Weather Station Pt 1: Research and Ideas (online)

So, part of this new environment I find myself, and perhaps the hardest for me to adjust to, is the weather.  I'm from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, walked along a canal to work for 2 years.  But, out here in Arizona it is dry, dry, dry.  I found open water within 30 minutes is at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve, but that doesn't change the weather.  And the weather this year is supposed to be even more dry than even usual, and I am already anxious to survive my first summer in Arizona.  Part of making it through, I think, will be identifying the weather daily and understanding the process that creates it.  In that mindset, I have been looking up some simple yet effective ideas for making weather measuring devices for the backyard.  Some may not look pretty, but each will have a purpose and some range of detail.  Also, I went and found some sites for information on current and average weather for the area.  

WEBSITES::
National Weather Service- 
Providing national coverage of current weather activity, as well as links to climate info, past weather, etc.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 
Information that tracks climate, ocean activities, etc, and provided much of National Weather Service's information.

Storm Prediction Center 
By the NOAA - national coverage and information available, with information regarding storms.

Weather Underground:   
Gives a nice little 'personal weather station' reading of things and forecasts for your area.  Also has Maps of US showing : Fronts, Radar, Temperature,  Heat Index, Windchill, Moisture, Humidity,  Dew Point,  Wind, Jet Stream, Cloud Cover, Satellite, Visible Satellite, Visibility, Precipitation, Precipitation, Snow Depth.  Also has astronomy bit and webcams/photos for the US of - weather.

Weather Spark: 
Appears a wordy front page with an intricate dashboard providing lots of past and present and forecasted information.   Tries for a 'quick read' forecast, but looks more complicated than 'will it rain/how hot will it get'.

SPC created this Modified Fujita scale 
Has some descriptions on what the numbers mean. Not a lot of tornadoes in the area, but still interesting to look over.

Weatherbug: 
Appears a nice clean forecasting machine, and says they have their own network for weather, meaning their readings are their tools telling them, not the NOAA. I like the concise forecast display.  I also like their 'area summary' for Mesa: 

"Mesa weather tends to be warm and dry year round with an average annual rainfall of only eight inches. Mesa is also one of the sunniest cities in the nation, with 320 days of each year featuring sunshine."

Skywarn: 
Some interesting information on training and preparing and using the Skywarn system.  I like their PDF of the storm weather "Basics's Spotter's Field Guide"

Skywarn AZ - 
The southern Arizona chapter of Skywarn, though others exist, and training available.  Appears to have a Coyote Crier comment tracking set up, as well as mostly be radio broadcasters of monsoon and other weather issues.


Some Simple Projects:

There are times when having the newest tech is awesome - and there are times and reasons to want to see how basic you can go and still be accurate with things.  I've always wanted to make a 'home-made' weather station, a Macgyver-esque collection of odds and ends that can tell me the weather, and I can understand the factors that allow the stuff to work.  Here are some online variations I've seen.

Weather Wiz Kids - Website:  

Appears a simpler site (go gifs!), but links still working. For kids, but this site has great question/answer format, with questions I haven't even thought to ask (wait to go, creator of site!). Also contains lesson plans/teacher relevant ideas for teaching weather - including some experiments I may do. Also has some neat temperature converter calculators (relative heat is the heat and the dew point calculated against each other, and wind chill being the speed of the air with the temperature.)

Nuture Store - Blog: 
The reason I marked this page is for the 'what color is the sky chart', which I find a great idea for a Nature Journal to include, and the cotton ball wasps of clouds and crayons make it artistic and fun. Otherwise, it just shows a rain gauge without volume to measurement ratio consider.  It is geared to kids, so... :)

Song Of My Heart - Blog: 
This is geared towards homeschooling lesson on weather, but shows cursory completion of some tools, but a novel concept for measuring air pressure - a barometer of glass jar with balloon over top and stick attached to center of balloon- air pressure increase from what was in the jar makes the straw move, recorded on a paper chart with lines.  Neat?  Also great list of kids books dealing with weather, for those with young ones.

Beaufort Scale - Google search, for image:

Results have various picture or icon or descriptions to express the different wind speed estimates.

Se7en - Blog: 

All weather stations need certain instruments and this site shows a decidedly child-like weather station (designed for children, so duh). But of their tools: An Anemometer - theirs being cups taped to a plate, which with the Beaufort Scale works, but still isn't a 'measurement' unless you can count the number of spins per minute or second. A Wind Vane- I like the simplicity of a paper vane with a pen cap to spin on, though it wouldn't hold up to rain or heavy wind. A Thermometer- They seal water in bottle with a straw at top, so temperature is relevant to the starting day. Still neat. A Barometer. Same balloon topped method as above blog. A Rain Gauge- the split and sunk 2 liter bottle, though still just marking comparatively. A Weather Chart - I really liked the cloud cover chart being an eight pie piece square - gets one thinking in eighths, or oktas.