But a proliferation of simple tools for iOS, Android, and desktop computers means just about anyone with a shred of technical acumen can do it. Yes, you need enough knowledge to get the motherboard working. The basic structure is a pole, a housing for the electronics, and motherboard to run the show. You can build a personal weather station ( PWS in the lingo) yourself using parts available online from vendors like Adafruit and Ambient Weather. "The more data we have feeding our weather models, the more accurate our forecasts can be."įor $200 to $500, you can join this weather-watching party. "Weather data at your house is usually different from the nearest airport or even from your neighbor's weather station down the street," says Kari Strenfel, a meteorologist at Weather Underground, a website that aggregates this citizen-collected data and presents it as hyper-localized forecasts anyone can access. Linked together, these personal weather stations-each one a toaster-sized assembly of sensors mounted on a pole-provide the most accurate weather forecasts in the country. When the weather's going to be bad the air pressure drops - and this makes our balloon bulge and the straw point downwards.More than 12,000 public weather stations dot the US, which seems like a lot until you realize more than 180,000 people run their own weather-tracking devices from home. Because the balloon bulges or shrinks it also moves the taped straw up and down in front of the piece of card. When the air pressure outdoors is higher it presses in on the air in the jar more, and the balloon pulls inwards. When the air pressure outdoors becomes lower the air in the glass will expand and make the balloon bulge. By placing a balloon over the glass, some air has become trapped inside. What we've made is a device called a barometer, which can tell us if the weather will be dry or rainy based on atmospheric air pressure. When the straw points upwards the weather will be good, and when it points downwards the weather will be bad! So what's happening? Check the position of the straw over the next few days - draw a new line on the card for each type of weather and write what it is!.Mark a line on the card where the straw points, and write what the weather is right now (dry and sunny, raining and windy, etc) next to the line.Stick the piece of card to the wall behind the straw with blu-tack.The straw should stick out horizontally and parallel to the wall. Put the glass somewhere against a vertical surface like a wall somewhere where it won't get disturbed, like the back of a shelf.Believe it or not this is the main bit done! Hold the straw on top of the balloon so that one end is in the middle of the balloon and the other is past the edge of the glass.August is the hottest month for Fawn Creek with an average high temperature of 91. Cut the neck off of the balloon (ask an adult to help) and stretch the balloon over the glass. In Fawn Creek, there are 3 comfortable months with high temperatures in the range of 70-85°."Window Drops" by Nate Steiner (Public Domain)ĭid you know you can tell what the weather will be without checking the forecast? In this experiment we make our own indoor weather-predicting device! Experiment
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