CITIZEN WEATHER OBSERVER PROGRAM
CWOP – 3300 citizen weather stations worldwide
Russ Chadwick, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
Purpose of CWOP Private-public partnership with goals:
1. Collect weather data contributed by private citizens;
2. Make these data available for public and private weather services;
3. Provide feedback to the contributors so they have tools to improve data quality.
Weather station
APRS Servers
Weather station
APRS-IS
findu.comdatabase
GSD Central Facility
CWOPdatabase
MADIS
I-Gates
OtherUsers
WFOsAWIPS
UCARNCEP
MesoWest
RF
Mobilestation
RFRFRF
CWOP Data Flow
Private-Public Partnership
• Data Collection (privately owned and operated)– WX stations operated by private citizens– Data transfer by APRS-IS (internet service)– Data management by findU.com
• Data Distribution (provided by NOAA)
– Data distribution by MADIS– Data quality checking by QCMS– NOAA GSD Central Computer Facility
Hurricane Charley over Orlando, FLAugust 14, 2004 at 0225UTC
David Riester’s KD4MRL CWOP weather station
Bill Bruno’s KB2RC CWOP weather station6.6 miles to the ENE
Circulation associated with Charley near Orlando, Florida
CW2363
H0295
CW0927
KD4WLI
WA4LZC
KC6TYC
CW0587
Hurricane Jeanne hour 1
Hurricane Jeanne hour 2
Hurricane Jeanne hour 3
Emillo Sanseviero’s CW0262CWOP Weather Station
David Lane’s K4ZZRCWOP Weather Station
Hurricane Jeanne hour 4
Hurricane Jeanne hour 5
Rain Since Midnight (in)Station WB4PGT-1Quinton, Virginia
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Rain Since Midnight (in)Station CW1481
Richmond, Virginia
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Tropical Storm “Gaston”August 30, 2004
Richmond Area CWOP Observations
o CW1481
CWOP Helps Measure Extreme Temperatures Over Northern New York and New England
Combined Stations CWOP Only
January 28, 2005
BALTIMORE HARBOR WATER TAXI ACCIDENT
At about 4:00 PM EST on March 6, 2004, a sudden gust of wind overturned awater taxi carrying sightseersaround Baltimore Harbor.
There were five fatalities.
CW1550
Accident Site
Location of Gus Campbell’s CW1550 CWOP Weather StationFive Miles WSW of the Water Taxi Accident Site
Wind reported by Gus Campbell’s CW1550 CWOP weather station on UTC day March 6, 2004,
showing 53 mph wind gust reported at 3:51 PM EST.
Main Take-Home Points
• If you are in a sparsely populated area, then your station may give the only weather reports for many miles in any direction; there are many gaps of over 100 miles in US.
• If you are in a densely populated area, then your station may be the only weather station that sees a small scale weather event (like the Baltimore Harbor gust).
• In all cases, running a weather station is great way to “give back” to your local community.
You need: computer with internet access, weather station hardware and weather station software for CWOP
Enter www.cwop.net (or cwop.net) into your browser and click on “How to join CWOP” and follow the directions.
If you have any questions, send them to:[email protected] or [email protected]
How to join CWOP and send in weather data
Southwest USA CWOP Stationsincl. Terrie Miller’s CW3724 CWOP Station
CW3724
Terrie Miller’s CW3724 CWOP Weather Station Pressure Quality Checking
Terrie Miller’s CW3724 CWOP Weather Station Dew Point Quality Checking
Terrie Miller’s CW3724 CWOP Weather Station Temperature Quality Checking
Terrie Miller’s CW3724 CWOP Weather Station Daytime Temperature Quality Checking
Terrie Miller’s CW3724 CWOP Weather Station Nighttime Temperature Quality Checking
Terrie Miller’s CW3724 CWOP Weather Station Wind Speed Quality Checking
Anemometer Housing and Internal Moving Parts
Anemometer Printed Circuit Board
Relative Humidity/Temperature Sensor
Radiation Shield and T238 Interface Board