Ideas for an Inexpensive weather station

[Steve Polley]

Im looking for a simple weather station that I can use on the chase vehicle so that I can help determine when Im intersecting different boundaries. Im not looking to become a mesonet or anything, just something inexpensive and simple that isnt affected by "thermal" effects of the vehicle or highway.Im mainly after surface temps and dewpoints. I already have an anemometer that I use occasionally. What is everyone using?

 

[Greg Blumberg]

If you're looking for a really inexpensive weather station, just pick up a regular outdoor thermometer and borrow the hair from someone with long hair to make a simple hair hydrometer. It won't give you the surface dew point, but it sure is informative.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

If you just want something that will give you temp and dewpoints I would go with a hand held unit because any cheap weather station on your car is going to give you a very inaccurate reading while moving (on dewpoint and temp). My davis that I used to have was pretty accurate while moving, but every other weather station I ever used sucked. Based on that notion that you'll need to be stopped for accurate data (since you don't want to shell out much money) the hand held would make the most sense. You could also get one of these simple weather stations that just measure the basic things like temp and humidity http://www.ambientweather.com/dewece.html
I doubt that is very accurate when it's attached to the surface of a car though.
Here are some handhelds. If you don't want that just shop around on ambient weather and see what you can find. http://www.ambientweather.com/hawime.html
I'm done with that whole weather station deal btw. It seems like it's more trouble and money than it's worth. I'm sticking with the Davis temp/humidity/pressure sensor that I already have on the roof and once that goes bad I'll just use a handheld unit.