The good news is there’s lots of information relayed: wind speed/direction, rainfall, UV, solar radiation, barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, dew point, heat index, and wind chill. While the station has seemingly solid accuracy (its 5-day error rate was 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit), the sensor recorded considerably lower “low” temps than all the other sensors, sometimes by as much as 10 degrees. Also, its sensor always tended to run about a degree lower than all the others even when it was warm outside. We hope this will appeal to schools, amateur meteorologists, and weather enthusiasts across the UK. The included Netatmo Personal Weather Station also leaves the door open for plenty of aftermarket accessorization such as pairing the Netatmo Smart Rain Gauge and Smart Anemometer. The Netatmo weather station also works with the Apple HomeKit for those looking to add to their connected smart home. The indoor air quality readings allow the user to take action and improve their well-being with simple steps, such as opening the windows when the CO2 levels are too high. The temperature, humidity and noise levels in the home are also provided in real-time. Where Netatmo fails primarily is in installation. The setup process is convoluted and buggy, and it seems to have gotten worse over the years instead of better. Netatmo’s piecemeal approach also means you have to install each component individually, a complex process that involves strategically pressing buttons and removing/reinstalling batteries at just the right time. This process was even more complex because the sensors Netatmo sent me came with preinstalled batteries, all of which were dead on arrival, and the batteries in the wind meter were actually corroded. The system also has a tendency to randomly lose its Wi-Fi connection without warning, only to recover it a few hours later.

While normal carbon monoxide detectors have a piercing alarm built in, that can be heard around the house - as does the Netatmo one, incidentally - that's not going to help you if you're out shopping. Want to know which air purifiers really pull dust, pollen and pollutants from the air? See our best air purifiers. What is the Netatmo Weather Station? If you'd like some increased functionality, the web app has a few extra features, including the ability to export your data to Excel - this is only possible for the outdoor sensors, though. Netatmo has the largest network of Weather Stations in the world, which monitors the environment in more than 175 countries, available on the Netatmo Weathermap.

Weather station sites

Tempest’s temperature readings tend to run a little high, and its weather forecasts were the worst in this roundup, missing on average by 5.2 degrees. Tempest’s forecasts tend to be pretty wild, including one that guessed the high would be 9 degrees lower than Netatmo and another that forecast a 30 percent chance of “wintry mix” precipitation on a day when there was no rain and we had a 40-degree low. That’s odd because forecasting is supposed to be Tempest’s forte, using machine learning to “significantly improve the forecast over time,” per the company. I’ve been testing the device for several months and still see some pretty out-there predictions on otherwise unremarkable days.

Accuracy is one of the most important considerations for anyone in the market for a personal weather station. Fortunately, the thermometer, hygrometer, and barometer proved to be consistently accurate, which certainly isn’t the case with all home weather stations. On the flip side, it can be a bit problematic when attempting to understand real-time data at times. For example, rather than monitoring live outdoor readings, the app refreshes every few minutes to provide updated information. In fact, there can be up to 10 minutes between refreshes. These micro-lulls will have minimal effect on the long-term data, but the lapse in real-time data is important to note nonetheless. This extra data will be extremely useful in forecasting and monitoring localised extreme weather events such as heavy snow and rain. WOW has been developed by the Met Office in partnership with the Royal Meteorological Society and the Department for Education. I thoroughly enjoyed the Netatmo Weathermap feature, which allows you to take a look at Netatmo weather station readings in your area and around the globe. Price: Hard to justify the high price It does feel a little constricted zooming in and out of a line graph on a smartphone to take a closer look at granular data.Whether you have a suitable place to position the wind sensor is probably the most important thing to consider before purchasing that additional module.

These weather stations measure a large variety of different meteorological parameters, including air temperature; atmospheric pressure; rainfall; wind speed and direction, humidity; cloud height and visibility. The set-up process is pretty straightforward and it shouldn't take you more than around 15 minutes to have the two main units connected and up and running. We set it up using the mobile app, but you can use your computer if you'd prefer.Stations areusually around 40 km apart, enablingus to record theweather associated with the typical low pressure and frontal systems that cross the UK. Netatmo, the leading French smart home company for a safer and more comfortable home, announced today the launch of the Shelter accessory for the Smart Home Weather Station. As long as you have an internet connection, you can use the web or mobile app to monitor all of your weather station's readings anytime, anywhere. Overall, we found it to be well-presented and easy to navigate.

The Netatmo Weather Station may not satisfy the most serious weather enthusiasts, and it will likely be a step too far for others. However, its key strength is its ability to collate all your current and historical data into one intuitive app that you can access anytime and anywhere. There's lots of weather stations on the market, if you know where to look, but Netatmo's Smart Weather Station does it differently. It takes out the complications, makes everything really simple and easy to understand, and it's just so elegant and robust. With regards to the additional sensors, the rain gauge should sit just above ground level, away from the shelter of trees or buildings. The wind sensor, however, is the most difficult sensor for which to find a suitable mounting location. Unless you live in open countryside, it's likely that your wind sensor will experience significant obstruction from surrounding trees or buildings, meaning the readings will not reflect reality.

What happens to the weather station data?

Similarly, you'll want to place the indoor unit somewhere well-ventilated, but away from open windows, radiators or direct sunlight. It's an expensive gadget by anyone's standards, but if you're looking for a simple solution to log and monitor your local environment - both inside and outside - it could be the ideal addition to your home.