weather station

A place where meteorological observations are carried out, also known as an observatory (meteorological being understood). Depending on its characteristics, the instruments with which it is equipped, and the type of measurements taken there, it receives different names. The most complete stations available to weather services are the principal synoptic stations, where daily observations are made at a series of internationally established times, which guarantees the simultaneity of measurements at all stations in the network, both nationally and worldwide. The parameters measured are air temperature and humidity content, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, cloud cover, cloud base height, and the present weather at the station over the last hour. All of this information is transmitted in coded form (SYNOP code) through the WMO's Global Telecommunication System. At some of these stations - a small number of them - upper-air observations are also carried out, for which weather balloon launches are made twice a day (at 0 UTC and 12 UTC), producing the corresponding radiosonde soundings. There are also complementary synoptic stations, where observations addressing a specific need are carried out (agriculture, aeronautics, pollution…). The network of synoptic stations is complemented by others such as rainfall and thermo-pluviometric stations (both maintained by volunteer observers) or automatic weather stations (AWS).