How tough is the toughest weather station?
When avalanche rescue needs reliable data, only one weather station can send it from under the snow pack with a 12+ km (7.5+ miles) wireless range.
Extreme weather requires tough hardware
In meteorology, the real difference between professional and commercial hardware is not only in measurement accuracy, long-term measurement stability and precision, but also in toughness, robustness and survivability. The fine line between extreme weather and a weather disaster is the damage caused and loss of life. Timely and accurate decisions require accurate and reliable data in the most extreme weather situations. This is what sets apart professional meteorological equipment from the rest and enables the prevention of disasters and loss of life. MeteoHelix IoT Pro weather stations donated to the Slovak Avalanche Service are proving their worth against all existing weather station hardware.
Buried alive under the snow
Buried under wind blown snow pack for over two months at 1727 meters (5669 feet) above sea level, the MeteoHelix kept tirelessly measuring and sending wireless data every 10 minutes to Sigfox gateways installed by SimpleCell and located 12.5 km, 16.5 km, 20 km, and 32,5 km away. The 3+ meter high snow pack here was unexpected in this warmest winter on record.
Over the two months, tons of wind blown snow consolidated and with a crushing force devastated other meteorological equipment. Under this force, the stainless steel mounting bracket holding the MeteoHelix was bent over like a sheet of paper as shown in the accompanying photo. The MeteoHelix survived without damage. After being dug out and over the next two days as temperatures rose above freezing, the snow packed around its sensors from the burial thawed. The MeteoHelix IoT Pro returned to measuring atmospheric temperatures (instead of snow pack temperature) for which it was designed and which it preforms better and more accurately than any other professional meteorological weather station due to its special patented helical solar radiation shield design.
While buried under snow, the MeteoHelix weather station measured snowpack temperature. Around March 13, 2020 (6 days before being dug out) the snowpack temperature became a steady 0°C as the snow started its spring time melt.
As soon as the MeteoHelix was dug out, it began measuring solar irradiation and soon after the snow Fell away from its sensors, it began reading the correct air temperatures.