Why link Tempest device to Weather Underground account?

Tempest Owners
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I linked my new Tempest device to my Weather Underground account, and it took 5 hours for WU to register it as being online. But honestly, what is the point of linking the device? The only reason I linked the new Tempest device to WU was because I did that with my old device. Is there any good reason?

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I was one of WU’s first paying customers, and used their service by Telnet before the web became a thing. They jumped the shark about two mergers ago, and I don’t even log into their site any more.

The only benefit from sending data to WU is sharing it with your neighbors, and of course training IBM’s Watson AI to take over the world and render humanity extinct… :slightly_smiling_face:

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I like the way it displays historical data much better than the graphs provided by tempest. It also makes it very easy to copy/pasta the Tempest data into a spreadsheet to do calculations and other graphical analysis without having to log and record the data myself.

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Thanks for the info. I thought WU looked and felt different. I hate the app’s UI, and even the website seems obtuse. I have a free account, and there’s no way I’d pay for it.

I was even thinking about deleting the WU app from my phone. Any recommendations for a better weather app? Doesn’t have to link to Tempest.

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:rofl: @mabeatty1978 you are way more of a weather enthusiast than I am!

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My primary use for WU was receiving emailed severe weather alerts, back before smartphones were a thing. The iPhone StormWatch+ app is a subscription service, but does push alerts and has radar as well. That’s my go-to app, especially when traveling on road trips.

If you are looking for a snarky, homicidal weather app that calls you a meatbag, Carrot Weather has paid tiers for alerts and other stuff. I vaguely recall the possibility to link WF station data a while back, but don’t remember the details or if it ever happened. I’ve never used it…

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I use 5 different apps. Tempest has the best forecast data. I use WeatherBug for lightning strike and AQI data. I use Flowx for graphical forecasts. I use Windy for wind data. I use MyRadar for radar data. I also have a URL shortcut link on my phone that goes right to the NOAA webpage for my hometown.

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I tried Carrot, but I just couldn’t deal with it. Give it to me straight and simple, that’s what I want.

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It’s official. You ARE a weather guru. I use Windy and NOAA since I live in an area at risk for Wildfires.

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Because many people like that GUI far better than WF’s look’n’feel.

It’s actually not awful (https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KWAFEDER15) and is certainly more modern than CWOP (Weather Conditions At CW6881). I kinda like PWS (https://www.pwsweather.com/station/pws/kwfeder15) the most among the usual online places, although nothing matches the weewx Belchertown skin (https://belchertownweather.com).

First 3 links are my VP2, last is the Belchertown author’s site (be gentle banging on his site please)

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How about 1980’s red LED for your CWOP data??? :grinning:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/panel.cgi?call=CW6881&units=english

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perfect for night operations !!!

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I have been a long time WU user, live in Florida and go boating and sailing on a regularly. Use to use wind alert and sailflow until tempest bought both. Now you have to scribe to get useful information, i don’t so no longer use the apps.

Both apps use and display my tempest data.
You would think i could get a break on the cost of a subscription.

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I agree with you 100%!

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I thought I read somewhere that Tempest owners could have complementary access to them.

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I will do some research to see if in fact Tempest owners can have complimentary access to these apps.

Thanks for the heads up - I will post something if I find this to be true.

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Before the mergers began, any PWS owner who was contributing their station data received a free account. I do not know if this has changed, especially with subsequent WU owners valuing PWS data less than when Dr. Jeff Masters was at the helm. FYI, he wrote the WU PWS data ingest protocol and back-end server code…

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If you link the tempest to WU it does upgrade your WU web account to ad-free, it does not however make the WU phone app ad-free, just the website. It previously did before they were bought out by weather channel, but then weather channel took that away and started charging for premium accounts separately in the apps.