GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: allisonhouse

  • Lightning: What not to do! : GardenFork Radio Special

    Lightning: What not to do! : GardenFork Radio Special

    Mike and Eric talked about the recent electrical storms in the midwest and that brought up the idea of ringing up our resident weather expert Tyler, ( CEO of Allison House, sponsor of Gardenfork.TV ). We found Tyler at a remote location and had a skype conference call, and talked about lightning.

    lightning storms are dangerous
    Photo courtesy of NOAA (photographer unknown)

    From NOAA.GOV:  The picture that Tyler was referring to:
    Do you know what to do if you are caught in the open during a thunderstorm or you feel tingling or your hair standing on end? Lightning causes around 100 deaths in the U.S annually (more than hurricanes and tornadoes combined). In the picture above, the young woman and her friends were severely injured by lightning just a few seconds after this picture was taken. Notice that no rain was falling, clearly illustrating that lightning can strike up to several miles away from the thunderstorm.

    Images above: Sprites over thunderstorms in Kansas on August 10, 2000, observed in the mesosphere, with an altitude of 50-90 kilometers as a response to powerful lightning discharges from tropospheric thunderstorms. The true color of sprites is pink-red. Click on images to enlarge. Credit: Walter Lyons, FMA Research, Fort Collins, Colorado

    Thunder Snow – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBUYmpnjob8&feature=related
    I think people ignore it if they’re inside because it sounds a lot like a snowplow going by.
    Faraday Cage Example – Your car acts as a faraday cage in a lightning storm:

  • The Allison House Weather Station Update

    The Allison House Weather Station Update

    A while back on GardenFork Radio I was saying how much I’d like one of those weather stations that sit on your roof and you can hook up to the internet.

    Then Allison House, a weather data company, sent us one. ( I like how this works )

    The Allison House Weather Station
    The Allison House Weather Station

    We assembled the weather station, which is an Oregon Scientific WMR968. It has an anenometer, wind direction, rainfall, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure sensors, which are all solar powered and connected via wireless to the central display in our house.

    here is the inside of the rain guage. always wondered how that worked
    here is the inside of the rain guage. always wondered how that worked

    This display is then connected via USB to our internet router, and bang – our super microclimate weather data in our yard is on the web and on my iPhone. We use WeatherUnderground to post the weather data, this site aggregates weather info from a ton of personal weather stations. You can search by zip code to see if there is a weather station near your. You can use the smartphone version of their site for remote check-ins.

    I installed this in 16F weather. fun.
    I installed this in 16F weather. fun.

    AND the best part is the graphs and historical data is collects. I can go to the site, and see graphs for the past 24 hours, past week, past month, etc. This has been good to have with our bees, as I can tell when the bees have probably been leaving the hive during the late winter, early spring. Its also great for gardening, when we have a few years of data, we can see the average frost date for our yard. One of our neighbors down the hill has a weather station as well, and I can check his now for frost dates , though his date will be earlier than mine, as he is lower in a valley.

    This daily graph tells me the Honey Bees were out in the afternoon. And its interesting to watch the barometric pressure drop.
    This daily graph tells me the Honey Bees were out in the afternoon. And its interesting to watch the barometric pressure drop.
    Temps above 50F means the honey bees are out working
    Temps above 50F means the honey bees are out working

    Hooking up the weather station to the net took a bit of work, it was not plug and play, but not too hard either. The enclosed instructions are good, and there is an active community of users online.

    A big thank you again to Allison House for providing the weather station. You can follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/allisonhouse

    Do you have a weather station? Let us know, be cool to compare equipment and uses.