Super windy at your spot.
1 Like
Howâs it going with the hawk? My weather station us on its way. We live in Pasco County FL and have very regular hawk in our neighborhood.
1 Like
Itâs apparently moved on. When they get big enough to leave the nest, they perch everywhere until they get settled somewhere. Good luck with your system!
2 Likes
Just arrived, Eldorado Springs, Co 80025 - just need to get the mounting pole verticalâŚ
3 Likes
People may suggest moving it from the owl box because of vibrations, but mine is on my mailbox and so far no mail delivery vibrations have given me any false rain. The only time I get false rain is when a bird lands directly on top of the tempest, so hopefully your owls donât like to hang out on top of it.
1 Like
Just another installation example. All components bought at a local Home Depot. Cost about $40 for all parts. SUPER stable. I was worried that a roof install would artificially raise temps, but when comparing to other local stations on Weather Underground, I am actually on the low side (temp wise) of average. I think the 8â pole adequately gets me above the radiant heat of the roof shingles. NOTE: I was worried that under high winds the elbow connection would come un-threaded, so I drilled a small hole through the connection after screwing the pipes together and put a pin in there so itâs not possible to un-thread.
4 Likes
I havenât seen an owl in the owl box, so at this point, I think I am ok. If one moves in, I might have to re-evaluate.
1 Like
Got mine up at its temp location next to the atlas. So the pool net handle is the perfect size ha. Will replace with a top rail fence post once it has been running a bit
3 Likes
I have noticed some movement of the Tempest during higher winds (see video below) with my 5 ft. PVC pipe installation. The movement does not create any false rain indications so thatâs not an issue, but are there any long term vibration concerns for the electronics with this type of motion? I could easily go to a 5 ft. aluminum pipe in lieu of the PVC but if there are no long term vibration fatigue concerns, I may just stay with the PVC.
Is this kind of motion normal?
Video
https://1drv.ms/v/s!AufCFx1dGQjnnY8-GpxTgNkys2iGag?e=hdmM3t
Basic Installation
5 Likes
That looks normal for PVC pipe. I donât know how much it effects the actual wind readings but it wonât hurt the Tempest. It is all solidstate construction.
EDIT: I have a video linked here with a SKY on a telescoping flag pole. Photos of Air and Installation
2 Likes
Thanks @gizmoev for the info. I wouldnât think that the short angular motions would only add and subtract very small (less than +/- 1 mph) to the wind readings. As long as the motions donât create false rain or long term damage the electronics I would think we are OK.
2 Likes
I spoke too soon. With winds gusting over 20 mph, I have had some false rain this afternoon. Bummer! I know Raincheck will fix this but still was hoping to not have the false rain.
@gizmoev - Your video shows quite a bit more movement. Looks like you are at least 15 feet high on the sensor. Do you get any false rain indications with that kind of motion?
It would be nice if the user could declare specific rain events as false from the App or something like that instead of waiting for Raincheck. Maybe something for the future like the fixes happening with the lightning notifications recently. 
1 Like
If you arenât going to be able to brace that height, I think youâll need to go with thick wall or galvanized water/gas pipe to minimize the flex. Aluminum isnât going to work much better. Also run it down to the deck level.
2 Likes
I think this is a rather unusual install. Now I put the Tempest up when I am stopped. But when I figure out how to secure the bayonet mount to my satisfaction and secure the base better. I want to get temp and wind direction readings relative to the bearing of the coach. Windspeed is important to the security of the slide-outs. Temperature would be more interesting for driving conditionsâŚ
4 Likes
As long as there is no slop in the pole mount I donât get any false rain with conditions as shown in the video. It is on a 20 foot telescoping flag pole where I couldnât use the top couple of sections as the diameter was too small.
Here is a video of a Tempest and SKY mounted on 8 foot long vinyl wrapped wooden closet rods. They are mounted to a brick chimney with clamps about 18 inches apart so there is a little over 6 feet extending above the top mount. I donât get false rain from winds on either of these stations. It looks like the highest gust recorded by the Tempest (Field test station 12859) was 32mph and the highest recorded by the SKY (stock station 5075) was 54mph.
2 Likes
Update the GPS location and altitude with WF (do this through the app) when you get to a location and are stationary for a while. This will help the calibration routines not attempt to calibrate your station thinking it is still at home base. This will probably effect pressure readings the most.
3 Likes
Just an FYI the top rail for a chain link fence is the perfect diameter for the tempest. You can get a 10 foot section at Loweâs pretty cheap and no flex
3 Likes
Iâve been thinking about your situation and remembered that when I had my telescoping fiberglass pole shown in my video that when I had it attached to a corner post of my chain-link fence that it would get false rain reports from the wind whistling through the fence. As soon as the pole wasnât touching the fence the false rain reports stopped. I know you have a wooden rail but am wondering if there might be some vibration of your deck transmitting up the pole to the Tempest.
1 Like
Not sure if the deck is transmitting vibration to the pole, but it seems pretty solid when I am standing on it. The PVC is only 5 feet long and I have the first foot clamped to the deck pretty solidly with 1 In. Pipe Straps. I always knew that I may have to switch over to Aluminum or Steel pipe if the flex was too much. With the pipe straps the swapout would be a 5 min. job. I got the PVC because it was $2 at Lowes so if it didnât work it wasnât a big loss. The aluminum fence top rail everyone is always talking about is over $20 and is 10 ft long which is massive overkill for me. I think I saw some sections of 5 or 6 ft steel pipe that were something like $17 or $18 so I could go with that if needed. Or I could slide down the PVC another foot to take out some of the flex (I really like the height that the sensor is at though right now so this isnât my first choice).
Between this and trying to decide between PiConsole and WeeWx this will keep me off the streets for a while! 
2 Likes