slow query performance

I'm having severe performance issues with a conceptually simple
database. The database has one table, containing weather observations.
The table currently has about 13.5 million rows, and is being updated
constantly. The database is running on a dual 550MHz PIII with 512MB RAM.

On the whole, queries are of the form:

SELECT ? FROM obs WHERE station = ?
AND valid_time < ? AND valid_time > ?
or:
SELECT ? FROM obs WHERE station IN (?, ?, ...)
AND valid_time < ? AND valid_time > ?

Queries like these are taking around 4 to 5 minutes each, which seems
excessively slow to me (or are my expectations far too optimistic?).

For instance:
SELECT station, air_temp FROM obs
WHERE station = 'EGBB'
AND valid_time > '28/8/03 00:00'
AND valid_time < '28/10/03 00:00'

takes 4 mins 32 secs.

An EXPLAIN of the above query says:
NOTICE: QUERY PLAN:

Index Scan using obs_pkey on obs (cost=0.00..9.01 rows=1 width=20)

A simple "SELECT count(*) from obs" query takes around that sort of time
too.

I have run "vacuumdb --analyze obs", to little effect.

How can I speed this up? Where am I going wrong? Is there a problem with
the table structure, or the indexes? Does the continual updating of the
database (at the rate of somewhere between 1-3 entries per second) cause
problems?

The table and indexes are defined as follows:

Table "obs"
Attribute | Type | Modifier
----------------------------+--------------------------+----------
valid_time | timestamp with time zone |
metar_air_temp | double precision |
relative_humidity | double precision |
pressure_change | double precision |
ceiling | double precision |
metar_dew_point | double precision |
metar_gusts | double precision |
wet_bulb_temperature | double precision |
past_weather | text |
visibility | double precision |
metar_visibility | double precision |
precipitation | double precision |
station | character(10) |
pressure_msl | double precision |
metar_min_temperature_6hr | double precision |
precipitation_period | double precision |
metar_wet_bulb | double precision |
saturation_mixing_ratio | double precision |
metar_pressure | double precision |
metar_sky_cover | text |
dew_point | double precision |
wind_direction | double precision |
actual_time | timestamp with time zone |
gust_speed | double precision |
high_cloud_type | text |
precipitation_24hr | double precision |
metar_precipitation_24hr | double precision |
pressure_tendency | text |
metar_relative_humidity | double precision |
low_cloud_type | text |
metar_max_temperature_6hr | double precision |
middle_cloud_type | text |
air_temp | double precision |
low_and_middle_cloud_cover | text |
metar_wind_dir | double precision |
metar_weather | text |
snow_depth | double precision |
metar_snow_depth | double precision |
min_temp_12hr | double precision |
present_weather | text |
wind_speed | double precision |
snow_cover | text |
metar_wind_speed | double precision |
metar_ceiling | double precision |
max_temp_12hr | double precision |
mixing_ratio | double precision |
pressure_change_3hr | double precision |
total_cloud | integer |
max_temp_24hr | double precision |
min_temp_24hr | double precision |
snow_amount_6hr | double precision |
Indices: obs_pkey,
obs_station,
obs_valid_time

Index "obs_pkey"
Attribute | Type
------------+--------------------------
valid_time | timestamp with time zone
station | character(10)
unique btree

Index "obs_station"
Attribute | Type
-----------+---------------
station | character(10)
btree

Index "obs_valid_time"
Attribute | Type
------------+--------------------------
valid_time | timestamp with time zone
btree

(I suspect the obs_valid_time index is redundant, because of the
obs_pkey index - is that right?)

I'd be grateful for any advice and any clues to help speed this up.
Many thanks,
--
Dave
email: zen13097 (AT) zen [DOT] co {DOT} uk