Summer Weather Station Work
Running an avalanche center like the NWAC takes a lot of behind the scenes work in the summer. Here on the forecast office side of the fence there is work to be done such as gathering funds, organizing budgets, work on weather stations and work on our web site.
The non-profit side of the NWAC made some extra funds available for new equipment and work on weather stations over the summer so that we did not have to try to get all the work done in a short time frame this fall. So we:
1. Repaired the radio communications and replaced the wind instruments for the Alpental wind station.
2. Repaired the Internet communications at Hurricane Ridge station which had lightning damage and installed grounding for the station.
3. Established Internet communications with the Timberline Magic Mile wind station and repaired the wind instruments.
4. Installed a new datalogger, battery and charging system at the Ski Bowl, OR precipitation station. Repairs to the phone line communications there are on-going however.
Forecaster Garth Ferber is happy after major upgrades to the Timberline Magic Mile wind station.
We want to acknowledge the essential support and assistance we had from National Park Service personnel at Olympic National Park and personnel from the Alpental, Timberline and Ski Bowl ski areas.
More work on weather stations such as Blewett Pass and White Pass and further work at the Ski Bowl is planned this fall.
Fall Forecast Schedule
We have decided to try a little different forecast schedule this Fall before we transition to our full forecasting this upcoming winter.
• Daily Mountain Weather Forecasts will be issued daily at 1 pm beginning on Wednesday November 16th.
• A weekly Snowpack and Avalanche Regional Summary will be published by 6 pm each Thursday beginning November 17th and updated over the weekend as conditions warrant.
This Fall schedule will lead us to into our daily mountain weather and avalanche forecast winter schedule depending on the whims of Mother Nature. If winter starts sooner and enough snow accumulates for the ski areas to open and avalanches in the back country we would begin our full forecasting earlier than mid-November.
Wild Weather in mid-October!
It sort of feels like the winter is getting a wild start with a wind storm likely this coming weekend. It looks like SnowBash is going to be postponed. We'll see how the weather unfolds the rest of this fall!