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Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Talk about anything that doesn't fit elsewhere - PLEASE don't put Cumulus queries in here!
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steve
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by steve »

Fixed in build 902.
Steve
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by nking »

We have a slight problem with graphics :(
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by steve »

I'm afraid I have no idea what's causing that. I haven't changed anything that would affect the display. It's working fine on my Windows 7 machine and my WHS machine.
Steve
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by nking »

I uninstalled everything and started afresh (keeping my old data) and it's now working.... computers, who'd have em!! :roll:
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by nking »

I set the period at 60 mins and it has been running for over 4 hours and has made a tremendous difference to the wind direction trend. I would recommend that all WH1080 users give this feature a trial. :D

Thanks again Steve
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by nking »

Hi Steve,

Just wanted to confirm how the average bearing functions. i.e. when starting Cumulus does the data collection start as per the last download of data from the logger? Therefore, if I stop Cumulus and restart it immediately I have lost the trending until it has collected sufficient data to smooth out the underlying trend? It does seem like this is the case, I may be wrong (probably am) ;) If I'm correct, I guess it would be too difficult for it to read back the data already collected, similar to the graphing which I understand loads in the historical data when it starts :?: I should say that I am still very grateful for the change made but I thought I would ask the question :roll:
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steve
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by steve »

I think I did explain this a few posts ago, but maybe not too well :)

It uses any data that it has just downloaded from the logger, but doesn't try to go back further by using data from the log file. So yes,a stop and immediate restart means it starts from scratch. It would probably be possible to backfill from the data log; as you say, it goes through the logs anyway for the graphs. I'll look into it...
Steve
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by steve »

Code written; need to test it a bit (tomorrow) before unleashing it.
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by EvilV »

Good morning gents -

I have been interested in the forum since I just set up a Watson 8261 and have been trying out the Cumulus software for the last three days.

On the forecasting algorithm; I wonder if the calculations take account of our UK island environment? Obviously, the arrival of snow or rain at this time of year depends a lot on whether the winds have been travelling over three thousand miles of warm Atlantic, or have taken a short hop over the North Sea after a spell over a very cold northern European land mass.

Probably, I am asking too much here, since I have seen that we have people using the software from all over the world.

Another thing. I have set up the server part of Cumulus to upload to Weather Underground. I see that there are potted forecasts attached to a secondary tab of my weather station data. This five day forecast can't come out of the £75 Watson for sure. I guess it is generated from my location data on Weather Underground and their interfacing with a local forecast.... Would that be right?

Cheers.

Tony
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steve
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by steve »

EvilV wrote:On the forecasting algorithm; I wonder if the calculations take account of our UK island environment?
The original Zambretti Forecaster was designed in Britain, so I guess it's probably supposed to work best here. Beteljuice may know more.
I guess it is generated from my location data on Weather Underground and their interfacing with a local forecast.... Would that be right?
Yes, almost certainly. I find the WU site very confusing; it's hard to work out where a lot of the stuff is coming from.
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by EvilV »

Thanks Steve.

Also thanks for creating the site and the Cumulus software. I've only been running it about a day and a half on a more or less surplus Dell laptop, but it seems to do the job well.

My cheapo Watson weather vane is all over the place, flapping like a sparrows wing, mostly. I modified the Cumulus ini file to make the average based on the hour and get a sensible average wind direction. I wish i could get this to upload to Wunderground rather than the instantaneous wind direction, since what is up there looks just about random. I'll probably drop the pole and add some carpet tape and cable ties, as others have done to increase the wind drag on the vane. Worth a try, probably. Also, I will need to make a better sun screen on the thermal/transmitting unit.

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... =INEWCAST6

EDIT: - Ah - I just checked the Internet settings on Cumulus and now I see you can upload the 'Average Wind' to Wunderground - I ticked the box. It may mean average 'speed', or it could mean average 'wind direction'. I'll check later and see, when the change has had time to take effect. If it does, I'll set the interval for averaging to 30 minutes which is a more sensible averaging period than 60 minutes, probably.
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by steve »

EvilV wrote:It may mean average 'speed', or it could mean average 'wind direction'.
I seem to have forgotten to update the help for once. It means 'both'.
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by EvilV »

That seems to be completely sorted now Steve. As I look out of the window, the vane is all over the place, but looking at the results on that page since about 13.45 it has steadied up remarkably. Also, it shows a fair degree of agreement with the station at Newcastle Airport on wind direction.

Next step: Work out how to make three or four plastic bowls into a tidy looking Stephenson Screen. I saw the ones already made, and now I need to translate those designs into something I can lay hands on and make myself. I don't want to make my setup look an eyesore to the neighbours, or to catch too much wind and make my twenty foot aluminium pole flap around in the wind so that the tipping bucket rain gauge doesn't know which way up it is.
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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by MMØXDB »

Thanks for this feature. :D
Sorted average display is great for me :D

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Re: Wind Direction and the Cumulus forecast

Post by EvilV »

steve wrote:
EvilV wrote:It may mean average 'speed', or it could mean average 'wind direction'.
I seem to have forgotten to update the help for once. It means 'both'.
I've noticed a perhaps unfortunate side effect of the averaging process Steve. It cured my flip flopping weather vane at a stroke, but I now get unrealistic reports of the wind speed. They are FAR too low by comparison to other local stations. With 60 minutes and 30 minutes of averaging, I got long periods of wind speed recorded at 1.6km an hour, when other stations were showing 10 and 12 km an hour and higher (including the local airport station which ought to be pretty accurate in its locale about seven miles away from here). Now I have reverted to a ten minute averaging period (in cumulus.ini) and I am recording 3.2km/hr when the airport shows 11.2km hr. My gust speeds are comparable with other local stations.

I am wondering if it is possible to split the averaging of wind direction and wind speed so you could apply one or the other or both. At the same time I am conscious that it may be an annoying imposition for you to have to put the time in to do this, so I'm only suggesting that it might be nice if it was easy for you to do it. I can live without it, obviously. All in all, I think it is great the way the programme works.
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