A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation amounts. Wind measurements are taken with as few other obstructions as possible, while temperature and humidity measurements are kept free from direct solar radiation, or insolation. Manual observations are taken at least once daily, while automated measurements are taken at least once an hour. Weather conditions out at sea are taken by ships and buoys, which measure slightly different meteorological quantities such as sea surface temperature (SST), wave height, and wave period. Drifting weather buoys outnumber their moored versions by a significant amount.
Weather station at Mildura Airport, Victoria, Australia.
The NOAA weather station at Wake Island harbor measures and transmits data on wind speed, atmospheric pressure, air temperature and tides.
Automated Surface Observing Station's are the source of the most commonly cited weather reports in the United States, located at airports in all major cities and most smaller ones
Roof-mounted weather station instruments
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th century.
The Royal Charter sank in an October 1859 storm, stimulating the establishment of modern weather forecasting.
BBC television weather chart for November 13, 1936
Ash cloud from the 2008 eruption of Chaitén volcano stretching across Patagonia from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean