A typical weather station. Image by Stanbachonline.
ZIMSEC O Level Geography Notes: Weather Station
-A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate.
- Most instruments used in measuring weather elements are found in a weather station.
- This is a place where weather events are recorded for example Kutsaga research station near Harare International Airport.
- It is situated in an open space away from buildings and trees.
- Trees can affect weather phenomena for example by acting as wind-breaks thus affecting the windspeed and direction readings.
- Building act as thermal sinks i.e they store heat energy thus distorting heat readings.
Instruments and items found in a weather station
- Stevenson screen.
- Six’s thermometer.
- Hygrometer.
- Barometer.
- Sunshine recorder.
- Anemometer.
- Rain gauge.
- Evaporation dish.
For a long time technicians had to go to the weather station at a fixed time every day and record various measurements shown by the instruments, reset the instruments and feed the data into computers manually. This is becoming less common as Automated Weather stations become more and more popular. These save on the human energy required to man them, can provide up to date data via the internet and can be deployed in harsh remote areas such as the Arctics and Polar regions.
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