How to Host Your Davis Weather Station on Your Own Domain

A weather station on a custom domain looks professional, builds trust with visitors, and makes the site feel like yours. Instead of weatherlink.com/user/12345 or mysite.netlify.app, you get weather.yourname.com or yourcityweather.com.

This guide covers the two main ways to put your Davis station on your own domain: the self-hosted path and the fully managed path with Pro Weather.

What do you need to host a weather station on your own domain?

You need two things whichever route you take: a domain name from any registrar, and something that serves your weather pages — either a web host you maintain yourself or a managed weather service. Connecting the two is a matter of one or two DNS records set at your registrar.

You can buy a domain from any registrar (Namecheap, Cloudflare, Porkbun, or your hosting provider). A .com domain costs roughly €10–15 per year. You will then point the domain to wherever your site is hosted by changing DNS records at your registrar — covered in detail below.

Option 1: Self-hosted with a Raspberry Pi and a web host

If you run CumulusMX or WeeWX at home, the typical flow is:

1. Buy a domain and choose a subdomain (e.g. weather.yourname.com)
2. Set up a web hosting account with a provider that offers shared hosting (€3–10/month)
3. Point your domain's DNS to the web host's nameservers or IP address
4. Upload your weather software's generated HTML files to the host, usually over FTP
5. Set up SSL, either through the host's auto-SSL feature or manually with Let's Encrypt
6. Keep the upload pipeline working: FTP credentials can change, PHP versions can break templates, and your machine at home must stay online to keep generating fresh files

The total ongoing cost is the domain (€10–15/year) plus the web host (€36–120/year), plus your time maintaining everything. That last item is the one most people underestimate — see the hidden costs of running your own weather server for a full breakdown.

Option 2: Fully managed with automatic SSL

With a hosted service like Pro Weather, connecting a custom domain takes a few minutes and SSL is handled automatically:

1. Buy your domain from any registrar
2. In your Pro Weather dashboard, open Domain and enter your domain
3. Follow the DNS instructions: add a CNAME record pointing to Pro Weather's verification target, or configure a nameserver delegation if the service handles it
4. Wait for DNS to propagate (usually a few minutes, sometimes up to an hour)
5. SSL is provisioned automatically by Vercel, with auto-renewal built in

That is it. No FTP, no certificate renewal, no web host to manage alongside your weather software. The custom domain guide in the docs shows the exact values to enter for your site.

What DNS records does a weather website need?

For a subdomain such as weather.yourname.com, you normally need a single CNAME record pointing at your provider's target. For a root domain such as yourcityweather.com, you typically add an A record instead, because most registrars do not allow a CNAME at the root. Your provider's dashboard shows the exact values.

DNS configuration sounds intimidating but is straightforward. The three terms worth knowing:

• A record maps your domain to a server IP address
• CNAME record maps a subdomain (like weather.yourname.com) to another domain
• Nameservers delegate control of your domain to your hosting provider

For the managed route with Pro Weather, you typically add a CNAME record from your subdomain to the Pro Weather verification target. The dashboard shows you exactly which values to enter. No DNS expertise is required.

Why put your weather station on its own domain?

A custom domain makes your weather site portable, memorable, and credible. If you later change software or hosting providers, the URL your visitors bookmarked keeps working — you simply repoint the DNS. It also unlocks email addresses at your own name and reads far better than a long URL on a shared platform.

Beyond looking professional, a custom domain gives you:

• Portability. If you switch hosting providers, you keep the domain. Your visitors do not need to learn a new URL.
• Email. You can set up email addresses at your domain for weather inquiries or alerts.
• Trust. Visitors are more likely to trust a site at weather.yourcity.com than a long URL on a shared platform.
• Ownership. The domain is yours. You are not renting space on someone else's platform.

Common questions

Do I need to buy web hosting to use my own domain?

No. A domain and hosting are separate products: the domain is just the name, and something still has to serve the pages. On the self-hosted route that is a web host you rent, or a machine at home. With a managed service like Pro Weather, hosting is included in the subscription, so the domain is your only extra purchase.

How long does DNS propagation take?

Usually minutes. Most DNS changes become visible within 5–60 minutes, though cached values can linger for 24–48 hours in the worst case, depending on the record's TTL. If you can, lower the TTL a day before making the change. A propagation checker such as whatsmydns.net shows when the new record is live worldwide.

Can I use a subdomain like weather.mysite.com?

Yes, and it is often the best choice. A subdomain needs only one CNAME record, leaves your root domain's existing website and email completely untouched, and costs nothing extra if you already own the domain. weather.yourname.com on a domain you already use is the cheapest possible custom-domain setup.

What if I just want my data public, without running a website?

You do not need a domain — or a site — at all for that. You can push readings to the public networks and get a free station page there; see how to send your station data to Weather Underground, CWOP, and more. You give up your own design and URL, but it is free and takes minutes to set up.

Getting started

If you already have a domain and want to connect it to a fully managed weather site, Pro Weather handles the hard parts. Your site will have automatic SSL, no hosting to manage, and your data updated every 10 minutes.

If you prefer the self-hosted route, see CumulusMX vs WeeWX for help choosing your software, and Best Weather Station Software for a Personal Website for the full picture.