The old wind anemometer was a Davis Anemometer which is a low-grade mechanical device consisting of a spinning cup anemometer and wind vane (Figure 3).įigure 3 - Old Wind Anemometer – Davis Anemometer The hope is a more accurate picture of the wind overall. The reported max gust and the min lull is the worst cases in that 3-minute period (3 measurements). Currently, the SWS is taking measurements from the sonic sensor every minute and averaging the 3 samples over a 3-minute period this number is the reported average wind speed. The published data, on the SWS website, is not raw observations but rather reporting averages or max and min values. The anemometer is a Sonic Wind Sensor that records continuous wind speed and direction every 3 seconds. June 18, 2021.įigure 2 -Tempest Weatherflow Station National Weather Service (NWS), and many other partners and clients.įigure 1 - Spit Weather Station, Webcams and Tempest WeatherFlow Station on the top. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S.

It is installed above the SWS staff building Sea Can (Figure 1 and 2) and has a “revolutionary design with no moving parts” ( Weatherflow operates the Tempest Weather Systems and professional-grade mechanical sensors station network that is a trusted resource by the U.S. The new anemometer is part of the new weather station from WeatherFlow Tempest Weather System that came to market in 2018 and is new to the SWS as of this year (2021). A special thanks to Alan for all his hard work to keep it running for so many years. Why the change?Īfter many years of reliable wind measurements, the wind sensor (anemometer) the Squamish Windsports Society (SWS) used started to degrade to the point where the data was no longer usable. The new wind sensor is especially sensitive to light winds and the effects of turbulence on the immediate wind field around the instrument.

You may notice a larger difference (variance) between the max gust and the minimal lull. The simple answer is that this season’s graph is showing wind speed and direction data from a different type of anemometer, an ultrasonic anemometer. What is going on? Why is the Spit graph display different from last year? Quite a few of the members have noticed that the data on the website now is significantly different than in previous years, and some people have expressed a lack of trust or confusion with the presented wind speed (Gust, Average, and Lull) on the SWS website. What’s up with the Wind meter this year? July 19, 2021

Whats a anemometer