The heart of BootieWeather.com is a Davis Instruments 6162 Wireless Vantage Pro2 with Standard Radiation Shield Weather Station. The Station is located in North Scottsdale, Arizona at an altitude of 2061 feet and was originally installed July 2, 2008.

The Davis Vantage Pro2 console provides forecasting, on screen graphing and quick view icons that display 28 weather variables on a 4"x6" screen. It is attached to a data logger. The logger is attached via a USB cable to a Dell XPS PC with dual hard drives set in a RAID 1 configuration running Virtual Weather Station Internet Edition version 14.01 and WeatherLink version5.8.3. VWS provides current data to BootieWeather.com. Over 320 weather variables are reported, recorded and retained by the VWS and WeatherLink software.

The anemometer, first installed on a mast 10 feet above ground level with the rest of the station equipment, was remotely sited August 12, 2008. It is now attached to a chimney, 40.4 feet above ground level, the highest point within a one mile radius. The anemometer operates independently of the rest of the station equipment. A small solar power array with battery backup provides power to the anemometer. A second small solar power array with battery backup provides power to the weather station equipment. Both broadcast wirelessly to the Davis Vantage Pro2 console inside the house. The anemometer was reposition to ensure accurate wind readings.

On October 4, 2009 a Solar Radiation sensor and an Ultraviolet Radiation sensor were added to the station array. For improved accuracy, temperature and humidity sensors are housed inside a radiation shield. The shield protects against solar radiation and other sources of radiated and reflected heat. The solar powered integrated sensor suite combines all outdoor sensors (rain collector, anemometer, and temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and UV sensors) into one package - improving performance and reliability. The rain gauge is self emptying. It measures rainfall in .01 inch increments. The station has been calibrated for height above sea level as well as its longitude & latitudinal location to seven decimal places.

Boltek StormTracker lightning detection hardware was installed and configured October 27, 2010. StormTracker is an add-on to the stations Dell XPS computer. It not only tells if lightning is near but lets you see where it is. StormTracker detects lightning strikes up to 300 miles away and plots them in real time on a custom made vector format map centered on our back yard.

StormTracker works by detecting the radio signals produced by lightning. StormTracker's direction-finding antenna provides direction information while storm distance is calculated from received signal strength. Special processing in software reduces the effects of strike-to-strike energy variations providing more accurate distance information. The antenna is mounted in the attic. The station uses NexStorm a Microsoft Windows® lightning detection interface application for the Boltek StormTracker lightning detector hardware to analyze and display lightning data. NexStorm seamlessly combines advanced analysis and display features with Internet integration and inter-process communication functionality.

 

NexStorm uploads a data file to BootieWeather.com every 60 seconds. Once this file has been uploaded, it is automatically processed by StormVue and the information contained in the file is displayed in the applet's graphical user interface. StormVue allows visitors interactivity through a user selectable time sequenced animation loop or summary view, through user selectable range views, full or zoom range, and interactivity through user selectable history, 30 or 60 minutes.

 

January 19, 2011 Began uploading data to StrikeStar and added a GlobalSat BU-353 GPS unit to my PC to enable "Precision Timing". In a month we will be able to add a WASP 2 display (WASP2 stands for Wide Area Storm Probe) to the station array and upload it's radar map every 60 seconds to BootieWeather. Lightning strike data which is detected by different Boltek lightning detectors in the StrikeStar network is sent over the internet to a central processing server which triangulates the data in order to determine the approximate geographical position of the lightning strike. The StrikeStar output is relayed to a companion server application, LDStream, which in turn feeds this data  over a TCP/IP network and serves as a network access point for the WASP 2 display that will soon be on this site. There will soon be another lightning display to look at with triangulated strike data (more accurate data). I estimate it will take about 60 days to get this going.

 

January 21, 2011 BootieWeather is now a member of the Southwestern Weather Network! You can visit their site by going to http://southwesternwx.net. BootieWeather is listed as Scottsdale in the list of member stations.

 

January 23, 2011 BootieWeather is now a member of the CWOP, NOAA™ Citizen Weather Observer Program, and contributes data to that network every 10 minutes. Visit BootieWeather page at that site by going to http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?DW3364

 

January 24, 2011 Added Lightning Archives under Lightning Activity. Visitors can now replay memorable lightning storms!

 

February 28, 2011 BootieWeather has been accepted into the StrikeStar network and will soon display the WASP2 lightning map with near real time lighting strike as verified and reported by at least two independent Private Weather Stations.

 

March 4, 2011 Added the WASP2 lightning page that shows lightning strikes within a 50 mile radius confirmed by at least two sources.

 

March 8, 2011 - Added a UV calculator page to help people determine how long they can be in the sun before they start to burn.

 

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