Last week we had a wind advisory, sustained winds were 30-40mph with gusts over 50mph. The highest wind reading my Tempest gave was 12.5mph. I’ve had it installed and working for 2.5 years, but the wind readings always seem off.
I’m wondering if I need to change my mounting. I have it on top of my kid’s playhouse. Do you think this mounting location could be my issue? If so, what do I need to correct?
My guess would be that the station sits down the hill with the house blocking some wind so you won’t see what the super high wind speed is. Mine sits lower and I never see super high gusts and everything that I always have read is that the anemometer should sit at 33’ for accurate measurement. If you do that then it throws off the rest of the devices so I am happy what speeds I get at the level my station sits!
This might help. https://help.tempest.earth/hc/en-us/articles/115005229767-Siting-Installation-for-Tempest
With that upslope/downslope terrain, your wind will also have a 3D component that can’t be measured with a 2D anemometer (Tempest or spinning cups)…
also this might be of interest. Wind decreases very hard in speed nearing ground level : https://help.tempest.earth/hc/en-us/articles/360050050673-Troubleshooting-Measurements-Data#h_01FRNCR35MQ7SWQWFFNCFXEP2F
remember that the values we get from forecast are from ‘ideal’ spots 10 meters above perfectly open flat ground.
And in this case you get the wind in your garden and not like nearest airfield or alike.
Thank you everyone for the replies and additional information!
