Weather observations

Weather observations

The Local Weather Observations button on the left menu takes you to a graph showing a number of weather variables, principally temperature, humidity and rainfall, recorded at an Automatic Weather Stations (AWS).

To change the date period in view, you can click the From/To boxes and select a date, and change the number of days in the Days box. You can also drag the graph left or right to see earlier or later. On a touchscreen you can not only drag the graph but zoom in and out.

You can change which AWS is being used with the Station drop-down box. You can also click Station Map to see all the AWSs in the current set on a map and select one.

There are three different sets of AWSs, which you can select from the Source drop-down box. The Regional Network AWSs record temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, leaf wetness and sunlight at 10 minute intervals. They are scattered around the grape-growing areas of South Australia and the Murray Valley. Some of these are Model T MetStations made by Western Electronic Design.

Another set are the Natural Resource Managament (NRM) network of AWSs. These collect more variables, including wind, air pressure, soil temperature and dew point. They run at 10 or 15 minute intervals. The ones we have are mostly in South Australia, with some along the Murray in NSW/Victoria.

The Bureau of Meteorology has over 600 AWSs spread all over Australia. They record a wide range of variables similar to the NRM's. Most provide data at 30 minute intervals while some are less often.

Data from the Regional Network AWSs are used in the disease modelling. The Bureau of Met do not record leaf wetness, which is part of our disease models. The NRM data includes leaf wetness but most stations are not recording it consistently.

In the Graph Options view all the quantities for the current Source setting are listed, so you can turn all of them on to see all the data, or turn most of them off for a simpler graph. It is also possible to change colour or line style, but most users will not ned to do this.