What is the source of the Timber Lakes weather data?
The weather data on this website is generated by a personal weather station located near the top of Timber Lakes on the east side overlooking Lake Creek. Since there is an approximate elevation change of 3,000 feet from the gate to the top, the weather at this station differs from the weather at other locations in Timber Lakes.
How accurate is the weather data?
For a “backyard” weather station, the data is quite accurate.
- Barometric Pressure is accurate within .03″ Hg
- Outside Humidity within 3% RH
- Precipitation within 4%
- Snowfall within .5″
- Solar Radiation within 5% of full scale
- Outside Temperature within 1°F
- UV Index within 5% of full scale
- Wind Direction within 3°
- Wind Speed within 2 mph
- Wind Chill within 2°F
What hardware and software is used to collect and display the data?
The weather data for this site is collected by a Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus™ personal weather station, located high on the east side in Timber Lakes, Utah. The data is collected every 2.5 seconds and uploaded to this site at various intervals ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, depending on the type of data. Additional statistical data is updated daily, or once in a while, whichever is more convenient at the time. The software used to collect, store, organize, calculate and upload the data is WeatherCat by Trixology, a comprehensive macOS solution for personal weather stations.
This site is powered by a Mac®, a lot of hot air, and WeatherCat: .
Is there more information about the data displayed on the weather gauges?
For more information about the gauges and what they display ==> Click Here.
How were the weather gauges made?
The weather gauges were painstakingly assembled using organically-sourced, tariff-free, non-meddled-with-by-Russians-when-they-were-influencing-elections electronic components, encased in superior-quality porcelain templates approved by both the American Dental Association and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, as well as one CPA, a school teacher, and two lawyers (lawyers always come in twos – you can’t get just one), and overlaid with genuine 22-karat gold leaf applied by hand and carefully mounted on a heavy duty stainless steel plate recycled from the bed of a Ford F-150 truck. If you need to clean the gauges, use a clean, dry, lint-free soft cloth, preferably micro-fiber. Do not attempt to remove the gauges as this will void your warranty and likely ruin your smartphone or monitor. Also, do not tap on a gauge to adjust its display; that is only a gimmick used in movies to warn you that something is about to explode or in real life on your propane tank in the winter when the gauge is stuck. Tapping on one of these weather gauges will only preserve your fingerprints on your screen. However, if you are a movie star, tapping may result in an explosion; therefore, as a precaution, you should always wear safety goggles whilst viewing this page (or peeling vegetables or taking out a loan). Any exception(s) must be approved in advance by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing, Pipefitting and Sprinkler Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada.
The preceding paragraph was neither approved nor sanctioned by any group or individual, is not insured by the FDIC, may not represent the opinions or views of anyone, including the person who wrote it, cannot be used to pay your taxes in lieu of cash, may not be returned for a 15¢ rebate, and is not a substitute for a valid form of identity.
What is the history of this website?
