Tempest Weather System with Built-in Wind Meter, Rain Gauge, and Accurate Weather Forecasts, Wireless, App and Alexa Enabled

June 2024This is an update to my several reviews below, spanning the three years I have owned and used a Tempest Weather station. It is probably best to read the earliest (bottom) review first to gain a full view of my experience.Sadly, in late Fall of 2023 my Tempest Weather station began exhibiting several problems, including intermittent power loss, odd (or no) measurements from certain sensors, and general dysfunction which became progressively worse as the seasonal temperatures became lower and the days shorter. Eventually the unit was no longer providing useful information. I ignored the issue for several months as I was busy with other matters. Eventually I contacted Weatherflow support and was astonished at the speed of response and the interest they demonstrated in fixing the problem. First the support agent checked the data my system had been sending and we agreed on an approximate date the dysfunction became near total. She then compared that date to my purchase date, determined that I was still under warranty when it happened, and immediately offered to send a brand new unit at no charge. Wow! The loss of power issue was determined to be most likely a user- caused problem (that's me) and I was asked to pay for a replacement hub, which was more than fair. The new weather station and hub arrived quickly and I installed them back in their mounts. Once the new unit was online and sending regular data streams, Tempest support merged the old stored data records with the new data records being produced by the replacement machine. I now have a fully functioning weather station and cumulative data records going all the way back to the first day of installation of the original device (minus those days when it was no longer capturing data.) So, the less than perfect news is that the original device had a life span of about 2.5 years before it ceased being useful due to malfunction. The great news is that Weatherflow not only stood behind their product, they were incredibly helpful while doing so. I'm leaving my review at 5 stars, and appending this update to reflect events as they have occurred. I want to commend Weatherflow again for producing the best consumer priced weather station I've ever owned, and for standing behind their product when something went wrong. This is a quality company, with quality employees and I strongly endorse their offering.June 2022This is an update to my review below, which was originally posted in July of 2021. All of the comments I made in the original review below are still true - except - the accuracy of the rain gain has improved greatly over the past year, just as the Tempest folks said it would. The haptic rain guage collects local data, which is then filtered through AI and compared to other nearby weather data collection devices and systems. After midnight each night, the localized data collected by your Tempest is adjusted to reflect the broader dataset collected from other nearby devices and systems. The post-midnight adjusted rain data is remarkably similar to the two analog rain gauges I have near where my Tempest device is located. It took several months for the accuracy to improve (just like tempest said it would.) It is now nearly identical to the analog gauge measurements. To understand how Tempest heuristic AI works, see this page from their website: https://weatherflow.com/tempest-forecasting/One year in, I still view my Tempest weather station as (by far) the best of the weather systems priced under $400 that I've owned over the bast two decades.Original review below, posted in July 2021:The Tempest Weather System is the most recent of approximately a half dozen consumer priced weather stations that I have owned over the past 20 years. The two issues that are paramount for me are accuracy and durability. The latter issue (durability) is the usual reason for looking into alternatives as 2 - 3 years seems to be about the norm before the earlier systems I've purchased for $400 or less tend to break down. They usually do not fail all at once, but instead start losing selective components one at a time until the overall unit ceases to be useful.Ease of system setup and the ability to remain connected to both the local WI-FI setup as well as the internet are also important. The Tempest was extraordinary simple to setup and was operational within minutes of being taken out of the box. It has never become disconnected from either my mesh WI-FI setup or the internet since going operational, even though the unit is installed above a metal roof at least 20 meters from the closest WI-FI relay point.The unit is unusual looking and operates using non-traditional technology for several of its data captures (as can be read about on the manufacturer's website.) So far the accuracy as compared to several onsite analog devices is very high. The haptic rain gauge sometimes reads more rain than an analog gauge placed within a few feet. The AI based correction that occurs each night is a bit aggressive and often over-corrects so that the final rain tally is lower than what analog gauge is showing, although the ratio of difference is lessening over time, which is what the manufacturer indicates would occur as the heuristic AI does its magic. On balance, I'd put the overall accuracy of the combined measurements reported from the Tempest system as superior to any of the La Crosse, AccuRite, Davis or Ambient systems I have owned. The Tempest app also displays the reported data in the best manner of any of the above (which of course is a personal opinion.)It is impossible to know for now how durable the Tempest system will prove to be as I've only owned it for two months. Like most consumer technology, the price of weather systems has been decreasing for at least a decade. If the Tempest also proves to be durable it will be a significant improvement over its rivals.In my opinion and for my uses, the Tempest Weather system represents the best value currently available for consumer weather systems under $400. I highly recommend it.

