The data from this station are archived monthly in .txt log files. The file is comma-delimited with one line per entry. If you have any questions about gaining access to this data, or data updates, please contact Kyle Hodder.

Data archive and explanation of data fields
00: Date [dd/mm/yy]14: Wind gust [km/h]
01: Time [hh:mm]15: Wind Chill [definition]
02: Air Temperature [°C]16: Heat index [definition]
03: Relative Humidity [%]17: [not reported]
04: Dewpoint [°C]18: [not reported]
05: Wind speed [km/h]19: [not reported]
06: Recent (10-min) high wind gust [km/h]20: [not reported]
07: Avg wind bearing [cardinal angular °]21: Apparent temperature [definition]
08: Rainfall rate [mm/h]22: Max solar radiation [Ryan&Stolzenbach 1972; a=0.8]
09: Total rainfall today so far [mm]23: Cumulative sunshine hours
10: Sea level pressure [hPa]24: Wind bearing [cardinal angular °]
11: Total rainfall counter [mm]25: [not reported]
12: Inside temperature [°C; location RIC 408.4]26: Total Rainfall since midnight [mm]
13: Inside humidity [%; location RIC 408.4]

A list of archive data files is available. Please contact Kyle Hodder for details.

Known issues / Data quality
June and July 2017:The workstation connected to @UofRMetStation failed to operate on or about 18 June 2017. Attempts to restore the device failed until 25 July 2017 (~38 days). The DavisVantagePro2 device continued to operate, but both (a) archiving and (b) posting of the data did not occur.When the station was restored to full ops on 26 July 2017 (~9AM), it appears that some of the data in the buffer was restored - and that missing data covered a shorter period of time than the ~38 days during which the workstation was nonoperational.

April/May/June 2018: The drain plug on our precipitation funnel was blocked by organic debris. Precipitation recorded by the gauge therefore under-reports the actual precipitation that occurred. The resulting records have not been modified to account for this error - precipitation data during April, May and early June 2018 were affected. The gauge was returned to normal operation on 13 June 2018. December 2018: On 4 December 2018, a widespread power outage occurred across the province of Saskatchewan. The failure resulted in a corruption of data stored by the UofRMetStation, and loss of data for the entire month of December 2018. Normal operations resumed on 3 January 2019.
About this station
We update this web feed every 5 minutes using measurements collected atop the Classroom Building. The Twitter feed is updated every 4 hours. The station uses a Davis Vantage Professional 2 weather station, equipped with barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, rainfall, and wind speed/direction sensors. It is wirelessly coupled to a workstation in the Prairie Environmental Process Laboratory, which uses PuTTY for SSH data transfer, PAgent for automated SSH authentication, and Cumulus for retrieving and displaying data from the station on the web.

We run this station to support education in the Physical Geography program. For students and the wider community, the Twitter feed provides campus-specific weather measurements. For example, during December 2012, temperatures measured on our campus were regularly greater than those measured at the airport (up to 8°C), while wind speed was typically much greater (up to 45 km/h) at the airport than on-campus. In homage to this ‘gentle wind’ theme, the moniker ‘Zephyr’ was selected as a nickname for the weather station, as it is a word used to describe a low velocity breeze. Naturally, during winter, the higher temperature and lower wind velocity also leads to a dramatic difference in windchill between the two locations. Readings from the airport are regularly quoted by media as if applicable throughout the City of Regina. The accuracy and precision of Environment Canada measurements follow well-defined global operating standards and are a tremendous asset to students and researchers in Physical Geography; however, they represent conditions at the airport – and the degree to which they represent conditions at other locations in and around Regina may vary.

For undergraduates in our Physical Geography program, the data stream from Zephyr provides a local example of the challenges embedded in any environmental monitoring campaign. Differences of only a few degrees can make a crucial difference in the timing of freezeup in Wascana Lake, for example. The data collected by Zephyr have already been put to use in undergraduate research projects.




Note: The data provided by this station are for educational use only; use at your own risk.
System maintained by: Kyle Hodder