Wind Data for Strawbs

[Tyson Clark]

I've been looking for a way to get accurate wind speed at Strawbs. I found how to access the weather gauge by the Ladders.

http://www.cuwcd.com/operations/weatherdata.htm

This wasn't working for me right now. However, if you go to the following link and look at the top center, you can see Wind (hourly avg):

http://water.cuwcd.com/reservoirs/res_template.php?res=straw

[Tyson Clark]

Also, I contacted UDOT about getting their weather camera by Chicken Creek going. This was the crux of their reply.

...The camera at Strawberry Maintenance Station will not be restored until the construction on the maintenance station is complete. This will be in summer of 2011 sometime. ...

I asked if they would put a weather station there (I even volunteered to help pay for it) when they get it back up and running. We'll see what the reply is. *fingers crossed*

[Tyson Clark]

BTW, has anyone else notice that the link to the "Strawberry River Weather Station" takes you to the S-Curves weather station. It's a great place to climb but I don't think it's suitable for kiting.


http://www.utahwindriders.com/weather.php#snowkitespecific

[Tyson Clark]

Update from UDOT about getting a weather station at Chicken Creek:

Hi Tyson,

I'm referring your e-mail to the Manager over weather operations at the Traffic Operations Center for a response. Please allow her a few days to review and respond to your request.

Please let us know if we can be of further service.

Sincerely,
Cathie Pappas

[RickHeninger]

Nice work Tyson...

Let me know what you find out that is most useful and I'll add them to the weather page.

[Tyson Clark]

Update on my efforts.

Part 1 (maintenance station):
This is the latest reply from the state:

Yes, that particular cam is operated by a maintenance group (not the weather group), and they likely won't get out to it until springtime.

Our current 5-year plan for our weather stations does not include Strawberry. There is little we usually do to change that, unless we can justify it for UDOT operations, specifically. Each station install costs $50,000-$100,000, plus a few more thousand $$ per year for maintenance. If there are a group of you that would like to install a weather station, I would suggest going through the MesoWest or the National Weather Service on getting it set up - it could cost much, much less, as it would be a citizen (co-op) station. Lots of folks do this at their own personal residences. Major hurtles are often unable to be overcome, however, such as land rights issues, an available power source, and available communication to the site.

This was my reply:

Thank you for your reply. You actually addressed my concerns—land rights, power source, and communications. That is why I was wondering if we could purchase a personal weather station and install it at the Strawberry Maintenance Station where it could be of us and potentially to the state. You have the land, power (although the station could use solar), and communications. Is there any possibility of this? *Fingers Crossed* If we hooked it up with MesoWest would that help the process (i.e. does the UofU have any pull)?

Thanks so much for your time! Please let me know if there is anything we can do to make this work for the state.

Part 2 (Central Utah Water Conservancy District)
I'm also going try and get the Central Utah Water Conservancy District to get their web page working and possible get their data on MesoWest.

Part 3 (MesoWest)
I just sent this email to a contact I’ve made at MesoWest:

Thanks so much for your help on this. Does MesoWest just do reporting or do you also generate weather models/forecasts? If you do, is there any way to get some hyper-accurate wind forecast for a few different places? I could have you swimming in beer (or cool-aide if you prefer) for a year from some grateful wind-chasers if you can help with this. (Too often we drive to a place because NOAA says the wind is going to blow, only to stand around waiting for wind.)

We’ll see if I can make anything happen. Every time I stand around for hours because the wind forecast was wrong I get a little more motivated.

[Tyson Clark]

Update on get more accurate info:

I sent James at MesoWest an email wondering if we could make more accurate forecasts for us. This is his reply:

Tyson,

MesoWest does not generate models/forecasts. Nevertheless, it sounds like you might be interested in XCSkies (http://www.xcskies.com/). I've sent this to Chris Galli who should be able to give you more info.

-James

[Rick McClain]

Hey Tyson,
Thanks for putting in all this time and effort on this research and sharing it with the forum.
Any idea of the location of the station for "Wind (hourly avg):"?

[Tyson Clark]

Rick,

It should be CUPF that isn't showing data on MesoWest.

http://mesowest.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman ... i?stn=CUPF

Here is the location from MesoWest on Google Maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.22,-11 ... 085316&t=k

My guess is that it is a slightly more South of that spot, right by the apparent flow meter and maintained parking lot.

tyson

BTW, a very nice lady at UDOT sent me a message today saying that she was working on getting us permission to get put a weather station at the UDOT Maintenance Station. We would have to buy the weather station, but I think they will supply the internet, power, and land rights. I realize it's only a bit up the road from the one mention above, but it might be worth it, especially if we can work with a company (like the one I mentioned earlier) to produce more accurate wind models. (I've toyed with calling an acquaintance whose company uses genetic algorithms to create products cancer screening products and see how big a favor it would be to have him produce a model. Once he has it dialed, he could do it for other sites.... I THINK, HOPE, WISH!)

[Tyson Clark]

FYI:

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... p#hardware

[Tyson Clark]

I really should be doing my taxes. This is the way I stall.

I looked through the stations at the above link and thought this one seemed like an easy plug and play solution at a good price point:

http://www.proweatherstation.com/

AND, as I just found searching their data sheet, are out of Draper!

[Tyson Clark]

Update from UDOT:

Tyson,

Let me be honest about where I'm coming from. I am new to this position. The outgoing manager has indicated to me that public-private partnerships are a good thing, but there are many dirty details that need to be sussed out. In the coming weeks, I'll be re-writing our weather station master plan. After some investigation and research into the feasibility of this partnership, I'll be better prepared to address this. I want to assure you that I do want to help you out - though at this time, I cannot promise anything. And from a personal standpoint, I rely quite a bit on weather observations for my various sports, as well (primarily backcountry skiing), so I can relate to the frustration of not having data that you previously had. (Though, we are rarely faced with a lack of snow, in the way that you may be face with a lack of wind...)

We're moving at the speed of government here. I appreciate your patience...

Thank you, and I'll be in touch.

[RickHeninger]

Great work! It could end up being really helpful to make a connection like that. I'm tuned into your thread here. Thank You!

[bigwavedave]

Coming back from Brighton over the weekend I noticed that the old portable weather station that used to be on the side of the road at strawberry river was in fact at the s curve. That explains why the link brings up weather there. Not sure why they'd need one there though as it wasn't even in the sun on the climbing side. Only thing I could think of is that they might be thinking of expanding the parking area or widening the road there in the near future.

[Tyson Clark]

This is what I got from UDOT. It's not a lot but it's an improvement.

I was just told yesterday that the Strawberry cam was put back up - and, in fact, it is back up on commuterlink. However, they did take down the wind sock during construction, and I'm not sure whether or not they have plans to put that back up. I could contact the shed foreman there to ask. I would recommend this for now. We could put one of our own weather stations there in the next couple years - or the partnership could be readdressed next summer.

I requested that they get the wind sock up. Probably getting a little late for the snow but might help some with the water.