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Weather monitoringLighthouses play an important role in providing data for weather collection. Weather information has been gathered at Point Atkinson since light keepers have been there. Early reports were kept in station logbooks and were based on regular observations.
Specific equipment was later added to record wind speed and direction, precipitation and temperature. The data from light houses is gathered and reported by the Atmospheric Environment Service in daily, monthly and annual summaries. The summaries are used to track changes in weather elements over long periods of time, and for climatic, hydrologic and agricultural planning and research. Today, weather recording systems are automated.
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Amenograph records wind direction and velocity.2004
Point Atkinson, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Instruments for measuring wind: Anemometer is used to measure and record wind speed and direction.Wind indicator indicates the wind direction with lights, and shows wind speed by a timed light flash or indicating dial.
Anemograph is used with the anemometer and wind indicator to record the speed and direction of wind to eight points on a chart. The lower pen records the wind speed by making one step when one mile of wind passes the anemometer. The upper pens record the direction to eight points.
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Amenograph measures wind direction and velocity.2004
Point Atkinson, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Rain gauge.2004
Point Atkinson, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Mercury column barometer.1900
Canada
Credits:Courtesy of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia.
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Stevenson screen protects weather recording equipment from the elements.2004
Point Atkinson, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Joyce Godard remembers:We used to phone in the weather report too. I forgot about that… oh yeah, I used to give the weather… We used to do that every night…. Well, you just had to phone and tell them whether it was hazy or whether the ocean was smooth or rough. Just, basically, what the day had been like…. because the weather changes you know, even just a few miles away, it can be perfectly clear and the ships have to know what to expect when they come in and out….
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