Woking Weather Setup

You can see photos of the weather station on the CWOP page here

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 is a residential property ~7m to the SW, a fence and large (10m) oak tree ~7m to the West, a 2m fence ~2m to the East beyond which residential terrace buildings and ~4m to the North a 2m tall fence lined with trees. In other words, a typical suburban garden. The integrated sensor suite is located at the right height above ground for good temperature and humidity readings. The Anemometer is ~2m 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, wind direction will be affected by the trees and surrounding buildings but the average direction reported will be trustworthy. 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;
variance table

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. 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.