Wind skip wrongly being applied

Hi,

it seems wind skip was applied to my Rachio today, but I looked at the weather station data and I don’t know why it was applied, since highest winds were 10 mph, and it was set to skip if they were more than 20 mph. Can you please help?

Thanks

Could you post which PWS are you using?

Yes, I was using PWS_TRINITY.

Thanks

@coyote77

If you navigate to the History tab there should be a wind skip activity that tells you the forecasted wind for the time that your schedule was supposed to run.

:cheers:

I understand, but based on https://www.pwsweather.com/obs/archive/yest/TRINITY.html , there were not any winds stronger than 20 mph, that was why I was asking.

History Tab shows that the schedule was skipped at 3:24 AM CDT on 3/17 because of windows stronger than 21 mph, and I don’t see that in the PWS, so I’m asking if that’s a bug in Rachio or what could the reason be.

Thanks

not yet turned my system on for the season but franz just stated it was based on FORECASTED wind. is it possible that the wind was forecasted for greater than 20 mph even if the actual wind never got above the 10 your PWS recorded?

Maybe, I’m not sure how I can check the forecast for the weather station. However, that was checked minutes before the actual schedule was supposed to run, and wind speed was 5.3 mph with gusts of 8.3 mph, way lower than 20…

@coyote77

We determine wind skip (and temperature skip) based on the forecasted hourly data for your controller coordinates, not based on raw PWS data which can have issues with recording true wind data (and sometimes temperature data). The national weather service actually recommends wind meters at a height of 33 ft. above ground level which I don’t believe most PWS users adhere to :wink: Forecasts are a best of breed using radar, prediction models, stations, etc. Using forecasts also allows us to predict skipping in 12 hour and 1 hour intervals. Hope this helps.

:cheers:

1 Like

thanks and i agree with your methodology… my PWS is fantastic but it simply doesn’t record wind that accurately… as much as I worked hard to get a reasonable location for the sensor it still records lower than actual winds due to trees/buildings blocking some of the wind and being lower than the 33 ft recommended height. i’m glad to see if i do choose to use my PWS as the sole weather data for my rachio 2 (and soon 3) that you will still use forecasted winds to base wind skip around. that said i do think most folks should set their wind skip pretty high to prevent a skip in most circumstances.

Thanks. So what is the PWS actually used for?

PWS data is used for current conditions and one of the most important pieces of data, observed precipitation, especially for micro-climates.

:cheers:

1 Like

Ok, thank you!

We determine wind skip (and temperature skip) based on the forecasted hourly data for your controller coordinates, not based on raw PWS data which can have issues with recording true wind data (and sometimes temperature data). The national weather service actually recommends wind meters at a height of 33 ft. above ground level which I don’t believe most PWS users adhere to…

Franz, thank you for this explanation. Now I understand why freeze protection has been invoked for my system when temps never got close to my freeze limit.

While I agree that most PWSs don’t adhere to 33’ recommendation for wind measurements, Rachio is using this data for irrigation systems which are much closer to ground level, where most PWSs are making measurements. I have at least two microclimates just in. my yard, a NWS forecast “for my area” can be way off for both of these. I’d therefore much rather Rachio use my PWS’s measured temperatures and wind speeds than a NWS forecast for my area.

Please consider giving users the option to select use of NWS forecasts or actual PWS data when freeze and wind skip are enabled.

Thanks

1 Like

@franz - Now I’m confused, so my backyard PWS measure my location wind speed ( that is the one that I want for my irrigation system ) if Rachio use the NWS maybe their reading will be high in comparison to my exact location. I understand the “accuracy” issue but with a simply PWS comparison / validation (using the neighbors PWS ) Rachio can determine the validity of the data reported it think?

@fpuig

I’m going to chat with the engineering team. I’ll bring up the topic of using forecasted hourly until one hour before, then using the current conditions of the chosen station or coordinates.

:cheers:

1 Like

This has a lot of sense, great point @franz.

Yes please give us the ability to rely on the metrics from our specific weather station. That’s one of the huge advantages to Rachio in my opinion. If you’re just going off the Regional data with wind/temperature then what’s the point. I personally have my weather station 30 feet off the ground and would like Rachio to exclusively use my station metrics for everything except future forecast. If someone’s weather station isn’t accurate or properly placed then that’s their problem for selecting an inaccurate station. Don’t ignore the metrics please or give the option to override.

This thread is 2 years old. I am wondering if there have been any solutions applied? If we cannot use a PWS for wind skip on data that is localized to our PWS, then what value is there to having the option to connect the PWS to Rachio? It appears that Rachio may be collecting our PWS data and aggregating it for current and historical trends.

The PWS is used for tracking precipitation.