Need help with anemometer

Archive of NZ Weather & Climate
Forum rules
These topics are a read-only archive and may be subject to out-of-date information.

For today's weather discussion head to: New Zealand Weather & Climate
cupoteacoast
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri 17/08/2012 06:43
Location: Paekakariki, Kapiti Coast, NEW ZEALAND

Need help with anemometer

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

After a chat with NIWA about some worsening orographic climate problems here in Paekakariki, I need to get my WS2355 weather station hooked up and onto T McGavin's network so data can be collected. Before I do this, I want to ensure that any data is reliable. A present is isn't.

My anemometer is on my house roof but not working too well. Once the wind hits about 32-34 km/h, it shudders or stops dead, so I just measure the gusts using my hand anemometer. We get a lot of cross winds and shear here off the hills as well as strong gusts via Transmission Gully, and I suspect this is the problem. (T Gully is orographic) Another example is a southerly direct from Wellington and a strong ESE downslope wind always appear together. Sometimes like today we can get 3 winds at once coming in with major rotation where my station goes AWOL. This afternoon was a classic, where we had S + an E rather than a straight SE, as well as a SW/NW off Cook Strait. SW/NW can arrive both at once here. We also get big mountain waves into westerly synoptics, which can reek havoc downslope and shear wise. Another is the jump zone which makes the wind go straight up in the air. The other problem is in 2012, my roof anemometer froze solid, we can get some attrociously cold stuff here now with frigid katabatic winds during anticyclones. We hit -5.5 last winter with even the beach frozen. Just last week we had frost with the mountain behind us white to low levels, with frost in Feb 2012 and 2013. What I would like to know, is if anyone could please help me with suggestions on how to resolve the anemometer problems with shuddering/stopping and freezing in winter. Much appreciated.
User avatar
tgsnoopy
Posts: 3666
Joined: Fri 25/03/2005 21:17
Location: Tauranga, NZ (Curse you COVID-19 :-( )

Re: Need help with anemometer

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

I used to find a decent spray with CRC 808 Silicon was useful when the bearings got worn on a couple of cheaper units (so it could penetrate the bearings), but not sure if that would help when it was freezing temperatures.
Manukau heads obs
Posts: 12305
Joined: Mon 10/03/2003 16:30
Location: West Coast Road, Manukau Peninsula, North Island

Re: Need help with anemometer

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

is that the propeller (fan) type or cup type?
Image
Brian Hamilton, weather enthusiast. My weather dataEmail: [email protected]
User avatar
tgsnoopy
Posts: 3666
Joined: Fri 25/03/2005 21:17
Location: Tauranga, NZ (Curse you COVID-19 :-( )

Re: Need help with anemometer

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

I'm referring to the prop type FWIW.

Just looking, it seems his is a cup type.