Compatible Weather Stations and Software

To keep the information displayed on Your Weather useful and timely, we only display certain types of observations, and only those that are less than 60 minutes old. So depending on your station's settings (and whether you are uploading observations automatically or manually), observations that you provide to the WOW System may not always appear on Your Weather.

However, the WOW System provides a very useful way to record and share your observations globally with other WOW System users – not just on Your Weather. We encourage you to give it a go and put New Zealand on the world-wide weather map!

Automatic Weather Station: the best option with Your Weather

An automatic weather station (AWS) is the best way to help your observations show up on Your Weather.

You will need an AWS that links (wirelessly or by cable) to a computer (PC or Mac) that is connected to the Internet, along with some software loaded on the computer that will collect, package into an appropriate message format, and automatically deliver the AWS data to the WOW System.

The WOW System provides a simple API that works with selected software to manage the automatic uploading of observations into the system for you.

Supported software packages

Software

Web Site

Supported Computers

Supported weather stations

Weather Display

http://www.weather-display.com

Windows: NT4, 98, 2000, ME, XP, VISTA, Win7, Win8

Linux/Raspberry Pi

34 manufacturers (and various sub models)

www.weather-display.com/supported.php

Cumulus

http://sandaysoft.com/products/cumulus

Windows: XP, Vista, Win7

5 manufacturers (and various sub models)

wiki.sandaysoft.com/a/Supported_Devices

Weather Snoop

(Mac users)

http://www.weathersnoop.com/

Apple Mac ≥ OS10.6.8

Associated iDevice remote data access App $1.99

11 manufacturers (and various sub models)

www.weathersnoop.com/features/connect.php

WUHU

http://home.comcast.net/~wuhu_software/

Windows: NT 4.0 (SP3), 2000, XP or later. 98 in direct serial mode only!

5 manufacturers (and various sub models)

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wuhu_software_group/info

pywws

https://github.com/jim-easterbrook/pywws

Any computer with Python script including Rasberry Pi

Weather stations supplied with EasyWeather Windows software

Netatmo2WOW

https://github.com/ekkelenkamp/netatmo2wow/

Smartphones - see specifics here

Netatmo stations only

 

For support and instructions on how to set up your software with the WOW System API, please visit the software supplier’s website support pages. Please note that neither MetService nor the Met Office maintains any of this third party software, so if you are having problems with a particular package then please contact the software supplier direct.

This list is not exhaustive and other software may be available. You can check here for updates to this list.

Buying a weather station

A number of specialist retailers sell automatic weather stations that work with one or more of the WOW-compatible software packages listed above. Here are a few we know of – please get in touch if you are a specialist retailer and would like to be added to this list:

The Weather Station Shop: http://www.weatherstation.co.nz/

Scientific Sales: http://www.scientificsales.co.nz/weather-stations.html

Weather Data: http://www.weatherdata.co.nz/

The Met Shop: http://www.metshop.co.nz/

You may also be able to find a compatible station through mainstream electronics retailers. Most importantly, you should check that the station you are looking to buy is compatible with one of the software packages listed above.

Other ways to upload observations to the WOW System

One great piece of kit we've discovered is the MeteoBridge weather router, which enables your weather station to talk direct to WOW over the internet without an always-on computer. A list of MeteoBridge-compatible stations can be found here: http://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Stations - note that using a MeteoBridge means you don't have to worry about whether your station is compatible with the software packages listed above.

The more tech-minded among you can find and buy a TP-LINK TL-MR3020 WLAN router (PB Technologies sell them in New Zealand) then flash it with the MeteoBridge firmware and purchase a MeteoBridge license, currently 65 Euro (the firmware comes with a 14-day free trial). Those of you who just want to let your credit card do the walking can purchase a ready-to-go MeteoBridge unit from Davis Instruments Australia. However, to our knowledge they only deliver within Australia, so you'll need a New Zealand Post YouShop address to get it to NZ.

For information about other methods of uploading observation data, such as bulk import or using the API directly, click here.

General help on sourcing and setting up your weather station and software

For helpful advice from fellow New Zealand weather enthusiasts, why not join a weather forum? Here are a few we know of – please get in touch if you have a forum you’d like to add to this list:

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