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Mulch as ground cover under weather station?

Discussion specific to Davis weather stations
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krmidas
Posts: 215
Joined: Sat 03 Jul 2010 9:03 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Pro 2
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Lake Zurich, IL; USA
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Mulch as ground cover under weather station?

Post by krmidas »

Because some trees got too big on my property, I had to re-site my station elsewhere. I ended up putting it at the back of my property, on a hill that is covered with dried out mulch. My suspicion is that even though the mulch is not fresh, this type of ground cover will raise my temperature readings more than siting it over grass. The consensus I've been finding online seems to be "the ground beneath the sensor should be short grass or natural earth, not asphalt, concrete, areas of standing water, etc." I would assume dried out mulch wouldn't generate more heat than "natural earth", but I'm not sure.

Any thoughts? Would I be better off planting some ground cover in a 6 foot radius under the station?

-Tom
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Tom Keramidas, Lake Zurich, IL, USA
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mcrossley
Posts: 12694
Joined: Thu 07 Jan 2010 9:44 pm
Weather Station: Davis VP2/WLL
Operating System: Bullseye Lite rPi
Location: Wilmslow, Cheshire, UK
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Re: Mulch as ground cover under weather station?

Post by mcrossley »

I'm no expert, but i would think that would be fine.

The temperature sensor is supposed to be at 6 feet, but the rain lower, not much you can do with the standard Davis setup, I'd try and get the temperature sensor at the correct height as the rain gauge is comprised already by the trees (supposed to be at least 4x the height away from nearest obstruction - not something many amateurs can achieve).
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