About Mount Crawford Weather....

“Mount Crawford Weather” is located in Mount Crawford, Virginia and has been providing weather data to the people of Mount Crawford since January 2008. It was revamped to this current form in October 2008.   It originally began as the Warren Family Weather when it was just a single page attached to a family web site.   The site evolved from what my wife would describe as a passion for weather, computers, and anything with bells and whistles..  

The purchase of a Oregon Scientific WMR-968 wireless weather station, from a local electronics retailer as a gift, started the ball rolling.  I was fortunate enough to come across the website www.wxforum.net. The WXForum.net site is a forum where you can communicate with other weather enthusiasts and discuss equipment and software used in weather data collection.  After seeing how others were creating web sites and with the support of peers on the forum, my weather web page came into being.  Once I obtained the mountcrawfordweather.org domain name the site evolved rather quickly as I had to learn how to create web pages and gain the associated skills to make it into its current form.  My goal in creating Mount Crawford Weather was to present a simple, easy to read and navigate web page.  Too often I have seen personal weather sites crammed with so much data that it is confusing and I wanted to steer clear of that type of appearance.  While I believe I achieved that goal, there are still some minor tweaks that always need to be done.

This web site was created as a hobby and in no way should be considered a professional weather site.  The data provided is generated from both my weather station and weather sources on the Internet.  While I consider the data very accurate, delays in updating, for what ever reason, could lead you to incorrect assumptions about the current status of the weather.  This is true of any weather taken from the Internet.  Never make important decision from weather obtained on the Internet!

It costs money to run mountcrawfordweather.org, please consider a donation via PayPal to help offset my web hosting and internet bandwidth costs.


 

Thank you for visiting this site.

SAM

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Hardware....

The following is a list of the equipment to power mountcrawfordweather.org

Oregon Scientific WMR-968 wireless weather station.

Weather Station Image

It's basic features include:

  • The backlit display of the comprehensive control unit also features a digital clock with alarm and day/date calendar. Weather conditions are graphically displayed, including a compass rose for wind direction, and feature icons indicate the selected monitoring mode. Easily recognized weather icons -- sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, and rainy/snowy -- display the forecast for the next 12-24 hours. Forecasts are based on electronic barometric-pressure sensing, and these weather predictions are considered to be about 85% accurate. No more stretching wires under windows or through walls! Now you can monitor weather and environmental conditions in and outside of your home or office with this complete Cable Free™ Weather Station. This comprehensive monitoring and forecasting center features exciting, innovative wireless outdoor sensors that use solar power and radio-frequencies to communicate with the touchscreen-activated indoor LCD control unit with bright blue HiGlo™ backlighting. The system features memories for all conditions, such as high and low temperatures, as well as optional user-set alarms for all monitoring functions. Each alarm activates an audible/visual warning condition when a pre-set value, such as a wind-chill reading, is reached. An optional PC Link cable (RS-232) plus two accessory software packages enable monitoring and graphing all weather conditions on a personal computer. Console Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.5in
  • The Thermo-Hygrometer measures outdoor temperature and relative humidity. The outdoor temperature operating range is –58°F to 158°F and has an accuracy resolution of 0.2°F; the relative humidity operating range is 2% to 96%RH with an accuracy resolution of 1%. Updating of information to the display unit occurs every 37-seconds. The Thermo-Hygrometer is powered by a solar cell with battery backup.
  • The anemometer measures wind speed and direction. The anemometer wind speed operating range is up to 125 miles per hour and has a accuracy resolution of +/- (plus or minus) 0.4mph. In steady wind conditions the anemometer transmits new readings to the display unit once every minute; in gusty conditions, gust updating occurs every 14-seconds. Wind direction operating range is 0° to 359°. Data transmission to the display unit occurs every 5-seconds. The anemometer is powered by a solar cell with battery backup.
  • The Baro-Hygrometer measures indoor temperature and humidity, and barometric pressure. The temperature operating range is 23°F-122°F with an accuracy resolution of 0.2°F; this data is transmitted to the display unit every 38-seconds. The humidity operating range is 2% to 96%RH with an accuracy resolution of 1%. Updating of relative humidity information to the display unit occurs every 37-seconds. The barometric pressure operating range is 23.48 inHg to 31.01 inHg with an accuracy resolution of 0.03 inHg. Data updating to the display unit of relative humidity occurs once an hour. 4 AAA-sized batteries power the Baro-Hygrometer.
  • The Rain Gauge measures rainfall in millimeter increments reflecting current rainfall or accumulation of up to nine (9) days’ history. The Rain Gauge features a self-emptying collection unit. The rainfall measurement range is 0" to 39.97" per hour with a cumulative operating range of 0" to 393.7". The rainfall accuracy resolution is .28 mm (0.011"). Data to the display unit is updated every 47-seconds. The Rain Gauge is powered by a solar cell with battery backup.

