The Davis Vantage Pro Plus measures wind speed which is shown in miles per hour, and the direction from which it is blowing. The ten minute average wind speed is displayed in the weather ticker.

The Davis Vantage Pro Plus uses the Integrated Sensor Suite's temperature sensor to measure the outside air temperature.

Humidity itself simply refers to the amount of water vapor in the air. However, the amount of water vapor that the air can contain varies with air temperature and pressure. Relative humidity takes into account these factors and offers a humidity reading which reflects the amount of water vapor in the air as a percentage of the amount the air is capable of holding. Relative humidity, therefore, is not actually a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air, but a ratio of the air's water vapor content to its capacity. It is important to realize that relative humidity changes with temperature, pressure, and water vapor content. For a  parcel of air with a capacity for 10 g of water vapor, which contains 4 g of water vapor, the relative humidity would be 40%. Adding 2 g more water vapor (for a total of 6 g) would change the humidity to 60%. If that same parcel of air is then warmed so that it has a capacity for 20 g of water vapor, the relative humidity drops to 30% even though the water vapor content does not change.

Relative humidity is an important factor in determining the amount of evaporation from plants and wet surfaces, since warm air with low humidity has a large capacity for extra water vapor.

The Davis Vantage Pro Plus provides four separate registers for tracking rainfall totals: rain storm, daily rain, monthly rain and yearly rain. The Vantage Pro Plus also calculates the rate of rainfall by measuring the interval of time between each .01" or 0.254mm rainfall increment. The Vantage Pro Plus physically measures increments of .01", but the console converts this to the metric display we show. There may occasionally be a skipped reading due to rounding up.

Storm rain is the amount of rain in a continuous period of rain with an amount of leeway for beginning and end. As used here, storm begins when 0.5mm of rain has fallen in a 24-hour period, and continues until 24 hours pass without 0.5mm of rain.

The weight of the air that makes up our atmosphere exerts a pressure on the surface of the earth. This pressure is known as atmospheric pressure. Generally, the more air above an area, the higher the atmospheric pressure, this, in turn, means that atmospheric pressure changes with altitude. For example, atmospheric pressure is greater at sea-level than on a mountain top. To compensate for this difference and facilitate comparison between locations with different altitudes, atmospheric pressure is generally adjusted to the equivalent sea-level pressure. This adjusted pressure is known as barometric pressure. In reality, the Davis Vantage Pro Plus measures atmospheric pressure, but then translates this to barometric pressure.

Barometric pressure also changes with local weather conditions, making barometric pressure an extremely important and useful weather forecasting tool. High pressure zones are usually associated with fair weather while low pressure zones are generally associated with poor weather. For forecasting purposes, however, the absolute barometric pressure value is generally less important than the change in barometric pressure. In general, rising pressure indicates improving weather conditions while falling pressure indicates deteriorating weather conditions

What we call 'current solar radiation' is technically known as Global Solar Radiation, a measure of the intensity of the sun's radiation reaching a horizontal surface. This irradiance includes both the direct component from the sun and the reflected component from the rest of the sky. The solar radiation reading gives a measure of the amount of solar radiation hitting the solar radiation sensor at any given time, expressed in Watts / sq.m (W/m²).

Bright sunshine is considered to be occurring when the solar radiation level exceeds 100 W/m², so we can easily work out how many hours of sunshine occur daily from this reading.

Energy from the sun reaches the earth as visible, infrared and ultraviolet (UV) rays. Exposure to UV rays can cause numerous health problems, such as sun burn, skin cancer, skin aging, and cataracts, and can suppress the immune system. The Davis Vantage Pro Plus can help analyze the changing levels of UV radiation and can advise of situations where exposure is particularly unacceptable.

• We display UV Index, an intensity measurement first defined by Environment Canada and since adopted by the World Meteorological Organization. UV Index assigns a number between 0 and 16 to the current UV intensity. The lower the number, the lower the danger of sunburn. An index value of 0-2 represents a minimal exposure category whilst 10+ represents a very high category.