Provide the Capability to Later Resend Untransmitted Data
During Hurricane Sandy, our station's Internet connection was lost for about a week. So no data was transmitted to WU and there is a gap in the data.
However, for our station, we're running a local, low-power server, with UPS backup that still managed to collect the data. The data is of interest due to the very low Barometric Pressure, high wind gusts, etc.
RobNYC
shared this idea
14 comments
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scomart
commented
I occasionally lose Internet connection due to problems with my provider. During the outages, Virtual Weather Station continues to "send" data. This causes gaps in the data. I would be best of Virtual Weather Station would realize there is no connection. My current fix is to shut down VWS during these Internet outages and when I fire it back up, it sends archive data to Wunderground.
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joecook1
commented
My PWS uses Virtual Weather Station software with Davis Vantage Pro2 hardware and when the computer has been knocked off the air due to power outage, or whatever, it will _usually_ transmit the missed data to WU. However, it doesn't always do it and we end up with missing data that I would like to fill in. I haven't discovered how to force that with this software. I agree that it is a station software situation that can be solved there and not a WU problem.
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ArthurDoodson
commented
My weather station is at our beach cottage which is at the end of a pretty dodgy copper-wire network (soon to be replaced with fibre - yippeee!!). We frequently have drop outs of the network for a day or two, especially in hot weather, yet the weather station never misses a beat.
I use Cumulus to log the data. It updates a monthly file of 10 min data every hour. I'd like to be able to upload the missing data to WU from that file.
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mikers
commented
WeatherLink IP allows you to upload past observations to WU. I've utilized this feature several times. I think this requirement, as Matt Schaefer said, pertains more to the software you are using as the WU servers have always accepted my uploads of past data.
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MacWeatherMan
commented
If you are on a mac the weather program that I use WeatherCat will let you upload any data that is stored in data logger
cheers -
TujungaWX
commented
My station also collects data when the net is down. The internet and electrical power in some remote areas is spotty at best especially when bad weather is in the area. The internet and local power may go down but my station still keeps collecting data for several weeks. There must be some way to upload it to WU in bulk.
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MRVOO
commented
My previous comment, correction : Oregon Scientific wmr 200 (not wms)
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MRVOO
commented
I am using Weather Display (http://www.weather-display.com) software and Oregon Scientific WMS 200 hardware. I can set the hardware to capture several days of information if the computer goes down or power goes out (wms 200 it has its own battery). When things are operational again, the WMS 200 updates the Weather Display software but that data does not seem to get loaded on to Weather Underground. So later, when you search for historical data on Weather Underground there are gaps in the data.
Similarly, I my "weather station" runs on a laptop which is set to extreme power saving mode. If the local power goes out, the station can run for about 2 days and capture data, but that data is not loaded to Weather Underground when the power or internet connection resumes.
Maybe there is a setting in the Weather Display software that will send additional data to Weather Underground but I am not familiar enough with the software to know how to do that. :)
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Xwild
commented
Here's a link to Wunderfixer. http://www.weewx.com/wunderfixer/default.htm
Works with the databases created by both wview and weewx. Not sure what other station softwares provide the capability. It's not actually a part of either wview or weewx in this case.
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I asked around here a bit and it seems that this is actually an issue with station software. Some packages (like what Xwild is using) will fill in missing gaps. Our data upload protocol supports it.
I'm curious which station software enables this feature.
Assuming we aren't planning to write our own station software, we'll likely have to come up with an alternative way to move data to our site. Thoughts welcome.
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Xwild
commented
It is possible to load archived data. There is a program called Wunderfixer that will do so if you use either weewx or wview for your normal program. So it's possible to do it. Works great for me. I have it run just prior to midnight every day, and it checks for any missing data at Wunderground and fixes any holes.
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TujungaWX
commented
This is a continuing problem for people that have a life other than trying to collect weather data and report it in real time. Many factors are out of our control, especially when the ISP drops the net connection. I have backup power for my system during power and net outages so my system is still collecting data. I have additional difficulty because I operate the station remotely and visit the site once a month to perform maintenance.
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mpr1964
commented
I agree with this. We had a big super cell pass through on Friday night and lost power for 21 hours. The Wx station was still recording the Wx but not updating to the web.
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MRVOO
commented
Yes, I had a hard drive fail and was unable to submit data lost during the repair.
