WessexWeather (formerly SpireWeather) has been continuously monitoring the weather in Southern England since July 2009. The data is recorded using a Davis Vantage Vue wireless weather station connected to a MeteoBridge system. I have been interested in meteorology since childhood and set up WessexWeather for my own personal interest, to record and monitor local daily weather and weather extremes,
particularly from my mobile. I must stress that this is a hobby site – whilst the data is accurate most of the time, there can be faults within the system and whilst I have tried to position the sensors as closely as possible to meteorological standards, practicality and the geography of the locality can affect the results. For example, for practical reasons the wind instruments are not as high as they should be and wind speeds can be lower than forecast, and the suburban environment of the station can affect temperature readings slightly. However the new Davis Vantage Vue automatic weather station installed in June 2011 is more accurate and less influenced by local conditions. As a result yearly and all-time records were reset on 1st July 2011, but the original records are still available on the WessexWeather website. WessexWeather is also part of the Met Office Weather Observations Website (WOW) project, which aims to build up a wider overview of weather observations across the UK submitted by anyone with an interest in meteorology. You don’t need sophisticated equipment to take part – just your eyes and a general interest in the weather. Why not give it a go? Disclaimer: WessexWeather is not an official source of weather data – check with official sources where life or property may be at risk. WessexWeather accepts no liability for any decisions or actions taken as a result of the information published herein.
