The Best Weather Stations for Gardeners

When I was 10 years old my parents gave me my first weather station for Christmas. Fifty years later, I got another one.

Today, there are five light industrial/residential weather stations in my trial garden, and one of them has been collecting weather data for over a dozen years. A hobby? A necessity? An obsession? Necessary for a gardener? Do you need one? Are they great holiday gifts? Most important, are these weather tools accurate and dependable?

Yes, to all of the above and especially yes if you are a serious gardener. But why your own station when you can look out the window to see the weather or listen to, watch, or read a forecast for days and weeks into the future? Simple. Weather is local, and the more local your information the better you can apply this information to your gardening.

A weather station also allows you to archive information about rain and temperature, allowing you to know for sure that last summer was the wettest one you’ve had in years, or was it the hottest? The information is always there, and it’s as local as you can get.

The weather stations in this review are not toys like the Lionel station I had when I was 10. The stations I’ve reviewed here can provide high-quality weather data, and the prices range from just over $300 to $1,500 and up, depending on the sensors you add. Interestingly, one of the less-expensive units could be one of if not the best — with one limitation.

Another consideration is that two of the units reviewed are “mechanical” units, meaning they have moving parts, and moving parts can break, wear and get stuck. Mechanical stations also need to be cleaned regularly to ensure that leaves and debris are not clogging the ports that allow the rain to be measured. None of these devices need electricity as they are solar powered with backup batteries. Two of the tested units use ultrasonic or haptic rain sensors. None of these units measure snow or snow depth. That’s still done the old-fashioned way — with a ruler.

All of the stations can transmit their data to several services that will archive the data and allow you to access the data online or on your phone. The service I use is Weather Underground, which is free, and there are others.

To “proof” these stations when it came to rain accuracy, I used a standard plastic rain gauge that can measure up to 8 inches of rain. I found this rain gauge to be the least-accurate measure of rainfall, but adequate for gardeners like us.

Davis Weather Instruments (davisintruments.com) was probably the first company to offer home weather stations that were durable and reliable. The unit I’ve had (actually, two of them in different locations) is the Vantage Pro 2. This is a “research grade” station that has proven itself in all kinds of applications. It’s a large unit, and it does have mechanical parts like a tipping gauge to measure rain and a cup-type anemometer. The rain gauge can freeze in winter and the wind cups can accumulate some ice in winter and thus the issues with this type of mechanical station. There are fixes, but they may require electric power to the unit. I’ve avoided any electrical or wired connection with any of these stations.

This station transmits all its information via radio signal to a console that’s in the house where the information is displayed. It’s also connected to a computer (not required) which uploads the data every 60 seconds to Weather Underground so anyone can see the data. The Davis unit is expensive at about $800 for the starter unit. It will transmit data to the receiver (in your house) for a distance of up to 1,000 feet, but plan on less. One of my units is 150 feet from the house and the other was 500 feet from the office, and the signal traveled well though the woods with a good line of sight.

The VP 2 is reliable and expandable, but it is mechanical and subject to wear and possible breakage. Customer support is good, and you can find these stations discounted from other vendors but you’ll probably get the best support if you buy direct from Davis (davisinstruments.com).

The KestrelMet 6000 or WS 6000 (ambientweather.com) is similar to the VP 2 and like the VP 2 it is a mechanical station. The anemometer is a propeller type, though, and this is the type being used for most professional stations these days. It has a great trick up its sleeve: It transmits its data every 15 minutes via cellular service so it can be set up virtually anywhere that there’s cell service. No wires to connect, no line of site limitations, no console, and several upgrade options. You do pay a price for this though. The starter unit runs about $1,300, which includes one year of cell service. Then it’s about $200 a year to renew.

You view the station data on a well-designed online interface that’s customizable. If you lose power to your computer you don’t lose any data as it’s all stored on their server and or on Weather Underground if you choose. My unit has only been in service for six months and has proven to be accurate as well as reliable. This station will certainly appeal to the gardener who is also a bit geekish.

Both the VP 2 and the Kestrel 6000 are solar powered with internal battery backup. Both are probably best set up on poles that are attached to buildings or 4x4 pressure-treated posts. These (as most of the stations) need to be set up at least 5 or more feet above the ground and away from any obstructions.

The third tested station is the WS 5000 from Ambient Weather. This station is much more reasonable in price with the base unit going for $499 plus any additional sensors which are all reasonably priced. My station came with a mounting kit and I added a soil temperature sensor and a soil moisture sensor. This unit is much smaller than the VP 2 or Kestrel.

