This is Not Working

I put up an anemometer in June in an attempt to measure the amount of wind here. The thinking was that I may eventually get a wind turbine, and data on wind speeds is a good thing to have. I live at 1800 feet, close to the top of the Rensselaer Plateau, and the wind here can be tremendous.

The anemometer works just fine. The problem is that the readings it gives don't match the wind speed around here. The anemometer is only 20 feet high, not high enough to get above the trees, and certainly lower than an actual turbine would be.

A few weeks ago, wind speeds downhill in Albany reached 25-40 miles per hour. Trees were whipping around, and bent over. What did the anemometer read? Eleven.

Let's call it bad engineering. I put the wind gauge in a place where it doesn't accurately measure the wind. I won't do anything with it. I don't think I can put it higher, it's not doing any harm, and who knows, as the trees lose their leaves, maybe it will read better through the winter.