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| May 2000 | Plugged in Oregon Scientific digital display clock with wireless external temperature sensor, launching my career as a weather hobbyist |
| May 2007 | Installed Davis Vantage Pro2 personal weather station |
| August 2013 | Installed WeatherCat software version 1.0 |
| September 2013 | Added simple weather page to TimberLakesUtah.com, including current conditions and SteelSeries Gauges |
| October 2013 | Began reporting data to Weather Underground and CWOP |
| November 2013 | Began reporting data to Met Office |
| February 2014 | Began reporting data to PWS |
| April 2014 | Changed the battery in the weather station for the first time in 7 years |
| June 2014 | Replaced old weather station with Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus, which added sensors for solar radiation and ultraviolet light |
| July 2014 | Relocated anemometer to record more accurate wind speed and direction, installed heater in snow collector to melt snow, allowing same-day recording of the precipitation associated with snowfall |
| August 2014 | Redesigned the weather page on TimberLakesUtah.com, adding statistics and links to historical data |
| September 2014 | Upgraded software to WeatherCat version 2.0, began reporting data to CoCoRaHS, replaced the battery in the weather station again, after only five months – discovered that the solar panel was not reconnected after moving the anemometer in July |
| October 2014 | Added a weather webcam, began reporting data to Weathercloud |
| February 2015 | Upgraded SteelSeries Gauges, added lunar information and NOAA-style reports to TimberLakesUtah.com |
| March 2015 | Began reporting data to AWEKAS |
| May 2015 | Began tweeting data on Twitter |
| September 2015 | Refurbished weather data console after static electricity shorted out the LCD display (indicating a poorly designed device – some engineer assumed that an electronic device located at high altitude in an arid climate would never be exposed to a static charge – must have obtained his/her degree online from the University of $75 Master’s Degrees and Hot Dog Emporium – can you tell this incident ticked me off? It did, but it also modified my behavior; I no longer touch the weather data console whilst wearing wool socks unless I am also wearing my anti-space-alien tinfoil hat) |
| October 2015 | Replaced wireless transmitting board in the weather station |
| January 2016 | Relocated weather data console to eliminate RFI interference |
| April 2016 | Replaced wireless transmitting board, again – they don’t make ’em like they used to |
| August 2016 | Rebuilt TimberLakesUtah.com after being hacked (hackers should definitely be placed on the top of the list to emigrate to another planet) – subsequently upgraded the software with tighter security enhancements and hacking deterrents – recoded the weather page to make it more smartphone friendly in landscape mode – added a direct link for Timber Lakes-based forecasts and radar – also added a graphical plot to represent the sun’s current position |
| November 2016 | Added a daily time-lapse movie to the website for those who want to see today’s weather changes in approximatley 60 seconds (or less) |
| February 2017 | Performed maintenance on the ISS (integrated sensor suite) without the necessity of a ladder due to a 15-foot pile of snow and ice that is pushed up at the end of driveway – I climbed the mound and was able to easily reach across and complete minor maintenance on the ISS |
| March 2017 | Added a table to the website to display the current winter season’s daily snowfall accumulation |
| August 2017 | Relocated the ISS 15 feet north to a more accurate location for measuring solar radiation and UV light – the new location will also allow the solar panel on the ISS to be in direct sunlight for a longer period of time during the day – replaced the power cable to the Snow Collector Heater – checked the voltage on the transmitter battery: 3.2 volts under load which means that battery stays in action for a while longer to prolong spending $10 – beefed up the website security and malware scans so that owners and guests can use our website without worrying about malware, viruses, or the Bears Ears National Monument |
| September 2017 | Removed links to AWEKAS from TimberLakesUtah.com – too many problems on their end and I don’t speak enough German to resolve them |
