I have no idea why the outdoor temperature and humidity instruments on our Davis Vantage Pro 2 wireless weather station conked out during Thursday morning's downpour. Maybe it just got too wet, although that doesn't seem like a feature you'd want in a weather station.
On the other hand, even the National Weather Service instruments that track conditions in downtown Los Angeles crapped out the other day, just as temperatures reached an all-time record 113 degrees. And they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their gear. We don't.
Whatever it was, our thermometer and hygrometer stopped sending a signal around 8:20 a.m. Thursday, and all I had on the indoor console was dashes. And the online report showed lows of minus 99 degrees every 10 minutes. The anemometer was still working, and transmitting to the indoor console. So was the rain gauge - a good thing in an historic, record rainstorm. And all the indoor readings were fine.
That lasted until 8 a.m. today. And then, as inexplicably as it began, the problem vanished. It healed itself, like my old VW bug. And the weather conditions at Centre and North Calvert streets are once again available for all the world to track via the Internet.
To the Weather Gods, my thanks.
(SUN PHOTO: Frank Roylance)