My first issue with the WS 5000 was the instructions. They are not intuitive and one line in the manual states “In addition, the manual does not flow properly because the sections are organized by components.” Maybe it was me, but I found it took several hours to assemble and get this station up and running. It may also not be the best choice if you are near an area that will pick up salt spray from the bays or the ocean, and it may not withstand some of the strong winds we get out here from hurricanes and tropical storms.

Nonetheless, this may be the most affordable and practical set up for gardeners. The information from the sensors is transmitted by line of sight to a display unit in your house. The display is bright and easily readable, much more so than the VP 2 display. Sensors are piggy backed to the system so the sensor data shows up on the display. Like the others the data can be transmitted over the internet to Weather Underground or one of the other weather services so you can save the data on your console and or on Weather Underground. Unlike the cellular system that the Kestrel uses, this one updates the data nearly continuously, which can be helpful. As far as I can tell there are no moving parts but be careful when adding accessories like the soil temperature probe, making sure the wires going from the probe to the transmitter and transmitter cage are well secured and not subject to being mowed, chewed or broken.

The soil sensor provided came with instructions to place it 3 inches deep in the soil. I may add a second sensor (less than $25) so I know the soil temperature around 6 inches deep as well. There may be a limitation on how far some of these accessory sensors like the soil sensor can transmit so check to make sure they’ll work for you. My soil sensor seems to have no problem transmitting to the console 60 feet away (no obstructions), but long distances may be an issue.

Last, but by no means last, is the WeatherFlow Tempest (weatherflow.com/tempest). As of this writing this unit was being sold for about $300 and has proven to be as reliable or more reliable than the other units reviewed — and it’s the smallest. It has no moving parts. This station mounts easily on a pole, takes about a half hour to sight and set up and requires no console, but it does require an internet connection via a transmitter/receiver that’s only 3 inches by 5 inches and about an inch wide. The transmitter receives the signals from the unit, then uses your internet connection to transmit the data, which you see on your cellphone.

There is one downside to the Tempest, and that’s that you can’t integrate or attach any other sensors. This means no soil temperature and no moisture sensor. Many, if not most gardeners can live without both. And for under $50 you can buy manual sensors for this.

All of the sensors are electronic, and that made me a bit nervous in the beginning. This was especially true of the haptic type rain sensor on the Tempest. This sensor essentially is able to tell by the raindrops hitting the sensor what the rain rate, rain volume and accumulated rain is for a given event and over time. For six months I tested two of these Tempest haptic sensors against the mechanical, ultrasonic (WS 5000) and plastic rain gauge, and the two Tempests consistently provided data well within the NWS standards set for accuracy of rain gauges.

The one potential downside of the haptic sensor is that in windy conditions the wind can interrupt and disrupt the ability of the sensor as it blows the rain off the sensor before it even hits. This could be an issue for other applications, but for gardeners I don’t think it will be. And it hasn’t affected my data when compared to the other sensors being used.

On the plus side, this station seems to be the most resistant to salt spray damaging the sensors, and it also seems to have much more wind resistance than the other units. In tropical storms, nor’easters and low category hurricanes, it should be just fine.

There is no display. All the data can be sent directly to your cellphone via the app and can also be automatically downloaded to WU like the other units. The unit also has built-in lightning detection that will alert you to most (but not all) lightning strikes within a 30-mile radius of the station. It will tell you about how far away the lightning was but not the direction that the storm is moving. After multiple lightning strikes you can surmise where the storm is heading.

There is also a rain alarm. This is a handy feature for those who don’t live out here full time but may still want to know when it’s raining and how much. The app provides a wealth of other information as well as a two-week forecast, and the Tempest has the ability to make self-adjustments and corrections based on its AI (artificial intelligence) functions. The Tempest, like the other units discussed, is solar powered and needs no connections other than line of sight to the receiver that will sit quietly and unobtrusively on a window sill.

The Tempest gets 4.9 stars and my highest recommendation for most gardeners. If they figure out how to integrate soil and moisture sensors I’d certainly give this one 5 stars for sure.

No matter which of these stations you buy or give as a gift to your favorite gardener it’s critical to follow the directions. The siting is very important and the installation (including leveling) can be critical to getting good and correct data. Need help deciding? Drop me a note. Keep growing.