Live weather conditions?

Any chance of having a live weather feed on the main website showing temp/wind/etc at base/mid/summit? It would be nice to know prior to heading-up since it's hard to know if there's an inversion, high winds up top, etc. Bonus points if you could warn us if the Gondi is closed.
Thanks.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by James on December 20, 2008 at 10:40pm

We are now updating weather (temp/wind/base/new snow) a few times a day via our Twitter feed. You can also see this data posted on the homepage of my.steamboat just below the photo of the day. We'll also have lift and Gondola closings/openings in that feed. Looks like we got some bonus points, eh?

Take a look at my recent blog entries regarding the new info on the my.steamboat homepage or for "following us" on Twitter for more details.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mesa on December 20, 2008 at 11:13pm

Thanks for the info! I checked out links and they're great info for anyone heading to the mtn.
I don't know what a Twitter is, but it's almost as good as a live feed. Not bad at all.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by skiwoods on December 26, 2008 at 8:48pm

A few steps involved, but here is a way to get current and historical weather from the weather station at the top of Mt. Werner. The NOAA NWS website provides weather data to pilots, and the station at the top of Mt. Werner provides data for the NOAA.
Directions when you click on the link below.
1. Type K3MW into the data box.
2. Click on Translated
3. Check the box for METARs
4. Click on submit

Here are a few clues: Click on the dropdown box to find out what the exact weather conditions were when you were up top earlier in that day. The time you will see is Universal Time Code (UTC), which is Greenwich Mean Time. Subtract 7 hours and that will be Steamboat time. For example if it reads "0327 UTC 27 December 2008", that means it's 03:27am 27, December 2008. Subtract 7 hours and it will mean 8:27pm on December 26th in Steamboat. Just know that whenever you get this data, it is at most about 30 minutes old. AGL stands for above ground level. So if the ceiling is 1000 AGL, that means the clouds are 1000 feet above Mt. Werner.

Here is a link to the website.

http://adds.aviationweather.gov/metars/

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mesa on December 26, 2008 at 10:32pm

Amazingly cool info !!!
Most of the updates seem to be every 20 minutes, which is far more accurate than the Twitter feed.
Who knows, maybe we'll get a live weather feed one of these days.
You might want to also post this great resource under the Steamboat Weather forum for all to enjoy.
Thanks!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steamboat Weather Info on May 20, 2009 at 11:36am

Mesa,
The weather conditions in mid town Steamboat (on the Overlook Hill) are updated every 5 minutes at SteamboatWeather.com.
Also, you know that when the camera viewing the mountain is completely obscured by crusted ice that the snow is dumping on the mountain!

Hope that helps!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike (skipompey) on December 27, 2008 at 7:23am

Even more Met information, thanks James.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by James on December 27, 2008 at 7:51am

The weather station info that SkiWoods added is cool, but is not the same type of info as our Twitter feed. So it's a nice addition, but not a replacement.

Our tweets can tell you if there is an inversion between mid-mountain and the top, whereas the weather station only provides the temp at about the highest lift-served point of the resort. Will look into this a bit more. Also, don't forget we have a NOAA feed for Steamboat already posted on Steamboat.com, right here: http://steamboat.com/NOAA.aspx

Am going to post a reference to this thread over in the Weather forum since they might find it interesting too.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by skiwoods on December 27, 2008 at 8:32am

Agreed, just an addition. This info is not provided for the intention of on mountain activity. I do like to observe it for temp and wind conditions on top, plus as a pilot, I'm somewhat a weather geek. In my experience at Steamboat, the weather is most intense up top, and calmer at the base. So if I know what's going on up top, I know worse case scenario. Someday I would like to go visit that weather station...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by skisteamboat on December 27, 2008 at 8:54am

Every year they have an open house. I went last year and it was pretty interesting but not something to make a special trip for if its a powder day.

I also check to see what's happening up top so if there is an inversion/fog/etc in the valley. I can decide if its worth getting out of the sack to ski.

Cheers

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by DamonWX on December 28, 2008 at 11:06am

BTW, if anyone is unfamiliar with how to read a METAR weather report... here is the breakdown.

First group: station ID
Second group: date is first 2 numbers, time in Zulu is the second "four" group
Third group: AUTO - automated (done by computer)
Fourth group: wind direction and speed in knots
Fifth group: Cloud height/ceiling
Sixth group: temperature in degrees Celsius (the"M" stands for minus)
Seventh group: altimeter (calibrated to sea level)
everything after is usually some form of special comments part

Example:K3MW 281733Z AUTO 23006KT OVC001 M07/M08 A3028 RMK AO2 PWINO

K3MW: station ID
281733Z : 28th day of month/ 1733Z is the time in Zulu (i believe you subtract 6 for MST to get local time)
AUTO- automated
23006KT : wind FROM 230 degrees at 6 knots
OVC001 : Overcast skies at 100 feet
M07/MO8: temperature minus 07 degrees Celsius/ dew point minus 8 degrees Celsius
A3028: altimeter 30.28"
RMK 02: automated
PWINO: not quite sure....

Just in case anyone wanted to know how to read that stuff... it actually makes for some very valuable information when determining what to wear. I don't know how prone Yampa Valley is to temperature inversions, but in Jackson Hole, it was crazy to be at the base where it could be 5 below zero and then at the summit, it's 20 degrees