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.com database GSD Central Facility CWOP database MADIS I-Gates OtherUsers WFOs AWIPS UCAR NCEP MesoWest RF Mobile station RF 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, FL August 14, 2004 at 0225UTC

David Riester’s KD4MRL CWOP weather station

Bill Bruno’s KB2RC CWOP weather station 6.6 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 CW0262 CWOP Weather Station David Lane’s K4ZZR CWOP Weather Station

Hurricane Jeanne hour 4

Hurricane Jeanne hour 5

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 a water taxi carrying sightseers around Baltimore Harbor. There were five fatalities.

CW1550 Accident Site Location of Gus Campbell’s CW1550 CWOP Weather Station Five 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 (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: or How to join CWOP and send in weather data

Southwest USA CWOP Stations incl. 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