TL;DR - great unit, packed with much more than others. Price is a little steep with no dedicated monitor but totally worth it considering your personal expectations.I'm a weather geek and have been in the market for a PWS for years. I finally decided on the Tempest based on glowing reviews, ease of setup, and lack of moving parts that would cause problems for a traditional unit with moving anemometer cups and a rain collector/gauge. I live where winters would be a hassle for constantly cleaning the unit to allow it to take accurate information.I can't speak to Alexa or IFTTT integration- I don't have need for those features.I used the in-box key screw mount to secure the station to a horizontal piece of wood about 7' above grass that's far enough from any building or obstruction to sway the readings. My hub is about 50' from the station with no signal losses. I took my sweet time to get everything going, synced and talking plus siting, testing signal strength, orienting and permanently installing the sensor unit. Total time = 1 hour. If I had to do it again, I could do it in 30 minutes.Pros:• Out of the well-designed package, it was very, very easy to set up and get online with the WeatherFlow network of other sensors that help calibrate this to my particular micro-climate.• The data coming from this is incredibly diverse. After our most recent early summer thunderstorm, it sensed lightning from 26 miles away and recorded the strike that happened 5 miles away in real time. "Feels like" and air temps are calculated as well as barometric pressure and atmospheric density.• The station is powered by 4 solar panels that feed an internal rechargeable battery. In my location, we can go an entire week with overcast weather. The lifetime of a single sunny day's charge can last 2 weeks.• With the firmware update (175), the system will suspend power usage to specific components (wind+direction and rain) if it's not expected. They still report, just not as often. This will conserve energy resources.• The Tempest app and website displays current conditions, graphs over time and weather predictions based on it's location. This info is sharable among several devices or family/friends.• It's possible to share your Tempest's data with WUnderground's network, but my system has yet to be recognized on that network. That's WU's issue, not Tempest's nor WeatherFlow's.• I haven't had the need to contact Tech Support but know it's there. The forum site is robust with information and helps point users to correct articles or notes.• The system will send (controllable) alerts to all devices logged in regarding onset of rain or lightning sensing. A good thing for people who deal with outdoors.Cons:• I didn't rate accuracy because it seems too soon for a review on that technology given the AI adjustments on calibrations yet to come, but my readings so far seem accurate to what I expected. I don't have an analog rain meter or anemometer to compare. I will update this review if my system actually learns about its home.• There is no ability to gauge any metric regarding snowfall, but I can measure it manually.• There is no dedicated monitor for this system. Pretty traditional for many other systems, it was one of the things I looked forward to having. Fortunately, I had an old tablet that I've requisitioned to become that monitor. On a single screen, I can see every metric and detail in real time (+/- 5ish seconds depending on the ECO battery)I highly recommend this weather system for fellow weather geeks who don't care that they don't get to see wind cups, clean or empty rain gauges, or scrape ice to get them working again. I expect when snow and ice pick back up next autumn, all I'll have to do is brush it off and make sure the solar panels are clean and visible.

This weather station is great. I have owned much more expensive weather station such as Davis, but this has all the others beat by a wide margin.It was so easy to set up with no wires, solar cell keeps battery topped off. No moving parts is great and should last much longer than any other mechanical ones out there.It's internet based and works with all of my devices. It even works with the apple watch. Often you read reviews where the buyer is disappointed. This one is the opposite, this is much more than what I expected and I expected a lot!It would be a great gift for any weather bug as well. Very reasonably priced for the quality and features.