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| Braving The Elements With Your PC |
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Family Computing October 1994 • Vol.5 Issue 10 |
Braving The Elements With Your PC You can monitor storms around the world, keep up on weather bulletins in your neck of the woods, or track the weather in your own back yard. | ||
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Who's the first person you blame when it rains on your parade? Probably your local weather personality, who promised a sunny day. But you can't blame the people who report the weather. They don't command the atmospheric conditions. All you can do is be prepared. But you don't have to rely on what the local weather personality has to say. You can take it upon yourself to make sure lightning doesn't strike you twice. Numerous software products are available to turn your computer into a personal weather station. No, you won't be able to master the elements. But you can become a master meteorologist and amaze—or bore—your friends with your weather know-how. Using special software programs, online services, expansion cards (add-on cards that fit into slots inside your computer and allow you to install new components), and maybe a wind-catching device, you can get your hands on the same information the weather forecasters use. We've assembled a number of products that help you monitor storms around the world, keep up on weather bulletins in your neck of the woods, or track the weather in your own back yard. And you don't have to be a weather wizard to use the programs. Most of the programs allow you to review figures, charts, and pictures that can be understood by just about anyone.  The Weather Analyst Our first product doesn't require a lot of costly hardware or software. It's useful if you simply want to keep track of the weather in your area —maybe your business is influenced by the weather, or you want to learn more about an area's climatology. The Weather Analyst, by Climate Assessment Technology Inc., is a database program for $55 that can store, analyze, and graph weather information. You don't have to own a modem to connect to an online service, and you don't have to attach a weather monitoring device to your house. (A modem is a device that allows your computer to exchange information across phone lines with another computer.) The information in the database is constructed through figures you enter into the program. These figures can be observations from your home, school, business, a nearby airport, or a news report. You type in the maximum and minimum temperature and total precipitation every day. You may also enter in snow amounts, wind, solar radiation, and humidity values, but these figures are optional. Then, as you compile data, you can view tables showing temperature and precipitation rates, as well as any optional figures, such as wind and humidity. You can see high, low, or average temperatures or precipitation for a period of time, or search for which days reached a specific temperature or amount of precipitation. In addition, you can view numerous color graphs illustrating the weather data you placed in the database. And then, if you want to compare that information to normal temperature or precipitation values, or to historical numbers from several years ago, Climate Assessment Technology has provided these numbers for you—taking them from National Weather Service stations in your area. The Weather Analyst is a DOS-based program, so you operate the program from a menu, typing in the item number you want to view or edit. The Weather Analyst is not difficult to use, but there is no installation program. Instead you must create a directory in DOS and transfer the files into it. The manual doesn't exactly speak to the novice computer user. Its weather and computer terminology requires a little background to understand. The Weather Analyst Climate Assessment Technology (713) 528-7707 Accu -Weather Forecaster Maybe you have a computer equipped with a modem. In that case, you can have access to the same weather information used by many television stations, radio forecasters, and newspapers. One such product is the Accu-Weather Forecaster (for $25), which offers you a DOS-based graphical interface to access information from Accu-Weather's online database, Accu-Data. The program is organized so that you can get the weather data you want easily. First, you select menu options and tell the system which Accu-Weather station is closest to you, its phone number (this is in the account information package that comes with your program), and information about your modem. Then you pull down another menu and select the data you want to download (receive a file sent from another computer via a modem) from the system. You can get hourly forecast information. You can get graphics just like the ones you see on television, such as surface graphics, satellite pictures, three-dimensional satellite pictures, and radar intensity graphics for different areas of the United States and the world. You can also get illustrations of the jet stream, the heat index, snow cover, and lightning strikes. Next, you tell the system to "get data," and it dials up the Accu-Weather station and downloads the information for you. This can take from just a few minutes to an hour or so, depending on how much information you want. And it can cost you anywhere from 10 cents to $1.25 a minute (depending on the speed of the modem you have and the time of day you call). When the process is finished, you can pull down other menu options and view text, graphs, and pictures, as well as a special "home view" picture that shows you conditions—such as the temperature, dew point, barometric pressure, and wind direction—just outside your window. The Accu-Weather Forecaster is great for the beginning weather buff who wants to keep in touch with what is going on in the world and wants an easy interface to do it in. The program comes with a Forecasting Guidebook to explain weather trends so you can learn how to forecast the weather from the data you download. The information available for you to download is somewhat limited—you pick from predefined topics. You also can select the Explore Accu-Data option in the menu bar, which connects you directly to Accu-Weather's