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Site and Station Updates and Modifications

Beginning June 8, 2009, we will use this page to record additions, changes or modificatons made or relating to hardware, software and scripting related to the operation and/or presentation of this weather station and it's associated data.

Date Modification Details
Nov 30, 2011
    I'm sad to report that we suffered another hardware failure. The outage began on Nov 26 with the failure of the data collection machine to reboot. I still have not been able to get it to restart even after several failed attempts. In order to get around this problem, I have purchased a new (to me) computer to replace the data collection system. With any luck at all, this new machine will outlast any of the previous.
    On the plus side I have been able to recover all of the historic data, with the exception of the four missing days.
Feb 23, 2011
    Due to a router issue discvovered late in the day, our public site was unavailable. The problem was uncovered just after 7pm on Feb 22 and was corrected shortly after 5am on Feb 23. From our server logs, it would appear that the problem gaining access began shortly after 12 noon on Feb 21 which would make for about a 36 hour outage!
    We apologize for the lengthy delay in getting this fixed and have taken steps to insure that site administration will be made aware of future issues in a more timely fassion.
    NO DATA was lost during this outage so statistical charts will remain correct.
Nov 23, 2010
    Western Canada Weather Network

    This station has now joined with other private weather stations in Western Canada in order to share weather data across this network. This enables you to have a central location to find out what the weather is like in other parts of the country. Currently, there are only a few stations participating in this program but with any luck this will increase over time.. after all, I just joined, right.
Nov 12, 2010
    Air Quality Health Index

    I've finally been able to add a little something that I've been working at for quite some time. It's the Air Quality Health Index. You'll find it on the main page where the UV forcast for the 3rd and 4th days were. As this doesn't change very drastically in the course of a day it will only be updated TWICE daily, at 6:15am and 3:15pm. I will be monitoring this over the next few months and again into the spring and summer in order to veryfy that those times give an accurate representation of the Air Quality that we experience, and will make adjustments if necessary.

    Nov 18, 2010 After watching the Air Quality reported by this station compared to the ACTUAL Air Quality Health Index, I have dramatically increased the sampling times. The Air Quality Health Index is now updating hourly, 24 hours a day at 15 minutes past the hour. The increased workload on the internal network is negligable with this change. I don't anticipate a significant swing through the winter season, but the numbers change greatly through spring, summer and fall.
July 05, 2010
    Station Equipment Re-Location

    Today I relocated all of the outdoor sensors to new locations. The reason for the move was due to a reorganization of some of the indoor equipment.

    The advantage of the move is that now, the temperature gauge will always be in the shade to give a more accurate reading throught the day without the spikes that tended to happen even though I have been employing a Stevenson Screen for the past year. This should now be eliminated year round. The rain gauge has also been relocated to a more stable platform so this should lessen the chances of any of mother nature's creatures being able to cause an unwanted tip and registering rain that just didn't happen. As for the animometer (wind gauge), it's also in a new location. There should not be any noticable changes to it's accuracy or reliability. It does however open up some possabilities when it comes to adding new instruments in the future. Plans (dreams) are to eventually add solar and UV sensors at some point and the animometer mounting location will make it ideal to place the new equipment there.

    The downside of making this equipment move was simply having the station non-operational for several hours, and of course me having to do quite a bit of work on the ladder and the roof.
March 14, 2010
    Major web server failure occured just after midnight on March 10, 2010. The PC that was acting as the web host for this site suffered a catastrophic failure and became inoperative. On March 14, 2010 I was able to aquire a replacement PC to again act as web host for this weather stations pages. After a few hours of concentration, lots of coffee and several unrepeatable mutterings, I believe that I have now returned things to how they used to operate.

    For those that are interested in what was and what is now for hardware...
    PIII 500Mhz
    256 MB Ram
    40 Gb Hard Drive     		P4 2.80Ghz
    1 Gb Ram
    250 Gb Hard Drive

    I will be working on making some "behind the scenes" modifications to site operations to make some of the slower responding pages a little more responsive, now that I have a machine capable of so much more.

    I would like to thank you for being patient and understanding while undergoing this forced site rebuild.
June 28, 2009
    Thanks to the non-soggy weather this morning, I was able to get out on the ladder and take down the anemometer (wind gauge) and open the thing up. I dried it all out (there was a little moisture in there) and sealed up every nook and cranny that I could find with some silicone. With any luck at all, this should fix the wind speed errors that have been plaguing the station for the past couple of months every time that it rains.

    On a side note, it turns out to have been a very good thing that I went up on the ladder today. It seems that some of the fasteners that I used to attach the anemometer mast to the house had rusted clean off! There was only one fastener holding the thing on, and I would assume that with the next real wind storm, it would have come crashing down. It has now been re-attached with some "outdoor" rated fasteners so I should be ok for at least another two years :)
June 23, 2009
    It seem like my wind spikes are back. I have changed out cables and added some water sealant to those cables, but it appears to have not corrected the problem. My next course of action will be to bring down the wind gauge and preform some electronic surgery on it in an effort to keep stray water dropplets out of the workings. With any luck, I should be able to get around to it next weekend.
June 08, 2009
  • Tracked down duplicate °C unit reporting on Alt Dashboard Heat Index
  • Created this page: This page will serve to advise returning visitors of any changes made to this station.