Weatherflow Tempest Station Review

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

Some helpful time stamps: Intro: 0:00 Setup: 3:14 What's in the box: 6:43 Build quality: 7:47 How it works: 9:28 App: 10:24 Voice assistant demo: 19:39 Wrap up: 20:41

[@lifeintornadoalley]

As a chaser myself, a sub gifted me their older tempest station. Let me tell you, tempest I've never heard of. But they made a name for themselves It being an older station, it still kicks butt! With that being said: I've had several false positive lightning readings. It was 2am, me doing research on the issue and nothing. I ended up emailing support asking about it. If it was an acoustic sensor or light? By 3am I had an email back. Explaining the sensors, the data sets of the sensors, offered a recalibration, and gave me thanks for being interested. To top that off, they explained that their AI is self aware. Their AI is said to be constantly learning about how to improve the data from the stations. They're really great people. Even at 3am! Extremely professional and knowledgeable about the weather and their products

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

Good to hear from others that have this weather station. I was not 100% sure about it when I first got it. Thought I might have bought into the hype. However, I have been very happy with it. I can also speak to the build quality of it as when I was putting in a new deck last year I did not lock this down and only placed put it on a deck rail to have it fall down a few times. But with no moving parts it handled it like a champ.

[@lifeintornadoalley]

@@Wanderer001_Reviews have you had issues with your box? It seems once a week my box goes offline and has to be reprogrammed. I understand weekly maintenance, but that shouldn't cause it to reset

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

@@lifeintornadoalley I have not.

[@jimmartin4488]

This all began in 1994, which at that time was called "Call of the Wind" used to alert windsurfers of current wind conditons.

[@Duffy1358]

Absolutely loved this and excited to have mine here tomorrow. It will also link to my smart Sprinkler system the Raicho3. It works as a sensor for it and helps designate days and so on for watering.

[@AndrewJMilan]

Thanks for providing a more expanded review of the app than other others provided.

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

Happy to have helped.

[@shoutouttoicet]

Watched your video specifically because of the picture of the station with snow. I live on the coast of Maine and our snow is often times very wet and sticky, and we get a lot of wind so it's often "snowing sideways". Does this station have any form of heating to clear snow and ice? I'm worried about snow filling up the anemometer and becoming useless unless I go clean it off (it would be mounted on my roof).

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

It does not have any type of heating. I wanted to make sure I had tested it in all types of weather before actually doing a review. What I can say for the snow my biggest issue was it collecting snow on the top. I did not have any issues during my testing of snow collecting in the anemometer. However if you have it on a fence I like did snow could cover it up. If you have it on a pole on your roof you might be ok.

[@legoguy500]

While reviewing the app, you noted that the rainfall display was augmented by other stations in your area, and you mentioned there was a way to turn that off, but never included that information in the video. Would you mind explaining this? I'm looking at buying one of these and I'd like to know. Early in the history of this weather station's release, there were problems with heavy rainfall not being recorded correctly, according to other reviews.

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

Some times when you cover so much info you forget that you missed something. Go to settings > stations > choose your station > manage devices > choose a device > Advanced > toggle NC Rain on or off for that device. I have noticed there is a delay sometimes with heavy rain when it hits quickly but it seems to have been reporting correctly for me.

[@stevengarman9112]

Such a thorough video! Is there a way to setup alerts if the temp drops below a certain threshold?

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

Not through the Weatherflow app. I have heard about using things like IFTTT to do something like that or alternative weather apps which can pull the data for the tempest station but I have not tried that myself.

[@marclevine3139]

Two questions 1: Assume Bluetooth is just for initial setup. 2: Is there a Windows app available so your PC could also connect and use it or just your Android or apple phone?

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

Correct and if you wanted to view your weather data on a computer you would have to use a web browser.

