Weather forecasts are supposed to tell us what to expect, but in my neighborhood, they often seem wrong. Even when the news predicted rain or certain temperatures for nearby areas, the weather at my house would turn out differently. Since I’m interested in civil engineering and how the environment affects structures, this made me curious. This consistent pattern got me thinking that something in my area is causing a unique pattern of weather that doesn’t occur in the neighboring towns and areas, and I hypothesized that this pattern was caused by the hills right next to my house. This invigorated a sense of curiosity in me to get more accurate data from my specific location.

To better understand weather and climate patterns in my area, I joined a program from Alameda County’s flood control division, and installed a rain gauge (Precipitation Gauge No. use: 539F) they provided to measure rainfall. Using the rain gauge, I collected rain measurements for about 3 months to compare it with data from other stations and weather forecasts. However, there were some initial challenges. First, it was arduous to maintain the rain gauge because it had to be cleaned regularly to ensure accurate measurements. Second, having to manually record the data every single day became time-consuming and hard to keep up with consistently.

To make data collection easier and more streamlined, I bought and installed a Personal Weather Station which is accessible on-line 24×7 on the PWSWeather network (PWS OCADO) and Ambient Weather Network (AWN Avocado) . Not only did this station record rainfall data, but it also recorded temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and many other factors of weather that could help determine if I lived in an area with a microclimate.

For a total of 11 months now, I have been recording the data that my personal weather station collects and have been sending it to my city’s flood control division. I am excited to continue to collect more data from this station to properly evaluate my hypothesis that I live in a microclimate and document the effects that certain weather has on structures. 

Links to my weather station:

1. PWS Weather network (PWS OCADO) 

2. Ambient Weather Network (AWN Avocado)