Welcome to the North Park University Physics Department

Physics Department: Helwig Center Weather

Every few days, web display (graphics and text) of most current weather station data, except for barometric pressure and rainfall, appears to be incorrect for part of the day. If the historic "Over the Past Day" plots show current values, however, the current values for those variables are correct. Unfortunately, we are unable to address this problem in the near future. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Snapshot of Current Conditions

Location: The rooftop of the Helwig Recreation Center.

Weather Observations As Of: 02/13/12, 16:01:10.

Sunrise: 06:49. Sunset: 17:22. Moon: Waning 62% Full.


NPU Forecast

 
 

Parameter Current Value
Rain Rate: 0.00 in/hr
Barometer: 29.946 in
Dewpoint: 21.9 F
UV Index: 0.0
ET: 0.029 in
Solar Radiation: 102 W/m2
Air Density: 1.277 kg/m3
Est. Cumulus
Base:
3545 ft


NPU Forecast Text: Increasing clouds and cooler. Precipitation possible and windy within 6 hours.

Detailed Conditions

Wind Statistics

Parameter Current Value
Recent Avg. Wind: 5 mph
Recent Beaufort
Scale
:
Light Breeze
Today's High
Wind:
16 mph at 14:18


Rainfall Statistics

Parameter Current Value
Storm Total: 0.00 in since -------- -----
High Rain Rate: 0.00 in/hr at -----
Today's Cumul. Rain: 0.00 in
Monthly Cumul. Rain: 0.04 in
Yearly Cumul. Rain
(since MAR):
46.39 in


Over the Past Day

Parameter Current Value
High Temp.: 37.4 F at 15:47
Low Temp.: 21.1 F at 06:57
High Heat Index: 37.4 F at 15:47
Low Wind Chill: 14.6 F at 06:30
High Humidity: 63 % at 07:15
Low Humidity: 43 % at 13:24
High Dewpoint: 22.5 F at 14:41
Low Dewpoint: 8.8 F at 05:26
High Barometer: 30.203 in at 01:01
Low Barometer: 29.945 in at 15:59
High UV Index: 1.2 at 10:55
High Solar Rad.: 218 W/m2 at 15:07


Month to Date

Parameter Current Value
High Temp.: 47.7 F on 02/02/12
Low Temp.: 10.1 F on 02/11/12
High Rain Rate: 0.00 in/hr on 02/01/12

Over the Past Day













Archive Records

Data at Sub-Hour Intervals: 
Climatological Summaries: 

See the past week/month/year page for graphs of this archival data.

Note: The above buttons for accessing the archives will not work unless you are accessing this page in its original form (i.e., at www.npuphysics.org).

Sub-hour archive records prior to 21 August 2009 are provided in 5-minute intervals. Beginning with 21 August 2009, sub-hour archive records are provided at 30-minute intervals. The yearly report for 2009 does not contain data prior to August, due to problems with the data processing server.

Bad data: While the list below is not exhaustive, data during the following periods, and all statistics calculating using that data, are known to be incorrect (local time in yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm format):

  • All data prior to 2007-08-02 13:00: Station testing.
  • 2009-05-27 00:10 to 2009-05-27 08:50: Bad archive files.
  • 2009-06-16 21:25 to 2009-06-17 08:20: Bad archive files.
  • 2009-06-21 04:00 to 2009-06-21 16:50: Bad archive files.
  • 2009-06-21 16:00 to 2009-06-21 16:55: Bad archive files.
  • 2009-07-20 01:50 to 2009-07-20 02:40: Bad archive files.
  • 2009-08-19 19:00 to 2009-08-27 18:36: Problems with the data processing server.
  • 2010-10-27 to 2010-12-06: During this period, the main unit battery was dying, and so there are large periods spread throughout which are filled with bad data.
  • 2011-05: During this month, the repeater transmitter battery was dying, and so there are large periods spread throughout which are filled with bad data.

About the Graphics and Values on This Page

Temperature dial: The blue needle and number shows the current temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit). The grey needle and number shows the current heat index/wind chill (in degrees Fahrenheit), as applicable. The red and blue ticks show the day's high and low temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit), respectively.

Humidity dial: The blue needle and number shows the current relative humidity, in percentage points. The red and blue ticks show the day's high and low relative humidity (in percentage points), respectively.

Wind dial: The blue needle and number shows the last observed wind direction and speed (in mph), respectively. The red tick and number shows the direction and speed (in mph), respectively, of the daily high wind. (Wind direction is the direction from which the wind is blowing from.)

Precipitation dial: The blue needle and number shows rainfall over the last day. The grey tick and number shows the net precipitation, i.e. rainfall minus evapotranspiration, over the last day (a positive number means a net gain of precipitation and a negative number means a net loss). Snowfall is not measured, and melting snow that has collected on the rain gauge may skew measurements.

Storm definition: A storm is defined as starting when the rain rate is greater than 0.05 in/hr. A storm is assumed to be finished when 12 hours have elapsed without any rainfall.

About the Station

Our station is a Davis Instruments Wireless Vantage Pro2 Plus™ with 24-Hr Fan Aspirated Radiation Shield. The approximate coordinates for the station are 41.97 deg N, 87.71 deg W, and 617 ft above sea level.

For photos and more information related to this and other weather stations at North Park, please see the department's weather index page and this more detailed description of the Helwig station.

A GNU/Linux server in the Physics Department retrieves the data using wview 5.5.3, a collection of open-source (GPL) programs that interface with the data logger and generate the HTML pages. New data is uploaded to this page, and the web page is automatically refreshed, every 5 minutes.

Updated: Monday, 13-Feb-2012 14:01:10 PST. Disclaimer. Valid CSS, HTML. Author: Johnny Lin, with portions generated by the program wview 3.3.0 (written by Mark Teel and co-authors). The weather graphics on this page are licensed under the GNU General Public License.