Low-Budget Home Weather Stations?

Toby Truman asks: "Working at the Fenwick Island Weather Station, I already have access to million-dollar meteorology equipment. However, some tinkerlusting college friends have been asking me about home weather stations, a subject I don't have a lot of experience with. Have any Slashdot users experimented with DIY weather stations, and if so, what do they recommend?"

Doggy Weather

[Perdo]

If my dog is under the covers when I wake up in the morning, I wear a coat to work.

If the dog is outside the covers, No need for the coat.

If the dog is outside when I wake up, I consider taking the day off it's so nice.

If the dog is under the covers and there is a wet spot at the foot of the bed, I'm not going to work because it must be snowing.

Pine cone

[heikkile]

I suppose you already have a thermometer sitting outside your window. Hang a pine cone from it with a short string. Now you can see

* Temperature (from the meter)
* Clouds (look out through the window)
* Wind speed (how fast the cone is dancing around)
* Humidity (how far the cone has opened)
* Snow (is there any on the cone)

That is about as much as you can ever see through a window. If you need to know the wind direction, you have to measure it on top of your home, or somewhat away from any buildings. Same for a measurement of its speed.

Of course, being on slashdot, the proper way is to let someone else do the measuring, and read it off over the net.