In the meadows near Cabauw, a thick pipe sticks straight into the air. The KNMI performs complex measurements there. But no matter how advanced the ‘sniffing mast’ is, for some residents of Cabauw it doesn’t have to be that complicated. For example, a local resident uses his view of the mast to determine the weather. “When I get up I see if I can see the mast,” he says. “Sometimes it’s foggy, sometimes it’s rainy, sometimes it’s sunny.”