[@windsphere1691]

Excellent review! However, what I hear: "The raw data output is inaccurate and inconsistent, so all area stations are aggregated to provide output that 'looks' accurate, but as a consequence has minimal representation to real conditions at the weather station of interest." Can anyone else confim this?

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

I have heard mix reviews as well. I can confirm that there are two places to see weather data in your app. The first is going to show you that aggrigated localized data. Then if you click the icon that looks like the weather station that is going to be the raw readings from your station. I have been looking into picking up another type of station to see if I can compare the data from the two to see how accurate things are.

[@windsphere1691]

Thanks for the info! I also found a subreddit that seems to indicate a lot of algorithmic fiddling is done behind the scenes to make the numbers come out right, but considering the overall features it's still probably a decent unit for its price point. Thanks again for the detailed review!

[@windsphere1691]

I ended up getting one and I am Super Impressed! The rain start notification is really helpful. I mounted mine at 30+ ft to favor accurate wind measurement. ( Lots of short evergreens nearby). Comparing to NWS data I have zero complaints on accuracy. The company support has been amazing as well. It's apparent to me true weather geeks are employed at WeatherFlow!

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

@@windsphere1691 Happy to hear that. I have been looking at moving mine. Rebuilt the deck I had it on originally and wanted to put it back. The wife was not happy with the idea of drilling something into her new deck. Where I put it now is not great as it is lower to the grown and somewhat in a shrub line. So my wind data has been off. It is killing me.

[@windsphere1691]

I feel your pain as my wife is both antenna and weather station averse. I can only hope its present location is not discovered ha! (Hidden by a willow-type tree) Best of success to you in finding a good spot!

[@Lorec1855]

Is there a monthly fee for the app??

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

There is not.

[@user-wh1nr9rr1h]

Except your out of luck when the power goes out.

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

That is true, but the data is stored for a few days on the outdoor portion to send to the base station when power is resorted. Then again you could always have a battery backup for the base station if you really wanted that live data.

[@user-wh1nr9rr1h]

@@Wanderer001_Reviews I live on the Florida coast and have been involved in several Hurricanes over the years. It's not unusual to lose WIFI and internet along with the power for several days. I have a Davis unit only because they have a battery backup for both the transmitter and receiver and it's critical for me to have real time data during the storm.

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

@@user-wh1nr9rr1h That is understandable. I don't live in hurricane prone area. So for me I have some solar generators to take care of any electronics that need to run when I don't have power for a few hrs to a day at max.

[@RadioNest]

@@user-wh1nr9rr1h I would suggest that anything you are using to charge your cellphone, laptop, etc. will run the hub easily. Weatherflow has a powerbank, its specs are ... Capacity: 20000mAh 74 WH · Input: 5V-2.0A, (Micro USB/Type-C) · Output 5V-1.0A . They suggest that 10 hours of operation is available in that powerbank. Bringing up the hub only when you want to see the readings should be good for several days.

[@waynespringer501]

The "no batteries to replace" is why this weather station is absolute junk. After only 3 years I'm throwing mine in the garbage as the solar panel ONLY charging doesn't any longer produced enough charge to power the device when the sun isn't shining.

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

I will have to wait and see I guess. I do see that they sell a power bosster accessory which plugs into power. Said to be used in areas that do not get a lot of sun. Wonder if it could be used to help top off that battery as well.

[@waynespringer501]

@@Wanderer001_Reviews Think about what you are saying. "We have a product that you can purchase EXTRA to help our product function like all other products function normally" It boils down to the major flaw in being "solar only" powered. No amount of extra gimmicks can solve that problem.

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

@@waynespringer501 Yes, I do understand what I was saying. My thought was if that was the only thing about it you did not like this would be a way that you could keep using it.

[@harryparsons2750]

These are overrated. The wind is WAY underdone and now the barometer and advanced stats don’t work

[@Wanderer001_Reviews]

Wind data can vary depending on placment. I had to move mine to a differnt location after testing and I saw a drop in wind speed as well.