Woking Weather Setup
See this page for detailed information on each component of the Davis Vantage Pro 2.
You can see photos of the weather station on the CWOP page here and the WokingWeather Facebook page.
Data Quality
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) publish guidelines on the placement of weather observation equipment to ensure all observations are equivalent and therefore produce quality data. However, these guidelines are impractical for locating weather stations in urban areas. Dr Tim R. Oke of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver has published guidance and advice specifically aimed at urban areas.
Unsurprisingly, Woking Weather does not meet the guidelines set out by the WMO; there are trees ~7m to the East, slightly taller buildings ~3m to the South and ~8m to the North and buildings 1 storey taller ~15m the North West. The integrated sensor suite is located above the South gable wall of a property, which will affect its accuracy (specifically, temperature, humidity and wind direction) and the Anemometer is only 1m above the roof line.
So, what does this mean? The weather station is more representative of the local micro climate than it is of the surrounding area. The readings are going to be slightly affected by its location, temperature during the day will be affected by heat radiating from the South facing wall below, wind direction will be affected by the trees and surrounding buildings. However, comparing the averages from the station with other local stations (Maybury Hill Woking ~2.75 miles East elevation 140ft, Frimley ~5.3 miles West elevation 252ft, West Horsley ~7.7 miles South East elevation 200ft) for the months of November 2009 and June 2010 shows Woking Weather varies as follows;
| June 2010 | November 2009 | |
| Temperature | +0.4c | +0.1c |
| Wind Speed | +7.4 km/h | +2.9 km/h |
| Wind Direction | +~45 degrees | - |
| Humidity | +8% | +5% |
| Pressure | +3.0 hPa | +2.3 hPa |
The raw data is shown in the tables below;
The most significant of these is the wind direction, the variance suggests the wind vane could be affected by the surrounding objects or a micro climate which is more prevalent in hot weather. Humidity is likely to be higher due to the proximity of woods to the West and North of the site. The other readings dont show significant variance.
You can make your own realtime comparison between Woking Weather and other local stations on the Weather Underground map.