About the Palomar WeatherWeb... About the Palomar WeatherWeb...
With the generous support of the Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Program at Palomar College, the Geography Program, in cooperation with the Earth Sciences Department, has been able to bring its weather station online.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)...
What exactly is the Palomar WeatherWeb?
The Palomar WeatherWeb has three main components: 1) a roof mounted weather station
with a digital display, 2) computer hardware and software which collects and reports
weather data (on dispaly in ES-16), and a website (www.palomar.edu/weatherweb)
Where is the weather
station?
The weather station is mounted on the roof of the Earth Sciences Building at Palomar
College. Ideally, an official weather station would be mounted
approximately four feet
above a "natural" surface (grass, soil, etc.), but the rooftop location provides
us a convenient, out-of-the-way location. The instruments report through cables to
monitors in ES-16 (the seismograph room).
What type of weather
station is it?
Our station is Model WS-1000TM,
commercially available from RainWiseTM.
RainWise manufactures a complete line of consumer and industrial meteorological
measuring and recording instruments. The Wind Direction, Wind
Speed and Rainfall weather sensors are combined into a rooftop
unit that is easily mounted on a standard TV antenna mast. Maximums and Minimums are
recorded and stored for Outside Temperature and Barometric
Pressure. Maximum Wind Gusts, Minimum Wind Chill
and Rainfall Accumulation are also recorded and stored.
What type of software is
used?
The Palomar WeatherWeb is run with Weatherview
32 (version 5.0Pro). This software not only creates the weather screen on
display in ES-16, but also posts the real-time weather data found on this website.
The web publishing software used is MS Front
Page.
What type of computer is
used?
Dell Pentium II (233mHz) with Windows 95.
Who maintains the
WeatherWeb?
The WeatherWeb is a service provided by the Earth Science department. Any
questions about the WeatherWeb may be addressed to Cathy Jain (cjain@palomar.edu).
Why do I occasionally see breaks in the data?
To configure certain aspects of the program, the "monitoring" capability needs
to be disconnected. Also, there is no reporting during power outages (of either the
planned or unplanned type).
Does the WeatherWeb automatically update?
The software automatically updates and posts most of the data every five minutes, but the
viewer must "refresh" or "reload" their own page.