Support / Staying informed / Weather Search help
Live weather, and what rain can do
Yardstick can show the current conditions right on your wall display, and the same rainfall can close a no-go zone after rain, hold your scheduled programs until the grass has dried, and send the leaf blower home when rain starts. Pick where the weather comes from: your own station (a Tempest, or any station that reports to Weather Underground), the National Weather Service, or MET Norway. The two public services need no account and nothing to sign up for.
Which source to choose
What it shows
Once it is set up, the wall display shows the live conditions and keeps them fresh. The values you see:
What rain can do
The rainfall from your source can drive three things. Each one is off until you set it up.
Send the leaf blower home when rain starts
The leaf blower has no rain sensor of its own, so once it is out, nothing else tells it to come in. Turn on Send the leaf blower home when rain starts in Settings → Weather, and when your own station reports rain, a robot out with the leaf blower is sent back to its dock and the job is ended.
It waits for a second reading
One wet reading is not enough. It waits for a second, newer reading that also shows rain, so a stray drop or a sprinkler catching the station once does not set it off.
The robot is sent home
A Tempest reports every minute, so the robot is on its way home a minute or two after the rain starts. Weather Underground is a few minutes behind, roughly 2 to 10, depending on how often your station uploads.
The rest of the program is canceled
If the robot was running one of your programs, the rest of that program is canceled and it runs again at its next scheduled time. A job you started yourself is simply ended.
You are told
You get an alert when it happens, and another if your station stops reporting while the blower is out, so a quiet station is never taken to mean dry weather.
Setting it up
Open Settings → Weather and pick a Source. The two public services need nothing more. A Tempest needs its Station ID and a personal Access token from your account at tempestwx.com. Weather Underground needs your station's Station ID and an API key from wunderground.com. Those fields only appear when their source is picked.
Pick a Source
Choose Tempest, Weather Underground, National Weather Service or MET Norway. Using a public source? Skip to choosing your units.
Tempest only: find your Station ID
Sign in at tempestwx.com and open your station. The Station ID is in its settings, and in the web address as the number right after
/station/. It is digits only.Tempest only: create an Access token
Use Get a token in Settings, or go to tempestwx.com/settings/tokens, and sign in with the same account as your Tempest. Under Personal Use Tokens click Create Token, give it any name, and paste the string it shows into Access token.
Weather Underground only: find your Station ID
Sign in at wunderground.com and open My Devices. The Station ID is letters and numbers, such as KWIPLOVE12.
Weather Underground only: get an API key
Use Get a key in Settings, or go to wunderground.com/member/api-keys, and sign in with the same account as your station. If no key is listed, click Generate New Key. Copy it into API key. Weather Underground only gives keys to accounts with a station that is uploading.
Choose your units
Pick Fahrenheit (°F, mph, in) or Celsius (°C, km/h, mm). This only changes how the numbers are displayed.
Leaf blower in the rain (optional)
With your own station picked, turn on Send the leaf blower home when rain starts if you want it. With a public source the switch is grayed out.
Test, then Save
Press Test source to pull a reading and see it on the spot. When it looks right, press Save. It appears on the wall within a minute.
Good to know
Which weather sources work?
A WeatherFlow Tempest station of your own, any station of your own that reports to Weather Underground (Ambient, Ecowitt, Davis and most others), the National Weather Service (United States only), or MET Norway (anywhere in the world). No other services are supported.
Why can't the leaf blower use the National Weather Service?
Sending a robot home is acting on its own, so it only does it on a measurement of rain on your lawn. The National Weather Service gives a radar estimate for an area around you, and MET Norway a forecast; either can say rain when your grass is dry, or miss a shower that is soaking it. Weather rules can still use them, because those only decide whether to start.
How do I turn weather off?
Set Source to Off and press Save. Nothing shows on the wall display, and nothing is fetched.
Test source says "No reading". What now?
With Tempest, check the Station ID and token, and that the station is online. With Weather Underground, check the Station ID and API key, and that the station is uploading. With a public source, the service did not answer; try again in a minute. If the National Weather Service never answers, your yard may be outside the United States; use MET Norway instead.
The conditions say "stale". What does that mean?
The newest reading is older than it should be: more than 5 minutes for a Tempest, 20 minutes for Weather Underground, or an hour and a half for a public service. For your own station, check that it has power and is connected. Once a fresh reading arrives, the stale flag clears by itself.
Does this send my data anywhere?
Not to Yardstick. A Tempest is read with your own read-only token, which cannot change anything on your station, and Weather Underground with your own API key. The public services are asked for the weather at your yard's location, and that is all they are sent.
Set it up and still not seeing conditions? Open a support ticket and tell us which source you picked and what Test source said.