While I await some parts needed to connect the sensor to the measurement system (Raspberry Pi 3) I am going to spend most of the day today doing some research and planning for next steps.

One thing I have not mentioned previously is that the Raspberry Pi 3 operating system I am using, called Raspbian Stretch, comes with something called a VNC Server.  When you activate the server you can access that computer via a virtual private network using a free VNC Client running on any other computer.  So, I can access both the measurement system and weather system from my Mac and do anything I could do if I had a keyboard, mouse, and monitor hooked up to the Raspberry Pi.  I can even access both machines from my iPad.  It’s very convenient since the Raspberry Pi’s are so small and easy to tuck into hard to get to places.

So, what do I need to do next… Well, here are some things that I need to do on the measurement machine before I connect it up to the sensor:

• Add an SFTP group and user.
• Secure the SFTP connection for that user so they can only access one file.
• Prepare the “real” measurement script for remote access.
• Make a temporary change to the measurement script so that it will output measurements without actually talking to the sensor.
• Test the remote connection.

And, what I need to research:

• How to modify the database schema or how to use an existing schema parameter
• How to create a new weewx service that populates the database with snow measurement data
• How to create a new report with the snow measurement data.

More later