwegian (Nynorsk): Meteorologisk stasjon, Polish: Stacja meteorologiczna, Portuguese: Estação meteorológica, Russian: Метеостанция, Finnish: Sääasema, Swedish: Väderstation, Ukrainian: Метеорологічна станція, Chinese: 氣象台.
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