| October 2017 | Removed a dead leaf that was stuck in the rain collector cup and messing up precipitation data – While I was up there, I replaced the transmitter battery because I don’t want to have to do it during a blizzard this winter | March 2018 | Upgraded software to WeatherCat version 3.0, with a 64-bit engine and support for rich client protocol (RCP) – this may not be impressive to you, but it very meaningful to me as it makes collecting and sharing weather data much more fun | April 2018 | Removed the snow tires from my Subaru on April 27, thereby guaranteeing we would have at least one more snowstorm before the end of the month – 3 days later it snowed 4 inches | July 2018 | Upgraded the SteelSeries Gauges to version 2.7.1 and then went outside to look at Mars, which appeared brighter this week in the southern sky (because it was closer to earth) than has been the case for the past 15 years | August 2018 | After an absence of one year, I reinstalled the links to AWEKAS from TimberLakesUtah.com – We’ll see if they have resolved their problems during the past year | November 2018 | Installed a new Ambient Weather clock that projects the time and outside temperature on the ceiling so when I wake up I can look up and decide whether or not to get out of bed | December 2018 | Upgraded the SteelSeries Gauges to version 2.7.2 and then went outside to look at the spectacular Geminid Meteor Shower, which which was displaying an estimated 100 to 150 “shooting stars” per hour | February 2019 | Upgraded the SteelSeries Gauges to version 2.7.3 and then went outside to look at the Super Snow Moon, 2019’s biggest and brightest super moon, as it is the closest the Moon’s orbit will bring it to Earth this year | April 2019 | Added the following forecasts to the website: flood, wildfire, three-month precipitation, drought, a link to the Utah Water Supply Briefing, and a partridge in a pear tree | November 2019 | Configured new graphics displays for weather radar and forecasts, added additional links for wildfire forecasts and drought information – sold a giant snowblower and purchased a sized-for-humans snowblower – not anticipating less snowfall, just saving my sanity | December 2019 | Added rolling 3-day NWS forecast maps | January 2020 | Added alternate Timber Lakes WU forecast option and replaced some-time functioning NWS radar with usually-functioning WU radar map | April 2020 | Added seasonal weather charts depicting Utah Snotel Snow Water Equivalency and US Spring Flooding Potential | June 2020 | Added seasonal weather chart depicting Utah Snotel Water Year compared to normal – changed the battery in the weather station after it ran flawlessly for more than 4 years – it would have run longer but I was up on the ladder re-leveling the rain collector cup and decided to change it whilst there to avoid having to potentially change it later during a blizzard | July 2020 | Added link to the NWS Forecast Office in Salt lake City because they do an excellent job of displaying weather watches and warnings for the entire state and they post an interesting daily visual graph of Utah’s weather conditions | September 2020 | Added link to the WAQI website, which displays realtime air quality data from sensors located in the counties surrounding Timber Lakes | December 2020 | Removed WeatherUnderground forecast option as it has turned into an obnoxious advertising page instead of a weather forecast | January 2021 | Upgraded the SteelSeries Gauges to version 2.7.5 | February 2021 | Added a graphical display of sunrise and sunset times | May 2021 | Revised html code for the weather page to conform to changes made in WordPress 5.7 | September 2021 | Separated and moved the weather data from TimberLakesUtah.com (the official Timber Lakes Property Owners Association public website) to TimberLakesWeather.com (the official weather site of my neighborhood) to accommodate continuing automatic updates, which were no longer possible after Timber Lakes moved its website to a new, dedicated host – I know this is too much information in the “who cares?” category, but I care, which is why I did it 😃 | December 2021 | Updated “Normal Precipitation” (which is calculated over a 30-year period) to drop the 1990s and add the 2010s – this resulted in the average annual precipitation for the Timber Lakes area falling to 28.98 inches from 32.8 inches – this changes reflects the impact of the ongoing drought on our mountain | April 2022 | Stopped using Google Analytics to track website visitors because, well, it’s Google, and I don’t trust them – I have been re-watching The X-Files and I don’t trust anyone, except maybe The Lone Gunmen, Richard “Ringo” Langly, Melvin Frohike, and John Fitzgerald Byers (if you know, you know) – “The Truth is Out There” | April 2023 | After 8 years of tweeting, Twitter eliminated my ability to automatically tweet daily weather data – So I stopped – Thanks Elon – I guess I won’t buy a Tesla now | June 2023 | Upgraded the SteelSeries Gauges to version 2.7.6 – Spruced up the site and replaced the old logo with a better one, created by my son | October 2023 | Thanks to some wonderful help from another owner, revised code for the weather site to conform to changes made in WordPress 6.3 | November 2023 | Streamlined sun and moon data by replacing the graphic sun and lunar calendars with simple sunrise, sunset, and moon phase | January 2024 | Added three weather radar loops: one specifically for Timber lakes and surrounding locations, a second loop for most of northern and eastern Utah, and a third loop for northern Utah and southeastern Idaho | March 2024 | Tidied up the site and added a FAQ |