online service. Here you type in commands at a prompt to get the same kinds of information you can get with Accu-Weather's higher-end program, Accu-Access for Windows (see next section). You do have to know the commands, and this may cost a little bit more as you have to linger online to issue the commands. Accu-Weather Forecaster Accu-Weather Inc. (814) 237-0309 ext. 400 Accu -Access For Windows Accu< -Weather Inc. also is currently working on another product to give you unlimited access to all kinds of weather information all over the world, called Accu-Access for Windows. Not only will you be able get the television graphics and weather reports for anywhere in the world, but you will also be able to get things like emergency bulletins, almanac information, tropical storm reports, sunrise and sunset times, and even buoy and ship reports. This program is scheduled for widespread release early next year. A price has not yet been determined. Until then, you can get a preliminary version of Accu-Access for Windows from Accu-Weather for around $80. (For more information about the product, contact Accu-Weather.) This early version uses typed-in commands and is harder to use than the mass-release product will be. For example, if you wanted a National Weather Service summary of weather around the country, you would type ussum 1 at the prompt and the information would be downloaded into a window on your screen. If you wanted the weather in London and Moscow in the last 24 hours, you would type synd london,moscow 24. One advanced feature in Accu-Access for Windows is the ability to create loops and meta-loops (a collection of one or more loops). Buttons that resemble those you might find on a tape recorder let you "loop" together a series of time-lapse images to make them seem animated. This is what you often see on your television newscast, illustrating cloud or radar intensity movement. Creating a loop and a meta-loop is somewhat complicated, but well worth the bother when you see the animated final product that really illustrates what's happening in the weather. Accu-Access for Windows Accu-Weather Inc. (814) 237-0309 ext. 400 WSI Weather For Windows WSI Corp. has a program for the average home user who wants to keep up on the latest weather and apply it to his or her daily life. For $495, WSI's Weather for Windows allows you to view National Weather Service reports, severe weather alerts, and radar and satellite images, as well as special briefings for pilots and boaters, traveler's forecasts, ski reports, and road conditions. You can log onto WSI's information service (starting for around $1.50 a minute) either through a terminal-like interface in which you type in specific commands, or through a New Weather Data box that lets you select from a list of specific reports and images. When you choose an item from the New Weather Data box, the program will automatically download from the system. And if you want to download more than one image, you can create a Request List macro that will enter the service and request the items you select. (A macro is a set of keystrokes or instructions set up so that when a certain key or key combination is pressed, the program carries out the instructions.) The program has an attractive graphical interface. You use a pull-down menu and button bar to activate commonly used commands. Buttons in the button bar can also bring up reports and items you have downloaded, or they can be configured to run a Request List macro that automatically calls up the service with just a click of the button. (See Figure 1.) These items then stay on-screen in windows for you to view, manipulate, save, and print. The program has a number of interesting features. Like Accu-Access for Windows, the program has a looping function to animate time-lapse images so you can see the direction a storm is taking. The program has a scheduler that lets you tell it when to dial up the service and what information to get—operating in the background so you can work on other things at the same time. An extra for pilots is the ability to file your flight plans online, using the service to connect with the Federal Aviation Administration. Weather for Windows WSI Corp. (508) 670-5000 Weatherlink Perhaps you are a homebody and you aren't interested in what's happening around the world. Maybe you want to know the weather conditions just outside your back door. Davis Instruments Inc. has a software program for DOS called Weatherlink, for $165, to help monitor the weather indoors and outdoors. To use Weatherlink 3.0, first you must have one of Davis' Weather Stations. These stations measure 5 x 6 x 3 inches and come with liquid-crystal display panels that chart weather conditions their own—without any computer. They have a range of prices and features. For example, for $150 you can get a Perception II station that monitors indoor temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity. Or you can get the top of the line, the Weather Monitor II, to monitor indoor and outdoor temperature, barometric pressure, and wind speed and direction for $395. And you can add functions to that lineup. For example, you can purchase a Rain Collector for $75, or an External Temperature/Humidity Sensor to measure humidity and dew point for $125. Most of the Weather Station devices are linked in one direction to ane-mometers with cups to "catch" the wind and other equipment to sense the temperature, pressure, and rainfall. (See Figure 2.) In the other direction, the Weather Station is linked to a serial port on the back of your PC. When you've made all the connections, you operate the software program through on-screen buttons. To see the station at work, you push the Bulletin button. Depending on the features of your Weather Station, you will see a compass rose indicating the wind direction, an odometer measuring the wind speed, bar graphs showing temperature, dew point, humidity, and rainfall, along with a chart illustrating barometric pressure. And all these readings are in real time, so if the wind picks up, you will see it on-screen. Other on-screen buttons let you graph the readings on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, or compare two different days, weeks, months, or years. You can also export the data and graphs to most popular spreadsheet