New weather station online!

After 14 years of trusty weather data with an original Davis Vantage Pro weather station, I've finally upgraded to a new Vantage Pro 2 unit.  The new station is equipped with a 24 hr fan aspirated temperature shield which should result in even more accurate temperature readings than before (which were already pretty good).  Wind data will also return, although the anemometer is currently mounted on a 10 foot pole in my backyard surrounded by forest on the north and east sides. As a result, wind speeds and direction will not be ideal, but it's better than nothing. Eventually, I hope to move the anemometer to rooftop level to get more accurate wind readings. The new station will also give UV readings as my old unit did. All the data is uploaded onto my Rob's Obs website and updated every 5 minutes.  Data is also uploaded every 10 minutes to Weather Underground (ID = IMBWINNI3) 

Hopefully, this station gives me just as many years of trusty, reliable and accurate weather data as my original Davis station did.

Rainfall across southern MB overnight

Graphic showing rainfall reports from area of convection last night that tracked across ND/MB border. Bulk of rain fell in northern ND just south of international border where 50-100 mm (2-4") was reported. Generally 15-30 mm fell across far southern MB, with the highest amounts of 20-30 mm in the Pembina valley. Most of the rain fell south of Winnipeg with just a trace to 1 mm reported in the city.

Weather station issues

After 14 years of reliable service, It looks like my trusty Davis Vantage Pro weather station is starting to show its age. I'm experiencing more frequent data transmission problems which means current weather data is not getting uploaded to my website. The issue appears to be a failure with the super-capacitor in the sensor suite (ISS) which helps to power the unit when the solar panel is not operating (nighttime, cloudy skies, weak sun)  As a result, I only get data during bright sunlight hours wen the solar panel is providing power to the unit.  This ISS super-capacitor needs to be replaced (which is a bit of work) or I just might bite the bullet and upgrade to a new weather station altogether (after 14 years, it may be time)  In the meantime, I will try to keep the station running on backup batteries until I figure out what to do with it. If anyone has experience or advice on repairing the super-capacitor on the Davis Vantage Pro ISS, let me know.        

Blog on haitus for awhile

Folks..

I'm not finding the time to update this blog as frequently as I have in the past, so I'm just going to suspend the blog for awhile until I can find more free time to devote to it. I may post some entries from time to time, but they won't be on a regular basis. I thank everyone for their loyal following and participation, and I hope to return to more frequent updates in the fall. Until then, you can follow some excellent weather blogs at A Weather Moment or Winnipeg Weather for current local weather information and updates. 

Rob     

Warm and windy Wednesday.. Burn ban in effect

A low pressure system tracking into southern Saskatchewan will bring a strengthening southerly wind across southern MB Wednesday , especially through Winnipeg and the Red River valley.  Southerly winds will increase to 40 or 50 km/h by mid morning with gusts to 70 or possibly 80 km/h by midday into the afternoon. The windy conditions will be accompanied by warm temperatures in the low 20s, and very low humidities of 15 to 20% leading to dangerous fire weather conditions.  Local grass or brush fires are possible, and a burning ban is in effect for much of southern and eastern MB. The strong winds may also lead to areas of blowing dust as dry topsoil gets blown around by the gusty winds.  Once winter snow cover is gone, April becomes a prime month for grass fires and blowing dust in the Prairies as strong gusty winds can combine with dry surface conditions to help promote fires and drifting topsoil. Increasing dewpoints, surface moisture, rainfall, and leaf/crop green-up in May and June help to reduce the threat of grass fires and blowing dust as the growing season progresses. However, grass fires can also flare up in the fall.. particularly in October at the end of the growing season and before the first snows of winter.