Smart Home Weather Stations 101
September 10, 2024
With Labor Day behind us, marking the end of summer, we turn to fall and cooler weather. For some of us that’s a relief from a long, hot summer. For others it’s starting to prep for the cold winter months. Regardless of where you stand on the weather, it plays a significant role in our everyday life — it can make or break our plans when it turns bad. While most of us turn to our weather apps or local meteorologist, a home weather station is a better way to track your local weather — meaning hyper-local as right in your backyard.
The information weather apps report is often inaccurate and outdated. And while your local forecaster is a better source, even their report is little more than a best guess, since they’re not in your backyard. Weather can change dramatically over just a few miles, and a home weather station will let you know exactly what’s happening outside your door.
Considering a weather station in your smart home technology plan offers several key benefits:
- Optimized Energy Efficiency: A smart weather station can provide real-time data on outdoor conditions, allowing the smart home system to adjust heating, cooling or ventilation systems automatically to conserve energy and maintain comfort.
- Improved Automation: Weather data enhances automation, such as adjusting blinds, windows, or irrigation systems based on temperature, sunlight, or rain forecasts, reducing manual intervention.
- Enhanced Safety: A smart home can respond to severe weather conditions, like storms or high winds, by securing windows, notifying residents or triggering safety protocols.
- Better Personalization: Weather stations provide localized data that enhances the smart home experience, tailoring lighting, climate or alerts based on the user’s preferences and the outdoor environment.
- Sustainability and Water Conservation: By monitoring humidity and rainfall, smart irrigation systems can optimize water usage, reducing waste and promoting sustainable living.
- Real-time Notifications: Alerts about changing weather conditions, such as storms or frost, can help homeowners prepare in advance and take preventive measures.
A smart weather station, integrated with home technology, ultimately creates a more responsive, efficient, and comfortable living environment.
If you’re considering a weather station, as with any smart home product, spending more money doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll get a great product. The vast majority of the budget stations available at chain discount and hardware stores are inaccurate. While temperature is generally accurate to within a degree or so, humidity is poorly measured, and overall readings can be 10 to 15 percent off actual values. Mid-range and high-end weather stations are typically much better and are generally never more than about 5-percent off most of the time.
Wind and rain measurements are very useful, especially if you have activities affected by that type of weather. High-end stations are nice to have if you can afford them as they’re typically the most accurate, but unless you need specialty measurements — UV and soil moisture among other things — I probably wouldn’t spend the money.
If you’re in the market for a home weather station you should consider these factors:
- Accuracy: By far the most important factor, accuracy is also the hardest to gage. Look at the spec sheets and choose a station with low margins of error. Additionally, look through user reviews for real-world testing. Not all weather stations are built the same, and a high price doesn’t always mean high quality.
- Battery or solar power? Just about all weather stations these days operate wirelessly -communicating with a base station via WiFi or cellular network — so your instruments will run on either battery or solar power. With mid-range and high-end models, you’ll likely never need to change a battery — some stations run entirely on solar power — and adequate sunshine shouldn’t be a problem with appropriate placement.
- Durability: The elements can be harsh, and your sensors will be in them 24/7, 365 days a year. Inexpensive stations are constructed from low-grade plastic that will quickly deteriorate. Look for a well-built station and steer clear of ‘all-in-one’ units that incorporate every sensor inside of a single housing. The sensors represent the bulk of the cost, and if one fails, you’ll need to replace all of them — even if the others are working fine.
- Expandability: You should anticipate that your weather station needs could change over time — just like with any smart home technology. Instead of going for all the bells and whistles up front, save some money and buy a mid-range product that can be expanded with new and different sensors down the road. That way, it’s unlikely you’ll ever outgrow it.
- Smart home support: In years past, smart home support in home weather stations was a novelty and required a good deal of tinkering. These days, nearly every station has some type of smart home support, although the level of sophistication varies. For some it’s as simple as an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant skill that reads your weather report to you, others offer connectivity through cloud-to-cloud connectivity or subscription services like IFTTT. I’d recommend looking for a home weather station that fits best with your smart home roadmap for long term success.
I’d assume if you’re still reading at this point you’re seriously considering a smart home weather station. Your last step in maximizing your investment and results is placement. You really need to choose carefully where you place your instruments. The temperature and humidity gage should be placed in a shaded and grassy area at about eye-level height (National Weather Service specifications say 4 to 6 feet), and out of direct exposure to rain or snowfall. Also, don’t place it near or above concrete or other potential heat radiators. And don’t place one near your home’s windows, either as warm air escaping from your house will throw off its readings.
Mounting height is less of a concern for a rain gage, as long as it’s not too close to the ground or any other nearby surface where splash-back can produce abnormally high readings. You should also avoid mounting it near tall obstructions that might block rainfall in windy conditions. The NWS generally recommends you place the rain gage as far from obstructions as they are high. A simple rule of thumb is to just put it in as clear a spot as possible.
The anemometer (the fancy name for the wind gage) is the toughest instrument to place. Most people are surprised to learn that the wind-speed readings you see on TV are usually taken at a height of 33 feet. That’s not practical for most people but try to get yours at least 10 feet above any nearby obstructions. You’ll also need a compass handy, so you can point its wind vane in the right direction — you want to know the direction the wind is blowing from. If you don’t orient your anemometer correctly, your wind direction readings will be incorrect. The station’s setup instructions should tell you how to align it correctly.
We had a rain gage attached to our sprinkler system controller in Minnesota that would stop scheduled waterings if it was raining. That was pretty efficient but not sure how much money it saved us. In a very windy place like Amarillo, having accurate, local weather could be of benefit. And as it can get pretty cold as well, it could be integrated into smart plumbing systems to trickle water to avoid frozen or burst pipes. That definitely is a benefit that could justify the investment.
What are your thoughts on smart home weather stations? Worth the investment for hyper-accurate weather information? Overkill for normal needs? If you have one, what is your take?
Let Debbie and I know what you think in the comments, DMs and emails as we really enjoy hearing from you. Thanks again to all those following Debbie and I through our home building journey. It’s great to hear your success stories and suggestions as we move through the process. And if you like the content I’m posting each week, don’t forget to ‘Like’ and ‘Follow.’
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