Mark Hanson has added a Davis weather station at his home west of Fincastle, and the public can access the data he collects online at a Weather Link website.

It’s one of four private Davis weather stations in Botetourt that the public can view for very localized information on high and low temperatures, rain amounts (daily and yearly), wind speeds, humidity, etc.

The other three are a station on Mountain Valley Road near Buchanan, one on Blue Ridge Turnpike in the Mill Creek area and one on Porter Mountain at Blue Ridge.

All can be accessed through the Weather Link website, and from a map on each individual weather station web page.

There are two Weather Link stations just across the Roanoke County line as well— one in the Orchards on the southeast side of Read Mountain and one near Sunnybrook near Hollins.

Hanson said he didn’t notice an online weather station in Fincastle so he put up the Davis weather station on a pole six feet above his roof and the current weather data along with solar radiation is available at www.weatherlink.com/user/MarkHansonREEVA.

You can also go on www.weatherlink.com and click on maps of Fincastle to zoom in and get the data.

A summary page has the current weather information, the day’s highs and lows, for temperature, heat index, wind chill, humidity, dew point, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, solar and UV radiation and a brief forecast for the day.

The solar data is for solar system and provides how many watts per square meter can be generated with an electrical solar system.

Another summary has hour, day, storm, month and year precipitation accumulations.

Hanson’s weather station went up August 20, so his rain accumulations for the year go back to that date.