How to Choose a Home Weather Station | Ask This Old House

The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore explains the importance of a weather station to Ask This Old House host Kevin O’Connor. (See below for a shopping list and steps.)

Shopping List for How to Choose a Home Weather Station:
- Home weather station

Steps for How to Choose a Home Weather Station:
1. A home weather station comes with a thermometer to measure the temperature.
2. A barometer measures air pressure. High pressure typically means pleasant conditions. Low pressure translates into stormy conditions.
3. An anemometer measures wind speed and direction.
4. A rain gauge can give rate and amount of rainfall.
5. The device runs on a solar power panel and is able to send information directly to your smartphone using an app.
6. Be sure to place the home weather station in an open area that gets a lot of direct sunlight to get the best readings.

About Ask This Old House TV:
Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we're ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O'Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.

Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House:

How to Choose a Home Weather Station | Ask This Old House

[sharonjuniorchess]

Such an opportunity lost to inspire & encourage others as to why it can be so beneficial to get into recording the basic components of meteorological data. In the past it used to be a pain to gather & record all this data regularly & consistently now it is so much easier & can be automated. But that is just the beginning. Putting it all into context; sharing your data with others; enables more information to be extracted about your local climate and to make forecast predictions. Instead of buying a complete unit why not learn how to make your own weather station by building your own sensors & recording devices one at a time. Its a lot easier than people think.

[billykittner]

As a pilot, Jim is a rock star to me. WX channel is #1 on my pre flight

[CalvinHodgson]

-How to Choose a Home Weather Station- What is a Weather Station?

Fixed the title for ya.

[medicinegone]

So what brand is this? How much does it cost? What's the max windspeed it's designed to withstand?

[JonMcG]

Sorry to come off as a "Troll", but, I do agree with the comments below, you haven't offered anything related to the heading of this vid, you forgot to even mention the name of this particular weather station, what the rivals are, what to look for when choosing a weather station, pricing, set up costs etc etc . Any chance you could either edit, extend or even delete this vid and do a proper one ?

[belfordlancaster]

so what's the brand name? How much does it cost?

[mitchs]

A whole bunch of nothing. Which one was it? How much? Are there others?

[Maxid]

Can I get this with back pack straps so I'll always know the weather were I am?

[dpav]

How often do you see the rain absolutely pouring across the street at your neighbors house and nothing at yours, so you gotta go out and water the lawn! That just about happens never, but let me buy this $3000 gizmo anyway to tell me whether it's raining outside my door...

[onecrazywheel]

Wow what is the ballpark of the cost of one of these stations? Several grand?

[vintageguitarz]

If you bought an Acu-rite, you actually bought an Acu-CRAP. They make (in China of course) the WORST, most unreliable, buggy, short lived Weather Station for an expensive price. I had a Model 01604 that lasted LESS THAN 1 YEAR before the 3-in-1 Sensor DIED and no longer transmits. I also have a 01538 that has unrealistic "Temperature Spikes" whenever the Sun shines directly on the 5 in 1 sensor (how else can you use it without being IN the Sun!?) Acu-Crap has the worlds WORST Tech / Customer support, NO ONE EVER answers their phones, some 800 number have been discontinued, and they offer little help when you are contacted by them. Look at their own Owner Forums to see the hostile complaints! I've bought and "Ambient" weather station instead!

[futureshock]

Will be important to check how much more rainfall you are receiving due to changing climate. What is the max amount of water they can measure

[curiosity]

Yeah this video is missing a huge amount of information which is a shame.

[skippyi]

the title has nothing to do with the content of the video- WTF ?

[Crroow]

Sorry guys. Interesting topic but you totally blow this one out of the water.

[vancekeith]

Gotta love the weather channel guys that fake lean into imaginary wind

[hoochrocks]

You don't need a huge one like that. They sell models that do the same thing for $100 on amazon.

[adampettus]

Wasted trip to Atalanta. We didn’t learn anything useful.

[bconnerly]

Great explanation of what a weather station is, but terrible explanation of "How to choose" one..

[lfs-xr]

The station is bad! In order for the temperature to be accurate it requires a Fan Aspirated Radiation Shield to store the temperature sensor inside like Davis vantage Pro2 with FARS.