Post by downeastnc on Apr 23, 2016 16:03:14 GMT -5
Could have used a warning for that cell that just blew through Pitt Co, wind here gusting well into the 40's lots of branches and leaf litter, also had a min of pea size hail but just to my west they had marble or better.....
I don't know if anyone still looks at the Fountain weather machine, which has been especially bonkers the past few months, reporting crazy, bogus rainfall data even when skies are blue.
Today I finally got the owners to go up on the roof, and they found that the rain collector had blown off the instrument package, leaving the tipping bucket exposed to the elements. Which is why on windy days it would report 100"/hr. rain rates. The tipping mechanism was being slapped back and forth by the wind.
They located the collector -- it had blown to the ground behind the building -- and they re-afixed it to the station. Then they sprayed all the cable connectors with switch cleaner and re-seated them. The wind-sensor mast was also found to be freely rotating, which won't do, so they secured it. I'll have to get up to the store in the next few days and set the wind direction manually on the console, because repairs have left it indicating nearly 180 degrees out of whack tonight.
Finally, I will take my own rain diary with me to the store and enter my home measurements for 2016 into the database so that the machine no longer (stupidly) says we've had 174" of rain so far this year.
The dang thing just lurches from one crisis to another.
Post by snowlover91 on Apr 24, 2016 21:06:52 GMT -5
Hey Bozart is the Fountain weather machine owned privately or sponsored by the town? How does that work?
Nice little cells moved through yesterday and I remember looking at radar and wondering why the storms near PGV weren't warned. Any video or pics of the hail? Looks like 90F days are on the way this week at least briefly.
Hey Bozart is the Fountain weather machine owned privately or sponsored by the town? How does that work?
It's privately owned by the proprietors of the R.A. Fountain General Store. A snapshot of weather readings gets uploaded to their web space every five minutes, when it's working right: www.rafountain.com/raf_weather.html
It's an old-style Davis Vantage Pro with a repeater running in the upstairs of the corner building to help the downstairs console in the building next door receive the data -- all very precarious and susceptible to frequent, frustrating snafus. You can maybe barely make out the wind instruments peeking up over the roof of the big old mercantile building at the town's main intersection in the attached shot.
Post by snowlover91 on Apr 26, 2016 23:44:29 GMT -5
Ah thanks for providing that information Bozart, that's pretty cool that they have their own weather instruments and actually maintain them decently. Are the owners pretty interested in weather or how exactly did that get started? Fountain is a nice little community town and my wife and I have considered moving to that area if we are able to find a house in our budget range. Also looking around the Wilson/Stantonsburg to Walstonburg area.
Looks like Wednesday will see some thunderstorms with a chance for severe storms on Thursday and Friday possibly. Indices are looking pretty good for Thursday if the 4km NAM is to be believed.
They don't maintain the weather station decently. Three months that rain gauge was freaking out before I got anyone up onto that rooftop to find out why. (I ain't goin' up there myself.)
The owners are not interested in weather -- I am. So 13 years ago when they wanted me to come to work for them in the store, I said I would, but only if they bought a weather station. -lol- I still have a key to the building, so when the thing goes down, it's usually on me to get in there and find out why. The same old, cranky PC, running Windows 98, has been uploading snapshots all these years.
I highly recommend Fountain. It's exactly a one-hour drive to downtown Raleigh, and 20 minutes to either Greenville or Wilson or the Walmart in Tarboro. Just 5 minutes to Farmville. Housing is affordable in the Fountain area, and lots of nice, young families, and professors and artist types, live around here. And the Fountain General Store has live bluegr shows a few times a month. I've been trying to get Shaggy to come to a show for years, but he won't; I don't know why.
I pay $450/mo. rent for a kingdom just a couple miles outside of Fountain. That's no freak case, either; I've got a friend who rents a big, gorgeous property with blueberry bushes and a big out building a couple miles up the road from me -- same rent: $450/mo. To rent either property in Raleigh would cost $1,500/mo. So I'll take the commute, gladly. Besides, I prefer living in the sticks.
Ah thanks for providing that information Bozart, that's pretty cool that they have their own weather instruments and actually maintain them decently. Are the owners pretty interested in weather or how exactly did that get started? Fountain is a nice little community town and my wife and I have considered moving to that area if we are able to find a house in our budget range. Also looking around the Wilson/Stantonsburg to Walstonburg area.
They don't maintain the weather station decently. Three months that rain gauge was freaking out before I got anyone up onto that rooftop to find out why. (I ain't goin' up there myself.)
The owners are not interested in weather -- I am. So 13 years ago when they wanted me to come to work for them in the store, I said I would, but only if they bought a weather station. -lol- I still have a key to the building, so when the thing goes down, it's usually on me to get in there and find out why. The same old, cranky PC, running Windows 98, has been uploading snapshots all these years.
I highly recommend Fountain. It's exactly a one-hour drive to downtown Raleigh, and 20 minutes to either Greenville or Wilson or the Walmart in Tarboro. Just 5 minutes to Farmville. Housing is affordable in the Fountain area, and lots of nice, young families, and professors and artist types, live around here. And the Fountain General Store has live bluegr shows a few times a month. I've been trying to get Shaggy to come to a show for years, but he won't; I don't know why.
I pay $450/mo. rent for a kingdom just a couple miles outside of Fountain. That's no freak case, either; I've got a friend who rents a big, gorgeous property with blueberry bushes and a big out building a couple miles up the road from me -- same rent: $450/mo. To rent either property in Raleigh would cost $1,500/mo. So I'll take the commute, gladly. Besides, I prefer living in the sticks.
Ah thanks for providing that information Bozart, that's pretty cool that they have their own weather instruments and actually maintain them decently. Are the owners pretty interested in weather or how exactly did that get started? Fountain is a nice little community town and my wife and I have considered moving to that area if we are able to find a house in our budget range. Also looking around the Wilson/Stantonsburg to Walstonburg area.
Pretty cool you talked them into that I know Preston used to live in that area and he and his dad knew you too. Sounds like a nice place and I do like being in the country, hopefully something works out as we are trying to find a place by June. Living expenses here in Raleigh are ridiculous at $900 a month for a 1 bed and 1 bath apartment!