Best Home Weather Stations of 2023

Editor’s Choice: WeatherFlow Tempest

WeatherFlow is a relatively recent entrant to the home weather station market, although it has years of experience. Its coastal network of stations has been delivering vital information to meteorologists for years and has proven useful (and durable) in landfalling hurricanes.

Wind is measured by a sonic anemometer which we found to be fairly accurate. And up until the Ecowitt Wittboy, the Tempest was the only home weather station to use a haptic rain sensor.

At $999, the KestrelMet 6000 is not for the casual weather enthusiast. Despite this, its excellent features, such as top-tier accuracy, ease of installation, and high-quality construction, make it a worthwhile investment for hardcore weather fans.

The Ambient Weather WS-2902 is surprisingly feature-packed and accurate, given its price. Many of the cheap home weather stations we’ve tested had issues that prevented us from genuinely recommending them. The WS-2902 does not.

The WS-2902 has all the features you’d expect including indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure. A nice surprise is the inclusion of a fairly accurate UV/light sensor, something you typically don’t see on home weather stations in this price range.

Unfortunately, rising component costs and inflation have made the Ambient Weather WS-5000 one of our list’s most expensive home weather stations. That played a part in it losing the top rank in our Best Weather Stations of 2023 rankings (it was #1 last year). But you do get quite a bit for your money.

The WS-5000 features a redesigned sensor suite, including an ultrasonic anemometer. Eliminating the cup anemometer found on other stations drastically reduces the number of moving parts and can measure wind speed as accurately as the cup-and-vane. This should extend its useable life as the traditional anemometer requires ongoing maintenance to ensure trouble-free use.

The WS-5000’s sensors were much more accurate in our tests than the WS-2000, WS-2902, and WS-1900A, which use a slightly lower-quality sensor suite. Thanks to expandability and a wide array of optional sensors, you can add just about any sensor you can think of, including air quality, soil moisture, water temperature, and lightning, all of which send data to the console in as little as every five seconds.

The company’s made it easy to share your data publicly through Weather Underground. Its smart home connectivity is best in class, offering IFTTT compatibility to connect your station to your smart home system. Of course, there’s Ambient Weather Network and the Ambient Weather app to view your weather data remotely on your mobile device or through the web app.

If you’re looking for a step up from the WS-2902, with accuracy that rivals any Davis station, the WS-5000 is the weather station for you. The price, however, might scare some away. If you can do without the console, a version of the WS-5000 with app access to your data is available.

The Davis Vantage Vue got a much-needed update when the WeatherLink Console debuted earlier this year. It’s the successor to the WeatherLink Live hub and changed how you interact with your station for the better. It’s built on Android and appears to be upgradeable, so you’re no longer stuck in the past with dated hardware.

The reliability of Davis is legendary in the weather enthusiast community. I’ve had my Vantage Vue continuously since September 2016, and I know others who have had theirs for over a decade. There is also the story of a gentleman with a Davis Weather Monitor II (a predecessor to the Vue) who recently upgraded after 27 years (that’s not a typo).

While you don’t get the unbeatable accuracy of the high-end Davis Vantage Pro 2, my experience has been positive. With the WeatherLink Console, sharing your data is super easy. While on your home network, you can watch live conditions (updated every two seconds), and your data is uploaded to Davis’ platform once per minute.

If there’s one thing I’d ding the Vantage Vue for, it’s its lack of upgradeability. Sure, you get all the basics, but the only optional sensor you can add is the Davis AirLink, and right now, that’s only if you have a WeatherLink Live (there’s no support for the WeatherLink Console, at least for now).

Also Consider

The Davis Vantage Pro2 is one of the best high-end home weather stations you can buy and is made even better by WeatherLink Live or the WeatherLink Console. The Vantage Pro2 is a proven workhorse. Several years ago in the Caribbean, a VantagePro 2 recorded a 199mph wind gust in a hurricane before its mast snapped. That’s the highest wind reading ever recorded on a personal weather station!

So why is the Vantage Pro2 more accurate? The sensors in the Vantage Pro2 are of higher quality than in the Vantage Vue. A larger rain gauge collects rain more efficiently, especially in windy situations. The radiation shielding around the temperature and humidity sensor is larger, allowing for better airflow.

Another difference between the VantagePro 2 and the Vantage Vue is the anemometer. Since it’s separate from the rest of the sensor suite, you can place it in a high location to improve your wind readings.

While it takes a bit more time to set up, no other weather station on the market even comes close if you want the most accurate weather data. As a side note, there is also a bundle that includes the console. While the Vantage Pro2’s console is much more helpful than the Vantage Vue’s, it does add to the price. Whether you need it is up to you.

Depending on the model you select, you may also have UV and Light Sensors (standard on the Pro2 Plus), and fan aspiration, which we strongly recommend if you’re very concerned about accuracy. Further optional sensors include soil moisture and leaf wetness sensors, and air quality measurements via AirLink.

The Ambient Weather WS-2000 is a combination of two weather stations. The sensor array from the WS-2902 is combined with the TFT LCD console from the WS-5000, allowing for a cheaper alternative to the now $449 (MSRP) WS-5000. While this combination comes at the cost of accuracy, it adds some important functionality over the budget-minded WS-2902.

With Ambient Weather internet-connected stations, the communications are handled by the console. The cheaper color LCD console in the WS-2902 package only supports the sensor suite. However, the TFT LCD console supports any accessory sensor Ambient Weather makes. It’s not like the sensor suite is that inaccurate either: as we noted in our review, readings were often not far from our Davis Vantage Vue.

We’d opt for the WS-5000, as the sensor accuracy is better and requires little maintenance. But we’d understand why somebody would go for the WS-2000, given its much lower price.

Other Manufacturers

We tested 12 stations for our Best Weather Station of 2023 rankings. While only six made it above, a few other stations scored well. AcuRite is probably the most well-known brand in this group.

The best of these stations is the AcuRite Atlas. However, the AcuRite Iris is also a decent low-cost home station. Another popular model is the Netatmo Weather Station. While it was great for the smart home when it was first released over a half-decade ago, the Netatmo feels dated today, especially when you can get something like the WeatherFlow Tempest for about the same price.

Another manufacturer is La Crosse Technology. We’ve had a few La Crosse devices with generally good results. However, none of their stations made our Best Weather Station of 2023 rankings.