Anybody know where i can get weather data

[manders]

Hi, I want to compare the temperature profile in my greenhouse to what is typical in the tropics, lowland or highland would be ok, but havent found the data yet, it would have to be at least 1 per hour readings over 24 hours, preferably for several days. Is it possible to find this data on the internet?

[mantrid]

Im pretty sure thats not possible, the tropics is a big place. You might be able to get data at such intervals from one specific site. but more likely every few hours for a whole region, bit like our met office data. Try searching met office for a specific region that interests you

Edited November 5, 2011 by mantrid

[manders]

I meant more or less any location in the tropics, e.g. Bangkok or genting highlands etc. the closest i found so far is actually a forecast but it shows more less the temperature profile. Historical data for genting highlands would be the best, i was just curious how much time the temp is at the upper end and how much at the lower, compared to the nasty peaks and troughs my grrenhouse gets. Seems really hard to get historical hourly data...

Edit, actually the genting forecast was really suprising for a highland location (1800m), never dropping below 23C for the next week, would be great to see actual hourly historical data.

Edited November 5, 2011 by manders

[jesse]

I meant more or less any location in the tropics, e.g. Bangkok or genting highlands etc.

It is very easy to get weather and/or climate data of the bigger cities in many countries. But this means: Lowland data only, especially in the tropics, as nearly all big cities with official weather stations in the tropics are seaport towns, and seaport level is always low.

the closest i found so far is actually a forecast but it shows more less the temperature profile. Historical data for genting highlands would be the best, i was just curious how much time the temp is at the upper end and how much at the lower, compared to the nasty peaks and troughs my grrenhouse gets. Seems really hard to get historical hourly data...

As a first start I would recommend the "monthly climate averages" available from all the worldwide official weather services in the contries of the world. These data are collected from the national weather services and hosted in WWW by HongKong Observatory in HongKong (China) on behalf of WMO (World Meteorlogical Organizazion): http://www.worldweather.org/

For example Bangkok in °C: http://www.worldweather.org/089/c00233.htm#climate

Or if you prefer Fahrenheit: http://www.worldweather.org/089/c00233f.htm#climate

All tables include daily minimum and maximum temperature for any month of the year as well as monthly precipitation and precipitation days per month.

So finding information about lowlands is easy: Weather stations in harbor towns are typically located less than 100 m elevation above sea level.

Edit, actually the genting forecast was really suprising for a highland location (1800m), never dropping below 23C for the next week

DO NOT TRUST INTERNET WEATHER WEBSITES THAT SHOW DATA FOR ANY LOCATION IN THE WORLD! Especially do not trust them for highland locations! Typically such "we show all weather websites" work like that: They look up the location of the nearest official weather station, which is in most cases a lowland weather station. Then they show you the data of that lowland weather station. As easy, as wrong it is.

Unfortunately there are hardly any weather stations located in the highlands. OK, in Germany there is one on the "Zugspitze", but weather stations on mountains are not the worldwide standard in weather observation and the Zugspitze is not in the tropics.

So before telling anything about climate data from the highlands, please let me know: Are the weather climate tables at http://www.worldweather.org/ of any use for you for finding typical temperatures (daily high/low of the days in different months) at big cities / harbour towns worldwide and in the tropics?

Or do you really need more detailed hourly data or other information?

[manders]

Thanks jesse, the data for cameron highlands on that site makes a lot more sense (~15-25C). From the data i've found it looks like temps typically ramp up linearly from low to high then ramp down again linearly (more or less). Not so different to my greenhouse in autumn.... Ive often wondered if a quick burst of heat in winter for an hour would help the plants without being overly costly...

[Marcel van den Broek]

There are some online weatherstations, but you have to take a pic. You can find them by google typing online weatherstation as a search. It's a bity digging but the info is out there

For instance:

http://www.typhoon2000.ph/weather2.htm

and of you then choose say Borocay you get: http://www.boracayweatherstation.com/

live feed with temperature, cloudbase, barometer, humidity, wind, rainfall, the works.

edit: you might like this one: http://www.ptcdm.com/automatic_weather_station_online.html

Edited November 5, 2011 by Marcel van den Broek

[jesse]

Thanks jesse, the data for cameron highlands on that site makes a lot more sense (~15-25C).

On worldweather.org the forecasts and climate tables are organized by country and city, I don't know what city is "cameron highlands" on worldweather.org.

But if you cannot find a town at the same elevation where you are looking for climate data, this is what you can do: Reduce the temperature in the table of a city nearby.

In the atmosphere under normal conditions it gets colder, the higher you get. In general you can make an educated guess: In temperate climate or in dry regions it gets colder by around 6.5 °C per kilometre. In tropical climate especially with high humidity it gets colder by around 5.5 °C per kilometre.

So if you want to make a guess of an "unknown location near Bangkok" and the only thing you know is that the plant grows at 1000 metres above sea level, you can calculate: Bangkok is a a harbour town, so the weather station is near sea level. 1000 metres above sea level in the tropics the temperatures are 5.5°C lower than at sea level.

==> Reduce all temperatures in the climate table of Bangkok by 5.5°C and you have the temperatures at 1000 metres a.s.l. near Bangkok in the mountains (if there are mountains, I don't know).

Ive often wondered if a quick burst of heat in winter for an hour would help the plants without being overly costly...

Hm, normally the temperature is rising during the day and the temperature is falling during the night. Quick bursts of temperature can occur during cloudy days when the sun comes through the clouds suddenly. But I don't think you can find out by interpretion of meteorological data if a quick temperature burst will help your plant while the overall temperature range is not matching the natural temperature conditions.

[manders]

Thanks jesse, yes im familiar with the temp gradient, used it to produce these charts,

There seems to be weather stations at both genting and cameron highlands so data should be good, still no historical data though.

The quick burst of heat was for the greenhouse in winter to increase temperature a lot even if only for a short time, rather than maintain a constant 10C for example.