Local Weather Station Project

Published: October 2024 | Reading time: 8 minutes

Building a local weather monitoring system has been one of my most rewarding IoT projects. Here's how I created a comprehensive weather station that integrates seamlessly with Home Assistant.

Project Goals

Monitor temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure
Track weather trends over time
Create automated responses based on weather conditions
Display real-time data on this website

Hardware Components

For this project, I used:

ESP32 microcontroller
BME280 sensor (temperature, humidity, pressure)
Waterproof enclosure
Solar panel and battery for outdoor placement

Software Setup

The ESP32 runs custom firmware that reads sensor data and sends it to Home Assistant via MQTT:

// Basic sensor reading code
#include <WiFi.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
#include <BME280I2C.h>

void readAndPublishSensorData() {
  float temp = bme.temp();
  float humidity = bme.hum();
  float pressure = bme.pres();
  
  client.publish("weather/temperature", String(temp).c_str());
  client.publish("weather/humidity", String(humidity).c_str());
  client.publish("weather/pressure", String(pressure).c_str());
}
                

Home Assistant Integration

Setting up MQTT sensors in Home Assistant was straightforward. The configuration automatically creates entities for each sensor reading.

Data Visualization

I created custom cards in Home Assistant to display:

Current weather conditions
Historical trends and graphs
Weather-based automation triggers
Comparison with online weather services

Automation Examples

The weather station enables several useful automations:

Close smart blinds when temperature exceeds 25°C
Send notifications for extreme weather conditions
Adjust heating/cooling based on outdoor temperature
Water garden automatically based on humidity levels

Challenges and Solutions

The main challenges were:

Power management: Solved with deep sleep modes and solar charging
Weather protection: Used IP65-rated enclosure with proper ventilation
WiFi reliability: Implemented connection retry logic and offline data storage

Results and Future Improvements

The weather station has been running reliably for several months, providing accurate local weather data. Future improvements include:

Adding wind speed and direction sensors
Implementing rainfall measurement
Creating weather prediction algorithms
Adding air quality monitoring

This project demonstrates how local sensor data can enhance home automation and provide insights that commercial weather services can't match.