Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >> Kevin Nortz / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Jim Connell sits in his dock house, which doubles as a weather station where he monitors the weather around Lake Stevens.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, July 14, 2008 This 'geek' knows his weather By Bill Sheets Herald Writer LAKE STEVENS -- Thanks to Jim Connell, anyone who wants to know how warm or cold it is not only at Lake Stevens but in Lake Stevens can find out with the click of a mouse. Connell has set up his own weather station on a dock across the street from his house on the southeast side of the lake and the results are all posted online. "I'm the world's oldest computer geek," said Connell, 61. The station consists of several parts. First, Connell has a standard rooftop weather measuring device, consisting of a rain gauge that self-empties every 24 hours; a thermometer, a barometer and wind-speed gauge. It's solar-battery powered and cost him a few hundred bucks, he said. The device sends a wireless signal to a portable electronic device inside a hut on the dock. The device, called a weather station, converts the information into numbers that are displayed on a screen. That device, in turn, is plugged into a computer. And the computer feeds the information to three Web sites: Connell's own at lakestevensrec.org; www. wunderground.com; and is mixed with other information on the site of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The latter two sites include information from thousands of home weather stations across the country. Connell, who works in information technology for the Sheet Metal Workers Union in San Ramon, Calif., set up the station when he and his wife moved to the home three years ago from their previous Lake Stevens residence. He's also got a temperature gauge in the water. On March 21, the water hit 37 degrees the coldest temperature of the year. He's also got a video camera set up on the dock to show conditions on the lake, but it's not online -- yet. His four grown kids, who like water sports, are pushing him to go live with the feed. So far, "it's just for us, basically," he said. Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com. By the numbers 6/10 of an inch: rainfall measured during the early July thunderstorms 1 to 3 feet: depth of Connell's water temperature gauge, depending on lake level 3: Number of Web sites that display information from the weather station: lakestevensrec.org, www.wunderground.com (type in zip code) and noaa.gov. 22.8: Low temperature for the year, Jan. 25 89.6: High temperature for the year, May 17 14: Years Jim Connell has lived in Lake Stevens

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