A weather station is a facility with instruments and equipment to make weather observations by monitoring atmospheric conditions to study the weather.

Typical weather stations have the following instruments:

• thermometer for measuring temperature
• barometer for measuring barometric pressure
• hygrometer for measuring humidity
• anemometer for measuring wind speed
• wind vane for measuring wind direction
• rain gauge for measuring precipitation

Except for those instruments requiring direct exposure to the elements (anemometer, rain gauge), the instruments should be sheltered in a vented box (usually a Stevenson screen) to keep direct sunlight off the thermometer and wind off the hygrometer. The instrumentation may be specialized to allow for periodic recording otherwise significant manual labour is required for record keeping. Automatic transmission of data, in a format such as METAR, is also desirable as many weather station's data is required for weather forecasting.

External links

• International Weather Watchers Observer Handbook (PDF 768KB 45 pages)
• Association of American Weather Observers
• Citizen Weather Observer Program
• CWOP Weather Station Siting, Performance, and Data Quality Guide (PDF 800KB 88 pages)
• Observing Urban Weather and Climate Data Using Standard Stations
• NWS Cooperative Observer Program
• NWS Observing Handbook No. 2: Cooperative Station Observations (PDF 1.4MB 94 pages)

Meteorological institutions and stations

Estació meteorològica | Wetterstation | Estación meteorológica | Stazione meteorologica | 気象台