Weather at the
Garden

We run a WeatherFlow Tempest weather station in our front yard, mounted in the native-plant prairie above privacy-fence height. Every observation since August 2024 is stored locally and combined with NOAA ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940 to put current conditions in context.

The dashboard tracks rainfall, temperature, growing-degree days, and an effective-drought metric that weights rainfall by how much actually soaks in versus runs off — a half-inch of summer thunderstorm isn't the same as a half-inch of overnight soaking rain. That distinction matters when we're deciding which clients' establishing plantings need a watering visit, or when a native bed is dry enough to risk transplant stress.

The full dashboard is private — it has features that lean into permaculture-business decisions — but these widgets are the public-facing slice. Data refreshes every 30 seconds when the station is online; this page checks station status every minute.