and database software to use in other documents. Weatherlink not only lets you monitor the weather through a station hooked directly to your PC, but you can also monitor weather at a remote station. You hook up the station to a modem, and your Weatherlink software to a modem in your PC. This allows you to use the telephone lines to observe the weather at another location. The downside to the Davis line is that the hardware comes unassembled and there are lots of wires that run back and forth between each of the parts. The device needs a free serial port. Many users already use both of their working serial ports if they have a mouse and a modem. You may need to install a new expansion card in your PC to set up another serial port just for the Weatherlink system. Weatherlink 3.0 Davis Instruments (800) 678-3669 WeatherBrief Looking for a program that can let you monitor the weather outside your door and around the world? WeatherBrief PLUS, by WeatherBank Inc., lets you download weather information from its online database and keep track of the temperature and wind speed at your home. For $395, you get all the hardware and software you need to run the Weather Station and to connect online (except for a modem, that is). The Weather Station comes out of the box assembled. The device is made up of a three-cup anemometer to catch the wind and measure wind speed, a wind vane to sense wind direction, and a white boom to sense the temperature. Minimal assembly is required—you have to place the unit on your own 1-inch-diameter pole, and then attach the pole to your home or plant it in the middle of your lawn, away from any obstructions. A 40-foot cable connects the anemometer to a small white box, which, in turn, plugs into a parallel port on your computer. If you don't have an empty parallel port (maybe your printer is hooked up to your only port), the program includes another parallel port card that you can install in your PC. WeatherBrief is a DOS-based program, so it operates from a menu bar. To view what's happening outside, you choose a special item (entitled Display Weather Station) from the program's menu bar, and a new screen pops up. On the screen, you can see a compass rose that points the direction from which the wind is blowing, and boxes containing the wind speed and the maximum wind gust. (See Figure 3.) Another box displays maximum, minimum, and current wind chill and temperature readings. A chart at the bottom shows hourly wind speed averages over the past 24 hours and minute-by-minute wind averages over the past 10 minutes. Yet another chart shows hourly temperature averages over the past 24 hours and minute-by-minute averages over the past 10 minutes. Just so you don't miss out on wind and temperature patterns during the day, a terminate-and-stay-resident program makes sure that the computer continues to col- lect Weather Station data, even when you aren't operating the WeatherBrief program. The other items in the WeatherBrief menu bar operate the modeming part of the program (which can be purchased separately for about $50). From the menu you determine Selection Groups. Because it would take a lot of time to download all the information available on the WeatherBank database, you select the information and graphs you want from other menus and place that data in individual Selection Groups. That means each Selection Group can contain a different list of weather items, making it easy for you to obtain different weather information at different times, for different purposes, or for different users. The kind of information you can choose to download varies from very technical information, such as IsoGraphics that chart upper air conditions, to information the novice weather enthusiast could understand, such as hourly temperatures, dew points, and humidity. The program also includes colorful graphics, such as color weather maps, satellite pictures, and low-resolution and high-resolution radar maps. When you've entered what types of information you want to view, and all your account information, you instruct the program to dial for the information. When it finishes downloading, all the maps and figures will be itemized in another menu. You just press the number on your keyboard to view the item. Overall, the program is easy to use. It gives you access to all kinds of weather information from basic to technical, and it comes with a rela- tively low price, compared with other similar programs. You can even purchase the online service software separately for about $50, if you aren't interested in the weather station device. However, either way you go, you do have to pay an online fee for use of the database, which can cost anywhere from 33 to 45 cents a minute, depending on the day and time. WeatherBrief PLUS Weather Station WeatherBank Inc. (800) 201-4585 Wefax Explorer Finally, if you consider yourself a budding meteorologist, consider the Quorum Wefax Explorer. The Explorer is a little bit more expensive than the other products—it starts at $825, and with all the extras can run all the way up to $5,000. But it is different from the other programs. With Quorum's setup, you can pull satellite pictures directly from polar-orbiting and geosynchronous satellites and place them on your PC. In the package, you get the Quorum TS-137 antenna, which looks a lot like a television antenna. It connects, through a long cable, to a Wefax Explorer expansion card you install inside your PC. The Qfax software, included with the package, lets you view, rotate, zoom, and manipulate the images with image-editing tools. It also displays the satellite position alongside the satellite picture on your screen. The images you see are pretty high-end. There are no tools to explain what you are seeing—you will need the meteorological know-how to figure it out. But if you would like to see what the program has to offer, you can dial in with your modem to Quorum's bulletin board system at (214) 915-0346. Wefax Explorer Quorum Communications Inc. (214) 915-0256 Don't Be Blown Over There you have it: programs that will let you track the weather indoors and outdoors, in your own back yard, or across the world. With equipment like this, planning your next parade should be a lot easier.  by Cindy Krushenisky |
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