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Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Discussion specific to Davis weather stations
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Iles
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Joined: Thu 14 Jan 2010 1:10 pm
Weather Station: Vantage Vue
Operating System: XP

Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by Iles »

Hello all,

I've been hunting round the net trying to find some knowledgeable Vantage Vue owners and I'm hoping you can help me. When I first set up my VV it displayed the message 'it's raining cats and dogs' a couple of times, but it never does it anymore no matter how hard it rains or how I fiddle with the settings. What do I need to change?

Many thanks in advance for any help.
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steve
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by steve »

I'm not sure it necessarily says that every time it's raining heavily, just when it feels like it; or maybe you haven't hit the right conditions again. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can set to make it say it.
Steve
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steve
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by steve »

Incidentally, the first person to ask for this "facility" in Cumulus will get :bash:
Steve
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daj
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by daj »

steve wrote:Incidentally, the first person to ask for this "facility" in Cumulus will get :bash:
An here was me in the middle of editing my strings.ini file !!!
David
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Iles
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu 14 Jan 2010 1:10 pm
Weather Station: Vantage Vue
Operating System: XP

Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by Iles »

:lol:
Yes, I know it's a pretty silly feature, but it irks me to know that it's hiding in there and won't come out play anymore :x
adam5
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by adam5 »

Hi,

That particular console ticker message is supposed to be displayed whenever the calculated rain rate meets or exceeds the "heavy rain" criteria. Heavy rain is defined as 0.30 inches per hour (7.62mm per hour).

But you say that you no longer get that message regardless of how hard it rains. Using the WeatherLink software and the plotting fuction, you can plot rain rates to see if you actually hit that criteria on any particular rainy day. Do the rain amounts reported by your station seem to fit with surrounding sites? If not, perhaps your tipping bucket has accumulated debris...thereby cutting back on your rain totals (and rain rates)?

Just some thoughts...check it out.

-Brian
Pete B
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Joined: Mon 08 Mar 2010 9:59 am
Weather Station: Davis VP2 Wireless
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by Pete B »

Reviving an ancient thread:

On my VP2, both the free standing display Console and the Weatherlink software summary page via the consoleless Weather Envoy/datalogger to my data logging computer were flashing the ticker message "It's raining cats and dogs" for a while this evening during an exceptionally heavy spell of rain in my location in Malvern, UK. I'd never seen it before but then I only installed my station in January & rain rates (if not amounts) tend to be less in winter, especially the last one which was dry other than for the snowy spells.

A max of 17.5mm/hr, then 14mm/hr again after a short lull were logged by the VP2 rain gauge. At one stage, 0.2mm tips were happening in less than 30secs. A total of 6.4mm rain were logged in about 90 mins, most of it over a period of about 45mins.

A sure sign that summers here in Malvern, convergence over the local hill range in relatively still, sultry conditions and it all goes bang late afternoon/evening. About 5 mins before the sudden heavy downpour, I was only thinking with the light but steady NE surface wind (the hills are to the west of me so convergence towards them gives an E component wind on this side), the look of the sky and no organisation to the wind direction at cloudbase level, nor obvious main synoptic wind direction that "summat's up" :)

Once the rain got going, the wind went round to the NW.
HKWe5e
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by HKWe5e »

Hi All, glad I found this thread.

I got this message today for probably the first time. If I may contribute - the message appears to be triggered by the sudden rate of rainfall, as I was able to witness today. Very calm conditions until a moment when, five minutes later, the rain is pouring quite hard.

It took me a couple of minutes before I thought of taking a picture of the console.

Best regards.
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martinu
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by martinu »

daj wrote: Thu 14 Jan 2010 3:20 pm
steve wrote:Incidentally, the first person to ask for this "facility" in Cumulus will get :bash:
And here was me in the middle of editing my strings.ini file !!!
You could have a configurable parameter asking which part of the UK you were in, with appropriate regional dialect phrases such as (for Yorkshire)
  • "it's siling down" (it's raining cats and dogs)
  • "ee, it's reet parky" (it's bloody cold)
  • "there's lazy wind today" (it's cold and windy, and the wind seems to blow right through you - it's too lazy to go round you)
Or maybe not... :lol:



(I saw this thread as I was searching for a photo of the famous "cats and dogs" message to post on a forum.)
BigOkie
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by BigOkie »

I took this one about 8 years ago when I first got the VP2
IMG_20130530_171459.jpg
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AndyKF650
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by AndyKF650 »

So it seems that this is a thing for Davis VP2, the pics show the rain ticker this evening and the graph indicates that a rain rate of over 8mm per hour will trigger the "Its raining cats and dogs" message.

Rather odd weather in Jersey today, heavy rain overnight, clear blue skies this afternoon and solid rain this evening.

Plain ordinary autumn or something more sinister as proposed by those who would be believed.
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freddie
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Re: Vantage Vue - raining cats and dogs message

Post by freddie »

AndyKF650 wrote: Wed 20 Oct 2021 5:25 pm Plain ordinary autumn or something more sinister as proposed by those who would be believed.
The pattern of weather is ordinary autumn weather. The intensity will be greater than normal owing to warmer than normal sea temperatures - which is likely down to the "something more sinister" you allude to.
Freddie
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