Temperature
The air and thermal environment near the sensor; nearby similar surroundings may be comparable.
Influences: Sunlight, shelter, concrete, buildings, vegetation, elevation, and board heat.
Know the station
Local measurements. Clear limitations.
SmartSkies is an ESP32-based weather station for observing and recording local temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and rainfall. It helps make conditions at a single installation site visible and understandable.
Proposed study area
100 m
Target study radius
This is a proposed study boundary, not a verified sensor coverage radius. Measurements are taken at one station. Similar terrain and surroundings may support comparable conditions, but that must be checked through simultaneous field measurements.
Readings are not guaranteed to represent every location within 100 meters or an entire municipality. Badian center is an example discussed for deployment, not a confirmed installation location.
Validation should compare readings at several points and directions, across different weather conditions, for each measurement separately.
Measurement range
The minimum and maximum values a sensor is specified to measure or operate within.
Accuracy
How close a measurement is to a reference value under specified conditions. It is different from display precision.
Representativeness
How well a station reading describes another location. It depends on the variable, surroundings, and weather.
Sensors & specifications
Manufacturer specifications and the current firmware configuration—not a certification of this assembled station.
| Measurement | Sensor / configuration | Range and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature | BMP280 Current display and upload source | −40 to +85 °C operating range. Temperature accuracy: ±0.5 °C at 25 °C; ±1 °C over 0–65 °C. Internal sensor temperature can be influenced by PCB heat and sensor self-heating. |
| Humidity | DHT22 | 0–100% relative humidity. Adafruit lists 2–5% humidity accuracy. The DHT22 also supports −40 to +80 °C temperature readings, but the current firmware uses BMP280 temperature. |
| Pressure | BMP280 | 300–1,100 hPa. Typical absolute accuracy ±1 hPa under the datasheet’s specified conditions; full-accuracy operating temperature range 0–65 °C. Stored readings retain their recorded pressure unit. |
| Rainfall | Tipping-bucket gauge | 0.4894 mm per tip configured (0.2794 + 0.21 mm). This increment requires physical calibration. Maximum measurable rainfall intensity is unverified without the exact gauge specification and testing. |
What can each reading represent?
Humidity
Local air conditions; nearby areas may differ even within the proposed study area.
Influences: Temperature, vegetation, nearby water, and airflow.
Pressure
May be comparable over a wider area when elevation is comparable; no radius has been validated.
Influences: Elevation and changing weather systems. Compare readings at equivalent elevations or apply an appropriate correction.
Rainfall
Rain caught at the gauge location. A nearby location may receive a different amount.
Influences: Localized showers, wind, obstructions, gauge placement, and calibration.
WMO spatial-scale categories describe representativeness; they do not assign a guaranteed radius to these sensors.
Reading rainfall correctly
The dashboard currently shows the latest reported rainfall reading. It is not a daily accumulated total. Firmware recording fixes and reliable accumulated rainfall are planned follow-up work.
A missing record means no measurement is available—not 0 mm of rain. Historical rainfall records may be incomplete because the current firmware resets its counter after a Google Sheets request, even if it fails, before the subsequent Firebase send.
Observation before prediction
SmartSkies does not currently provide forecasts. A future prediction feature would need suitable data and validation against actual outcomes before making accuracy claims. A few days of readings do not establish forecast reliability.
References
Bosch BMP280 datasheet
Operating range, accuracy conditions, and internal-temperature limitations.
Adafruit DHT22 documentation
Humidity and temperature specifications for the DHT22.
WMO representativeness classifications
Spatial-scale categories are not automatic sensor coverage radii.
WMO siting classification
How the observation site affects representativeness.