The Thermo-Hygrometer sensor is mounted in our yard within a passive aspiration radiation shield to minimize the effects of direct sunlight and provide more accurate readings.

The Anemometer and Rain Gauge are mounted at a height of 20 feet on a pole attached to our storage building. This is done to reduce the effects of possible "shadowing" by surrounding homes or structures.

The Rain Gauge has been custom modified with a Precipitation Heater to allow measurement and recording of the liquid equivelent of snow and freezing rain, during the winter months. It has also been modified to increase it's resolution for more accurate rainfall numbers.

The Console is connected via a RS-232C Serial Connection to the weather server computer.

Click her for additional >>>>WEATHER STATION PHOTOS<<<<

 

Dedicated Weather Server Computer

The Weather Server Computer is an old computer that I had just lying around. It was originally purchased in 1998 and rebuilt in 2001. In order to avoid conflicts, it is running the absolute minimum software, services and devices. It is running a clean and trim version of Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3). The computer's basic specs are as follows:

  • AMD Athlon Thunderbird Processor at a speed of 1.3 GHz
  • Installed memory of 896 MB (SDRAM)
  • Hard drives: Primary-40GB containing the operating system and weather server software, Secondary-40GB containing archived and system backup data.
  • DVD-RW and CD-RW ROM Drives
  • 100 Base-T ethernet network connection
  • 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy disk drive

 

Logictech Pro 9000 Webcam

The Webcam is mounted in the window of our home. It shows the view from outside the weather room. It's images are uploaded periodically to the website.

 

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Software....

The following is a list of the software programs used to generate mountcrawfordweather.org

Virtual Weather Station V13.01 P09 by Ambient Weather

Weather Station Image

General Description:

Virtual Weather Station is the most widely used software package for connecting your personal computer to your weather station and the Internet, allowing you to display, plot and store data for comprehensive monitoring and analysis.

Runs on all Windows 32-bit operating systems, including 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP/Vista.

Virtual Weather Station brings your PC to life with a rich array of dynamic and colorful gauges, dials, graphs and charts. The desktop can be completely customized - allowing you to arrange all of the virtual instruments based on your own personal preferences or application. You have literally 1000 ways to display your data.

 

Fling Ftp Software

Compaq

General Description:

Fling FTP Software is a powerful ftp program that sets itself apart from other ftp clients by seamlessly integrating with your local Windows explorer.

Fling avoids the chore of navigating complicated software interfaces and instead utilizes Windows existing file explorer. Fling runs behind the scenes and allows you to automatically upload or transfer files from anywhere on your PC using the Windows right click menu. Simply right click on the file you want to upload and select "Fling Upload". It's as easy as that. But best of all, Fling is completely free.

 

 

Fwink Webcam Software

Compaq

General Description:

Fwink is a free and open source webcam application for Windows. It takes still images from your camera at timed intervals and puts them on your web site with FTP. You can add effects like text messages, time stamps and an overlay image..

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