This is a short guide form the Bureau’s Weather Observations Website – or WOW for short. WOW is online weather community in Australia where everyone can share information and photos about the weather. There are many ways to be part of the WOW community.
This short guide is about uploading data from a weather station to WOW.
To do this you’ll need:
- An automatic weather station with software that can upload data to WOW
- A computer with an internet connection
- A login account for WOW.
Some weather stations already include a “file upload” function to WOW. But if yours doesn’t, there are software packages which can upload observations for you, and they’re generally free. Here are some examples but there are many more.
The software that you use will automatically upload data from your Weather Station to your computer and then can send the data to WOW via an API (or Application Programming Interface). Once your weather station is up and running, register and log on to the website.
Once you’re logged in you can create a new site in WOW. Fill in the details, including:
- the name of your site
- an AWS PIN, (this is any 6 digit number you come up with…make a note as you’ll need it later.)
- enter the location of your weather station… (latitude and longitude)
- height above sea level,
- photos of your site.
You can add further details to allow WOW users to better understand your site. There are some handy notes down the right side of the screen to help explain what to do. You’ll be asked to describe the location attributes of your site — click on this link for full details of the grading scheme. Correctly grading attributes of your site, such as distance to trees and buildings, will be used to classify your site into a quality rating system from 1 to 5 stars — with a 5 star rating, the best and highest quality. Don’t worry about whether your station has a low or high rating — everyone is encouraged to submit their data to WOW as all data has value and a use. The rating system helps users quickly understand your site in a high density network of weather stations.
- Fill in your site data preferences
- and add any additional information you’d like to note.
- Then click to create your site.
Your Site ID number will distinguish your site from another. And your six digit AWS PIN confirms data is coming from you and not another user. Your site ID and your AWS PIN need to be entered into your software that uploads data to WOW.
Now you are ready to start submitting your data automatically to WOW! Good luck and if you have any queries go to WOW’s extensive support and FAQ pages.
You can also manually submit your observations if your weather station’s not connected to the internet. Enter observations like daily rainfall, wind speed and direction and temperature. Historical data can also be ingested using the bulk upload function.
Enjoy using WOW and if you have any feedback for them either use the feedback link in WOW or email the Bureau directly.