|
 The
Medford Clean Energy Committee has installed a permanent weather
station on top of one of the Hormel Stadium light towers in
Medford, MA. The height of the instrumentation is approximately
110 feet above ground. It is placed at that height to gather
wind data for a possible future deployment of a wind turbine.
The
weather station hardware is a Davis Vantage Pro2 wireless
system, which is a well-regarded weather system that has certified
data accuracy according to the National Institute of Standards
and Technology. It operates by solar power and radio telemetry
of the data from the top of the Hormel Light tower to a receiver
and transmitter placed near a window in the McGlynn School
facing the Hormel Stadium. This equipment then retransmits
the signal to an inner secure office where the weather console
is located. The console is connected to a dedicated computer
system that allows the data to be transmitted via the Internet.
 The
weather variables that are measured by the Davis system are
wind direction, wind speed, temperature, relative humidity
(and dewpoint), and rainfall. Rainfall is measured in increments
of 0.01 inch.
Here
are a few ways in which you can access the data. The weather
station code is KMAMEDFO3 on the Weather Underground system,
and CW6581 on the Citizen Weather Observer Program system.
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KMAMEDFO3
will allow you to view the current weather, updated in "rapid
fire" mode every 2.5 seconds, and also to look at 5-minute
averages of weather data on the current day as well as other
specific days. The data can be archived in a comma-delimited
file format.
 http://www.wunderground.com/stationmaps/gmap.asp?zip=02155&magic=1&wmo=99999
gives you a map of weather data from personal weather stations
(and airport stations) in eastern MA (see figure above)
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=CW6581
reports the same data in a different form. The data is being
sent to the Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP), which
is a private-public partnership with the goal to make these
data available for weather services and homeland security.
Every 15 minutes, the data are sent from the findu.com server
to the NOAA MADIS program to become part of the NOAA mesonet
data set. The data are checked for quality and then redistributed
to users.
For
additional information, contact Bob Paine at ENSR Corporation
in Westford, MA
(phone: 978-589-3164, e-mail: bpaine@ensr.aecom.com)
The
Hormel weather station equipment is located at the top of
a lighting tower at Hormel stadium, located near the McGlynn
School and intersection of I-93 and Rt 16.
A classic cold frontal passage after 6
PM on October 20, 2006 shows up well on the Weather Underground
display.
| 
