Adding virtual weather stations from your FarmQA web app

FarmQA's virtual weather stations let you record and store weather data in your fields. Setting up a virtual weather station is easy and doesn't require the setup and maintenance of a physical weather station. It's also an important part of getting your account setup to automatically calculate growing degree units (GDU's) for your fields.  Check out the article below to learn how to setup and use virtual weather stations in FarmQA. 

NOTE: your virtual weather stations will only begin to compile data once you set them up, meaning that your historical data will only go back until the day on which you setup your station. We recommend setting up your virtual weather station as soon as possible to have the most robust historical dataset possible. 

Aeris weather information

Setting up virtual weather stations

Assigning a virtual weather station to your fields

Assigning a weather station to a level of your organization

Using your virtual weather station

Aeris weather information

Here's how Aeris weather determines weather for a specific location, as per their website: 

"The observations data set provides access to current and archived weather observations from a variety of reporting stations. The primary source for observation data comes from METARs located at airports or permanent weather stations. METAR reports are generated once an hour, but if conditions change significantly, then additional special reports may be issued. Other sources, such as personal weather stations (PWS), may update more frequently but are not official stations used by NOAA."

Setting up virtual weather stations

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app.
• Click on the Settings button then click on the Sensors tab at the top of the screen.
• Click the blue Add  button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
• Select the Add new weather station option, then select Virtual (pictured below).

• Complete the following steps to complete your virtual weather station setup:
  1. Give your weather station a name.
  2. Click on the map to set a location for your weather station.
  3. Click the Validate button to check if your weather station can be set at your desired location.
  4. Once your weather station has been validated, click the Add button to complete your weather station setup. You will get a message that says Weather station has been added when it has been successfully saved. 

Assigning a virtual weather station to your fields

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app if you aren't already.
• Click on the slide-out map pane, then turn on your Weather station marker layer (pictured below).

• Click on your desired weather station, then click the Assign station to fields button at the bottom of the weather station window (pictured below).

• Complete the following steps (pictured below):
  1. Use the Select a station dropdown menu to choose the station you're assigning to fields.
  2. Choose fields on the map by clicking the fields you want to assign to this weather station.
  3. Toggle the Overwrite existing weather metrics switch if you want to erase pre-existing weather metrics for the fields you're associating this weather station with (optional).

• When you're done, click the Assign button at the bottom of the screen. 

Assigning a weather station to a level of your organization

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app if you haven't already.
• Click on the Settings icon, then click on the Organization tab.
• Select the desired level of your organization, then the button under the Default weather station header (pictured below).

• In the Choose station window, use the Select a station dropdown menu to select a station you want to use (pictured below). 

• When you're done, click the Save button.

Using your virtual weather station

• Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app if you aren't already.
• In the Map tab, open the slide-out map pane and check the Weather stations box under the POINTS header.
• Click on a Weather station icon on the map to view weather data at this site (pictured below).

• Sensor data can also be accessed from Sensors page by going to Settings > Sensors. 
• Click on the desired sensor to view historic temperature, solar radiation, and pressure data at your sensor's location (pictured below). 

Now that you have your virtual weather stations setup, you're one step closer to having GDU's automatically calculated for your fields. Refer to this article to complete the process of setting up GDU's in your FarmQA account: Setting up growing degree days (GDDs) – FarmQA

Please contact FarmQA Support with any further questions