Your Weather on metservice.com

Make observations from your personal weather station available to all of New Zealand

The weather stations map on metservice.com provides a real-time view of New Zealand weather conditions, combining the latest observations from MetService automatic weather stations, weather cameras and traffic cameras with observations from weather stations owned by members of the public and other groups.

MetService has collaborated with the UK Met Office to source weather station data from the WOW (Weather Observations Website) System. The WOW System was developed to provide an online hub for weather observations. It has global coverage and has attracted visits from weather enthusiasts in more than 170 countries.

Visit the WOW website to add your own weather station and put your place on the map!

View the map
Add your station

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes - the most up-to-date observations from MetService and our partner Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) are displayed on Your Weather.  A filter is provided so you can turn either the MetService or third-party weather stations on or off.

  • Check the UK Met Office WOW FAQs.

  • Yes - MetService encourages all owners of either single stations or meteorological networks of all sizes to submit their automated observations to the WOW System so we can display them on Your Weather. Go to the UKMO's WOW System support page to find out how to import your data into the WOW System.

  • Setting up your weather station to the specifications below will achieve the highest quality data rating in the WOW System. However, these specifications are a guide only and many sites will not conform to these stringent standards. Documenting your site conditions, whatever they are, in the WOW System will enable your valuable observations to be useful.

    Rain Gauge - an open area 300mm above ground free of obstructions such as trees and buildings (ideally the site should be twice the height of obstructions distant from those obstructions).

    Anemometer (for wind speed) - 10m above ground level on a mast in an open area free of obstructions such as trees and buildings.

    Temperature and humidity sensors - in a shaded well-ventilated white enclosure at a height of 1.2m above ground level. The ground surface should be natural grass mowed to a couple of cm high. Concrete or bitumen surfaces are to be avoided as the retained heat affects overnight temperatures.

    You can also upload photos of your weather station in the WOW System. Site photos help other users of the data judge the quality of instrument siting and the impact on your observations.

    For more detailed, technical information about siting your weather station, here is a helpful Bureau of Meteorology guideline:
    Bureau of Meteorology Guidelines for the Siting and Exposure of Meteorological Observations (PDF)

How to add your station to our map

Register for the WOW System

The WOW System is owned and managed by the UK Met Office, you need to register for the WOW System and manage sites through them (in the WOW System, each weather station is called a Site).

Sign Up or Login to the UK Met Office Weather Observations Website.

Create a new site

  • Once you have registered as a user in the WOW System, in the top level menu click on the ‘My Sites’ tab. This page lists any sites that you own. To create a new Site, click on ‘add site’.

  • The next screen is the Site Details screen, where all the detailed information about your site(s) goes. It might seem a bit daunting, but it’s worth spending the time to ensure you have all the information entered correctly. If you discover you don’t have all the information to hand, you can save your site then come back and edit things later.

  • The user guide that came with your weather station will list all the data sets that your station collects – use this to specify the Site Data Preferences information in the Site Details screen.

  • To understand how to complete the Location Attributes section, use the Site Ratings page to guide you.

  • Once you’ve created your site, you’ll see a Site Information panel listing your Site Details, Site Location, Location Attributes and Site Data Preferences. If you want to change any of these details, you can click on the ‘Edit Site’ button at the right of the page.

  • In order to allow the WOW System access to which site the observations are coming from, you will need to enter both your site ID number and your authentication key (which you will have set-up when you created your site).

  • Your site ID is a long string of letters and numbers which appears beneath the name of your site on the ‘My Sites’ page. You can view and change your authentication key in the ‘Edit Site’ page.

Connect your station to the WOW System

Now you need to get your compatible weather station and software set up.

Managing your sites

Whenever you’re logged into the WOW System, you can use the drop-down ‘Go to’ menu to go directly to your site’s observations. Or you can visit the Your Weather tab on your local Towns & Cities page on metservice.com and see your latest observations there!

For everything you need to know about managing sites, visit the WOW System Support section or the FAQs