Independent local weather since 2012

Built in Dorset.
Measured in Dorset.

Dorset Live Weather turns observations from real local instruments into a clear, quality-controlled picture of what is happening across the county right now.

Loading…DLW-validated measurements in the current rolling 24-hour network window

—validated measurements, rolling 24 hours

—contributing real-world stations

—current observation quality pass rate

—live local weather areas

Dorset’s weather can be markedly different over short distances. Coast, harbour, heath, valley and higher ground can experience different wind, temperature, rainfall and visibility at the same moment. A county-wide forecast cannot always describe that local detail.

Dorset Live Weather exists to make high-quality local observations easier to access. The network receives data from approved contributing weather stations, retains useful history and presents it as live conditions, interactive charts, practical guidance, cameras and alerts.

Local by design

Areas are built around places people recognise, while the network can combine more than one suitable station behind a single local view.

Evidence before theatre

Freshness timestamps, contributing-source counts and quality scores matter more than making an old reading appear live.

Useful to everyone

Raw measurements remain available for enthusiasts, with plain-English explanations for people who simply want to plan their day.

Designed to grow

New stations can strengthen an existing local pool or establish coverage in another part of Dorset without rebuilding the public products.

A weather station feed is treated as untrusted input until the Dorset Live Weather compute engine has parsed, timed and evaluated it. Rejected observations are retained for diagnosis where appropriate, but are not allowed to silently contaminate a public local weather area.

Receive

The ingest platform polls approved source feeds according to their measured update rhythm, records receipt times and detects source availability.

Normalise

Different source formats and units are converted into a consistent observation model with explicit station, pool and timestamp identities.

Challenge

Readings are checked for impossible ranges, future or stale timestamps, implausible jumps, duplicates and internal inconsistencies such as gust below sustained wind.

Compare

Where a pool contains several stations, agreement and disagreement between sources can inform confidence while preserving meaningful hyperlocal variation.

Publish

Only approved observations enter public live output and history. Freshness rules travel with the data so the website and app can distinguish live, delayed and unavailable conditions.

What the live network counters mean

A raw source read is one attempt to collect a station feed. An observation checked is a parsed weather observation evaluated by the engine. A validated measurement is one non-empty sensor value contained within an approved public observation. These are deliberately different figures and are not presented as unique users or unique stations.

Honest freshness is a product feature. When a source is late, stale or unavailable, Dorset Live Weather reports that state or selects an eligible nearby area. The system is designed not to relabel an old timestamp as live.

Station acceptance

Potential contributors are assessed for equipment quality, siting, maintenance, data consistency and operating history. Public inclusion remains at the discretion of Dorset Live Weather. The network can monitor a source before it is allowed to influence a public pool.

The ingest platform, quality-control logic and public delivery system have been designed specifically for Dorset Live Weather. Processing and web services are separated so a large volume of station checks can be evaluated without making the public website responsible for heavy data work.

Purpose-built ingest

A dedicated processing service learns source timing, validates observations, retains station history, composes local pools and publishes a controlled API for public products.

Independent public delivery

The website and app consume published output rather than reaching into contributor systems. This reduces load on station owners and gives DLW one place to apply freshness and failover rules.

Local operation

The service is developed and operated in Dorset. The hosting environment includes solar generation, on-site battery support and protected server power infrastructure.

Designed for failure

Source outages, delayed observations and internet interruptions are expected operating conditions. Status, retry and failover behaviour are built into the architecture.

Renewable and resilient operation

The server environment supporting Dorset Live Weather is connected to solar generation and battery storage, with additional protected power arrangements around the server infrastructure. This does not make every byte carbon-free, but it reflects a practical commitment to local, efficient and increasingly renewable operation.

Dorset Live Weather is an independent local service. It is not the Met Office, an emergency service, a harbour authority or a substitute for official warnings and safety information.

Live observations can be highly useful for understanding immediate conditions, but instruments, internet connections and third-party forecast models can fail. Water, coastal and outdoor guidance on the website and app is weather-only context. Users must also consider tides, currents, local restrictions, equipment, experience and official advice.

Forecast and environmental sources

Forecast, pollen and marine model guidance is provided using Open-Meteo services and is clearly separated from DLW’s measured live observations. Weather camera imagery is provided by Dorset Live Weather or an identified approved camera source.

Data source acknowledgement: forecast model information uses Open-Meteo; pollen guidance uses CAMS European air-quality forecast data via Open-Meteo; marine guidance uses DWD wave model data via Open-Meteo. Model outputs may be adapted into local summaries. Live station observations, DLW quality states, local pools, retained station history and network counters are produced by the Dorset Live Weather system.

Contact and contribute

Weather station owners with a reliable, well-sited system and a proven maintenance record are invited to discuss contributing. We are particularly interested in strengthening coverage across Dorset’s coast, harbours, towns and rural communities.

Discuss a weather station Contact Dorset Live Weather