For years and years, families stood on the porches of their homes looking across the plains at darkening skies anticipating the worst. In front of our KRVN Radio Station office is a statue of a family huddled around an old radio listening intently for a snippet of news.
I am glad those days are over. Technology and education has advanced so much in the last several decades that we no longer have to be ignorant of severe weather simply relying on grandpa’s trick knee or a scratchy voice on an old radio.
Understanding your local weather (even global weather) can be relatively easy and information abounds if you care to look for it.
If you are homeschooling, there is no reason why weather cannot become a part of your everyday curriculum, in fact it should be!
You do not have to be a meteorologist in order to teach your kids about weather! If you have been homeschooling for any length of time, you know that often times, our teaching occurs while we learn ourselves! From traditional thermometers and barometers to state of the art multi-sensor wireless weather stations, observing, interpreting and forecasting local weather patterns has never been simpler.
I believe monitoring in your home, the activity will generate interests in other areas of not only science, but world news, geology, geography, math, reading, history and more!
Let’s not forget that as you become a weather-monitoring family, you will also become a more prepared and safer family as you become more able to predict and monitor threats!
Home weather stations, whether simple or sophisticated, provide information that is often not covered by weather forecasting or reporting services . To get the most enjoyment from your weather equipment, three major questions will need to be answered.
1. Which type of weather recording equipment will let you achieve your aims? - traditional; constantly recording but without a memory; or top of the range digital weather stations.
2. How to identify the best instruments to match your plans, at the best value.
3. How to make the most of your weather station by increasing your understanding of weather, including the relationship between weather and climate, and the causes of extreme weather events, such as tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes or severe electrical storms.
I have found that a simple home weather station can be extremely affordable. Now, at your local WalMart you can purchase a simple console-style weather station for as little as $20. Most of these little monitors will tell you barometric pressure, humidity, temperature and winds. The problem with these smaller stations is that they are limited. The weather stations I recommend to homeschooling families require sensors and an anemometer with a rain guage that can be mounted outside the house while sending information to the family’s computer.
Sounds expensive, right?
Think about this: A Gameboy game will run you $70. A weather station like what I am talking about can sell for as little as $90.
Ready to turn your home into a weather tracking center?
Not only do you have a choice of many stations but the accuracy, ease of use and general flexibility of fully automatic, continuously monitoring, wireless weather stations has recently set new standards.
Your first move should be to decide what you require from your home weather station. Do you just wish to know how cold it is outside, or are you looking for a full blown system which records temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed and direction, and rainfall?
Today's weather stations can do all this and more.
Once you have decided just what information you want, the next decision is whether to use traditional instruments which must be read manually, or whether to select one of the many wireless weather stations which continuously transmit data from outside sensors to an inside receiver/display. This is the way I would go.
Many manufacturers have both cable and wireless versions of their weather systems, including Davis Instruments, while the 1-Wire Weather Station from Texas Weather Instruments is a relatively uncomplicated system.
If you are seriously interested in local weather, the options available with modern wireless weather stations are almost beyond imagination.
Below is some links to sources for weather stations. Choose the one that best fits your family and get ready to open up a whole new world of discovery and safety! We’ll talk more about weather monitoring in the months to come, but don’t be afraid to contact me, if for no other reason but to tell me your family has their new weather station up and running!
Davis Weather Stations
Oregon Scientific
Ambient Weather
