Station Log
What the instruments on Kenyan farms actually recorded — rainfall, wind and the hours you can spray. Measurements, not forecasts.
Weather station siting: how much clear ground each sensor needs
Across 11 stations in Kenya over one month, rainfall totals ran from 0 to 157.8 millimetres and temperature from 3.9 to 31.3 degrees. That spread is the sum of eleven different siting compromises, made before any reading was logged.
Weather station siting problems: usually an afternoon's work to fix
A mast that has reported for two seasons can still be reading a fence, a wall or an afternoon shadow. Three responses are on the table before the short rains, and they cost very differently.
Rain gauge errors: undercatch, spacing and how to fix them
A rain gauge looks like the simplest instrument on the farm: a funnel, a bucket, a number. The evidence says the number moves for reasons that have nothing to do with how much rain actually fell.
Rainfall data accuracy: why your phone and your field gauge disagree
Your phone says 12mm fell overnight. Your gauge says 4mm, or nothing at all. Both can be right at the same time, and knowing why changes what you do on Monday morning.