Tempest Weather 4+

Lacks Map, Cannot display more than one station

I changed from a Davis station to a Tempest. Overall I think the station is very good, but it has a couple of annoying nits. First, when mounting, it can only accommodate a 1” diameter pole. Needs to have a wider adapter. Also, the solid state rain sensor is so-so. In the Northwest, we have lighter rain. It’s not so great with lighter rain. The company can disable the software filter for you, which can improve accuracy.

WRT the software, it’s a comprehensive piece of software that also shows the local forecast. I knocked one star because of two significant deficiencies: (1) there is no map that shows you the location of your station compared to other stations and that would show conditions at surrounding stations (note that their website has such a map, so integrating it into the software should be easy) and (2) if you don’t own a station, you can’t use the software. One should be able to have the software pull information from any station, even if you don’t own that station. I suspect they think this arrangement will sell more stations, but I think the opposite would help sell stations. If they allowed anyone to install the software and link to any station, they would encourage more people to buy the stations after they realize how cool the software is.

A good piece of software with accompanying good hardware. Just a couple of minor issues.

Developer Response ,

Hi Cyclist Edge, great feedback!
1. The pole mount does accommodate a standard 1.25 inch antenna mount or any one-inch nominal pole or pipe (1.315 inch outer diameter) and anything in between.
2. We hear you loud and clear on the tempest map (https://tempestwx.com/map) suggestions.
3. Also great feedback on the app being for hardware owner's only. WeatherFlow has other weather apps that might be better suited for this kind of user - and those apps have public Tempest station data available too!

Thanks!

Great hardware, some poor forecasts

The hardware is amazing, and in most respects the app is too. But there is a very consistent hourly temperature forecast glitch on days when the current temperature rises higher than the day’s overall forecast high. It happens with great regularity and is reproducible/predictable. If I had to guess, I’d say the hourly temperature forecast algorithm attempts to plot a smooth curve from the current temp to the forecast high, which the algorithm places an hour or so before sunset. Reasonable, but it breaks down if the current temp exceeds that high, which is happening more and more often these days for obvious reasons. When this condition occurs the app will stubbornly insist on plotting the curve back down from the current moment to that forecast high, pinned at that hour or so before sunset, absurdly suggesting that the temperature will drop from its current high, when common sense suggests that adjusting the forecast high is called for. This doesn’t seem like it would be a very hard problem to fix and other apps, like the Apple weather app, do it just fine. So fix that!

But overall great app and highly recommended weather station.

Developer Response ,

Thanks so much for your valuable feedback! Please contact customer support on this issue if you haven't already. https://help.weatherflow.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Best Comprehensive Weather Station Available

This brilliantly-designed, sturdy, compact, wireless weather station using sonic, haptic, and computer technology provides not only instantaneous but also historical data of all meteorological parameters. Particularly noteworthy is the Tempest’s comparative data access to multiple other local/regional Tempest stations coupled with experiential learning and AI to produce truly local (“micro”) and regional (“macro”) forecasting that always equals or beats the NWS. The personal Tempest webpage that comes with the station is accessible by cell phone or computer anywhere in the world with Internet as well as to multiple family members. Moreover, at an individual owner’s discretion the data can be shared with The Weather Underground’s network!!
I live right on the North Atlantic coastline and have been fascinated by its ever-changing weather conditions, for decades using analog wireless instruments: namely Maximum’s Criterion Maestro Anemometer/Mini-Max Temperature together with a Chelsea Professional Shipstrike aneroid barometer augmented by internet data out of Pease International Airport’s tower. I find my new Tempest unit tracks all this data precisely, but gives far more meteorological information AND historical trending.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the Weatherflow Tempest is just how easy it is to get it set up and running!!