Connecting to NEWA

The 2015 fee for an individual to join NEWA in a non-member state is $290 per year and includes nearby airport locations. The cost to bring an entire state into NEWA is $1750 per year and includes all airport locations. For a state network, a person must be identified to serve as the NEWA Coordinator in that state.
 
Once your weather station is set up and transmitting data to RainwiseNet, there are two things that need attention under the station’s “Settings” page on http://rainwise.net:
1) Under “Weather Station Info”, the “Upload rate" needs to be set to 15 minutes. 
2) Under “Sensors & Parameters”, put a check next to Solar Radiation (Global) and Leaf Wetness.
 
Your station location name in NEWA will be based on the city/town that the station is located in. Take a look at the NEWA map and if there is already a station located in your city/town, add a qualifier to the name parenthetically. Typically, we use a farm name, i.e. Lodi (Standing Stone).
 
We will need metadata for your weather station. Fill out the Word document metadata form and send it back to your state NEWA coordinator, listed below. Metadata includes the MAC address, contact information, latitude, longitude, elevation, station name, etc. 
 
It is essential to send us the MAC address on the bottom of the IP 100. Without it we cannot ingest your station’s data.
 
The primary contact and backup contact is important. If we fail to receive data from your station for a 24-hr period, an automated email will be sent to the primary contact with Cc to the backup contact (if available). Follow-up emails are sent at weekly intervals. After week 3 the station will be placed on inactive status until the station is back online. 
 
There is a green cap on the solar radiation sensor that must be removed. 
 
After the data has been transmitting without problems for a 48-hr period, we will pull data into NEWA, create your station page, and designate sister station locations to patch data outages to keep the IPM models and degree day results as accurate as possible. Sister station(s) will be used for data from January 1 so you will have a complete set of degree day accumulations for the first year.
 
If you encounter any problems of have questions about connecting your station to NEWA, email NEWA@cornell.edu. 
 
The IPM and crop production tools are only available via NEWA. A note about the apple carbohydrate thinning model.  It is essential to have good solar radiation data in order to run this tool.  If your station is not appearing in the selection list of stations for that model, it is because the solar radiation data is out-of-range. Should this become an issue, contact NEWA@cornell.edu about the model programming and Rainwise about sensor calibration.
 
Your data will be available on RainwiseNet and on NEWA. You can also configure the data to be sent to other weather networks, as per RainwiseNet options (e.g. Weather Underground). 
 
For technical support, Rainwise will be your first contact for weather station issues, call (207) 801-4036 or 1-800-762-5723, or fill out a technical support ticket. 
 
It is best to calibrate weather stations about every two years. Contact  RainWise Service & Repairs, at 207-801-4036, for instructions on sending the station in for calibration. Plan a good time to take out the station for maintenance, usually in late fall, winter, or early spring. 
 
Maintaining the station to insure accuracy of the data is your responsibility. Consult our guidelines for routine maintenance.