🌬️ Recording a Summer Breeze – Using a Wireless Weather Sensor
There’s nothing quite like a gentle summer breeze — it cools the skin, rustles the trees, and sends sails fluttering down by the river. But have you ever stopped to wonder: how fast is that breeze? Or how it changes throughout the day?
With a wireless weather sensor, we can go beyond guessing and start collecting real, accurate data — perfect for curious minds, science students, and anyone looking to connect theory with the real world.
🌡️ The Power of Portable Weather Tech
At Philip M Russell Ltd, we use PASCO wireless weather sensors to help students measure:
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Wind speed and direction
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Air temperature
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Humidity
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Barometric pressure
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Dew point
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Heat index
These compact devices connect via Bluetooth to tablets or laptops and allow live data logging in the classroom, lab, or — in this case — the garden.
🧪 The Summer Breeze Experiment
Question: How does wind speed and direction vary during a typical summer day?
Equipment:
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PASCO Wireless Weather Sensor
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Tripod or stable surface for mounting
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Smartphone or tablet with PASCO’s SPARKvue app
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Open outdoor space (e.g. garden, park, or riverside)
Setup:
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Place the sensor 1–2 metres off the ground in an open area, away from buildings or trees that might block wind.
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Set it to log data every 1–5 seconds.
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Record data across different times of the day — morning, midday, afternoon, and evening.
📊 Sample Results (from our own garden):
| Time | Avg Wind Speed (m/s) | Gusts (m/s) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 AM | 1.2 | 2.8 | NW |
| 12:00 PM | 2.6 | 5.1 | W |
| 03:00 PM | 3.4 | 6.0 | SW |
| 06:00 PM | 2.1 | 4.2 | SW |
Observations:
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Wind speed increases with daytime heating (convection currents)
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Direction shifts slightly due to local landscape and thermals
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Gusts are strongest in mid-afternoon
🌬️ The Science Behind the Breeze
Understanding wind involves:
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Convection: Sun heats the Earth’s surface → warm air rises → cooler air rushes in to replace it
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Air pressure gradients: Wind moves from high to low pressure
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Coriolis effect: Earth’s rotation influences wind direction
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Local microclimates: Trees, buildings, rivers can all affect what you feel
For students, this offers a gateway into:
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Physics (forces, energy transfer)
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Geography (weather systems, climate)
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Environmental Science (data collection, human impact)
🎯 Classroom Extensions
Turn the breeze into a full project:
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Compare wind speed on grass vs tarmac
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Record over a week to identify patterns
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Compare different locations: school field, urban street, woodland
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Graph results and analyse using averages, ranges, and trends
Great for:
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GCSE Physics – Energy transfer, convection
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GCSE Geography – Weather & climate
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A-Level Environmental Science – Data collection & analysis
📱 Why Use Wireless Sensors?
Compared to traditional weather instruments, wireless sensors are:
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Faster to set up
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More accurate and consistent
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Ideal for data logging and graphing in real time
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Easily integrated into digital learning and lab reports
They turn outdoor observation into quantifiable science.
🎓 Learn Science Outdoors and Online
At Philip M Russell Ltd, we don’t just teach from the whiteboard. We teach in gardens, by rivers, in real environments — using real sensors. From summer breezes to sinking forces, our science tuition connects theory to reality in memorable, measurable ways.
📅 Now enrolling for September in Physics, Environmental Science and STEM
1:1 in person or online via our multi-camera teaching studio.
🔗 www.philipmrussell.co.uk
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