In late October, WeatherFlow will be announcing an updated version of the Smart Weather Station. The new WeatherFlow Tempest Weather System will be offered for pre-order exclusively on KickStarter with delivery expected in Q’1 2020. As a current WeatherFlow customer, we’ll be sure to email you when our KickStarter campaign is live – please tell your friends!
Tempest features a handful of hardware refinements, as well as the introduction of AI-powered forecast technology which will dramatically improve forecast accuracy at your house. All WeatherFlow station owners will benefit from the new AI-powered forecasting which will be rolled out as an app update in Q’1 2020.
How much will current owners pay for the upgrade? I just purchased WF a week ago, so it’s a little frustrating to have known nothing about a soon to be released new Sky.
When one of my neighbors asked about my Sky, I told him that two guys in a black van with government license plates showed up at my front door and paid me $200 cash to let them put it up in my back yard. Something about spying on someone’s wifi, but I didn’t ask for details.
I have a bogus wireless SSID being broadcast at full power from a spare access point named “NSA_WIFI_SNIFFER” if anyone pokes around, to lend credibility to the story…
Good question @pswilson1. There are two main components to the Tempest announcement: a) revised weather station hardware, b) new AI-powered forecasting technology. Also remember that expected delivery is not until Feb/Mar/Apr of 2020.
Regarding the revised weather station hardware, from a functional performance standpoint, the new Tempest does essentially the same thing in most of the same ways. Think of it like this: you just bought the 2020 Ford Mustang. Then Ford announces that there will be a 2021 Mustang released next year. Both are Mustangs, both drive and look amazing, but the 2021 has a slightly different stereo package and isn’t available for delivery until March. ( iPhone 12? But, I just bought the iPhone 11! )
As noted, all WeatherFlow station owners will benefit from the new AI-powered forecasting.
If you want to return the station you purchased a week ago and instead pre-order Tempest on Kickstarter for delivery in 2020 you are certainly welcome to do so, but the functional difference would be nominal, and the wait significant.
Current owners do not need to upgrade unless they really really want to (but do go ahead and tell your friends & family to buy one!). The new Tempest hardware device will be backwards compatible with your existing HUB, and we intend to offer a discount deal to existing station owners once we’re ready to deliver in 2020. Hope that clarifies. It’s always odd to introduce new versions…but that’s how progress and innovation is made.
Looks like it may measure temperature in the direction of the wind. Good Idea !! Might do away with the Air all together. The Air’s temp readings are affected by the structure they are mounted to that cause a wind shadow effect.
Hope to get one !!
Hi Jerry, yes, you can use the solar power accessory with your AIR but there are a couple reasons why we don’t recommend doing so. First, AIR is not supposed to be in direct sunlight but the panel will charge the battery to a lesser degree with indirect light. Second, 4 AA batteries should last well over a year in the AIR unit while the battery in the solar power accessory is rated for up to 5 years - this poses an issue of cost effectiveness.
I would not back kickstarter as your all beta testers for software and hardware. When in production stage out of kickstarter the software and hardware are usually refined.
We intend to offer the Tempest device by itself (no HUB) to existing station owners at a lower price than our Reward packages on KickStarter (all of which include a HUB).
This looks interesting. Does this by chance include the hardware to support HomeKit? That was one of the reasons I backed the original WeatherFlow (since it proclaimed all the smart home smarts) and was disappointed when that function was taken away. I hope also that at some point you guys will add Shortcuts support to the iOS app.
I don’t know how important AI forecasting is? People can get a forecast anyplace, what people with weather stations want is a accurate report of what is actually happening on their property. The forecasters with all the satellites and computers on earth and in space blew the rain forecast for me yesterday, I don’t count on them. But if I get any rain, I want to know how much, as accurately as possible.
It would be good to know if the rain sensor has been updated - mine is still almost useless now, reading 10x less than a Davis station next to it so I hope the new one is updated, esp for those outside of the USA without rain check…
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