I really wanted wireless but the climate here just won't allow it. It can stay below freezing for months in the winter and I know even with a SLA battery I'd have power issues in that kind of prolonged cold. Plus, the sun can disappear for weeks here.
I'm sorry, but I had to laugh at this. What useful data are you going to get that visual observations can't provide? It's damned dark out there, is the same when you look outside or you look at your weather station.
It's too damned cold out there is the same whether confirmed by the weather station or not.
Not that I'm making fun of your efforts, or plights, but collecting data about a situation that you can control seems reasonable. Collecting temperature data when it has been too damned cold to go outside for the last 6 weeks doesn't strike me as useful.